Cat knocking things off my dresser

lwiern1

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My 12 year old cat spends all night knocking things off my dresser, my kitchen counters, shredding any paper or plastic she can find, and essentially wakes me up every 1.5 hours. 12 YEARS OF  THIS! I have tried a squirt bottle, tried locking her out of the room with a white noise machine on (but can still hear her scratching and crying), feed her before I go to bed, have put a box fan outside my door (which she knocks over), and have not found a way to stop her from waking me other than feeding her at 2 or 3am. Any suggestions of how to stop this behaviors?? im exhausted! Does th Sssscat work? and I heard about the double sided tape but from what i read it is impossible to get off the door.
 
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tulosai

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Honestly if this has really been going on for 12 years it is going to be EXTREMELY difficult to get her to stop now. It is going to take a long time and a lot of patience on your part.

That said the best advice truly is to buy some high quality earplugs and ignore her. Given how long this has gone on though it may honestly take months or even years for her to accept she isn't going to get a reaction. In the meantime it is CRUCIAL that you NEVER react or get up to feed her. This will just bring you back to step one.

Good luck. I know this must be frustrating :/
 

detmut

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My 12 year old cat spends all night knocking things off my dresser, my kitchen counters, shredding any paper or plastic she can find, and essentially wakes me up every 1.5 hours. 12 YEARS OF  THIS! I have tried a squirt bottle, tried locking her out of the room with a white noise machine on (but can still hear her scratching and crying), feed her before I go to bed, have put a box fan outside my door (which she knocks over), and have not found a way to stop her from waking me other than feeding her at 2 or 3am. Any suggestions of how to stop this behaviors?? im exhausted! Does th Sssscat work? and I heard about the double sided tape but from what i read it is impossible to get off the door.
have you tried a timed feeder? 
 

gothickdm

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My boy does the same thing. IF he wants to be fed he will get up ontop of my dresser, chew on my vase (its fake flower stuff) contents, and knock things off. He got to a point where he actually broke something so I ended up changing one of my drawers to a empty one and put all that I have ontop of the dresser into the drawer, like in little teacups. He still gets up there and he will still chew on receipts or anything paper that he finds. Luckly mine does that at 7 in the morning, so i see how that sucks. I try feeding my cats a little food at 11-11:30 in the evening.
 
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lwiern1

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Thank you for your feedback this far! I appreciate it. To answer questions:

1: I know this is going to be  a terrible habit to break. The problem is putting in earplugs and ignoring results in me not hearing my alarm to wake up and having her break several items by thrusting them onto the floor! The  behavior seems to be getting worse and my boyfriend who is moving in with me is very concerned about his lack of sleep as well as mine! I got a fitbit that documents my sleep and i see that I am being woken about 5 times a night and am restless abuot 45 min a night due to my cat making noise and knocking things over!

2. My cats have dry food out 24/7 to  graze. They each get 1 heaping tablespoon of wet food 3 times a day. I do not think a timed feeder would matter. If i cave in and feed her at 2am, she is up again at 4 asking for food again!

3. I feed them around 11pm before I go to bed.  This feeding time transitioned a few years ago. They used to only get morning and evening food. Now its 5pm, 11pm, and usually 3am!

I just ordered a ssscat....I will see if that might help. It make me very sad to think that my cats wont be able to sleep with me, but hopefully Piper will learn that if she knocks things over and misbehaves, she gets locked out of the room, and will stop the behavior sooner rather than later so that I can let her back in!
 

evamilly

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Is your cat a healthy weight, or overweight or underweight?

Have you taken her to the vet recently? My cat had pancreatitis and before becoming really unwell her apitite was massive. So if she seems to have an insatiable apitite (more so than usual) and is being fed enough it might be a good idea to get her checked out by a vet!

If no medical issue and she is not overweight, then I agree with Detmut get a timed feeder set it for a few minutes before she would usually wake you up at 2 and 4 in the morning.

Locking her out of her bedroom could stress her out and make the problem worse, as you will be attempting to change two aspects of her usual routine, and cats love routine!


Good luck, let us know how you get on.
 

dave_l

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One of my cats used to push items off tables. Sometimes he seemed to do it to get my attention.

Sometimes I think he just did it out of curiosity. He would push an object onto the floor, then watch it for a few seconds, as if he expected it to do something interesting. He mostly grew out of the habit. If the circumstances were different and he had the right educational opportunities, he might have become a great cat scientist.
 
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michael broad

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Hi, I can understand your frustration. I don't see a health issue and I don't see any problems (from the cat's perspective). It seems to me that she has energy to expend. She needs stimulus. Is she a full-time indoor cat, may I ask?
 

misterwhiskers

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Do you have a top dresser drawer that you can empty out and leave open and put in a few mousies or other cat toys? My cat was getting bored and tossing stuff off my dressers, so I tossed some toys in an empty top drawer and left it partially open. He loves rolling around toys but they don't fall out.

You might also try one of those cat feeder toys, or take an empty water bottle and cut a few holes in it and put some kitty treats in it, as a kind of homemade cat feeder toy.
 
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lwiern1

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evamilly: She is about 9lbs, has been since she is 1. normal wt, always insatiable appetite. First generation domesticated cat, so has the instinct to always eat! Thats why I also cant keep her off my counters!

Michael Broad: I have another younger cat that chases her around a lot and have lots of toys for her to play with, although, she does not usually play with them other than items she is not supposed to play with. Yes, she is indoor only.

Misterwhiskers: I do not have a drawer to giver her, but usually leave some toys in the empty bathtub and she loves to roll around in there with them! I  bought a cat feeder toy...they played with it for all of 5 minutes. Then they got bored!

I know, my cat(s) are a pain! Last night piper knocked off a perfume bottle from my dresser and broke it....it just keeps getting worse!

BTW.....I have a new vet that recommended giving Piper 3mg of melatonin a night to help her sleep. From what I read that is a high dose. I have been giving her 1.5 mg a night for a few months with no change. Anyone know anything about dosages of melatonin for cats to help them sleep at night!?!?
 

evamilly

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Blimey she sounds like a little trouble maker, and it sounds like you've tried everything!

I don't know anything about those tabs or dosage, I'm sure someone will chip in though, or you could start another thread about them.

Good luck, keep us posted.
 
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