Nikita living up to her namesake!

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thh20

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Nikita is 5 months, been spayed, and living indoors in an admittedly small space (3rd floor, for now, as the rest of the house is under renovations). She's a sweetheart, BUT.... we can't get her to stay off the counter, she unravels and chews rolls of toilet paper and/or paper towels, tries to climb the clothes on the rack and generally misbehaves to get our attention. We can't always catch her in the act, and we have nowhere to confine her when she needs a time-out (bathroom is no good. It's just as fun in there as it is in the rest of the house!). We've tried everything we can think of to get her to behave, but nothing seems to work... Would double-sided sticky tape work?

I'm at my wit's end here!
 
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crcyclone

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I'm new to taking care of cats myself, though my family has had cats off and on when I was growing up. I just wanted to make a comment about the double-sided sticky tape. Apparently it's supposed to detur cats from going to a spot because they don't like the stickyness of the tape, but it probably depends on your cat because I tried to use that on carpet and my cat didn't care at all, lol.

I know that probably didn't help much, but I want to become active in these forums, so here I am!
 
maddensmom

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As far as staying off the counters, cats generally don't like the feel of alluminum foil or plastic wrap under their feet so taping some to the counter that you don't want her on may help. Once again, it all depends on the cat! We've always just had to keep the paper towels and toilet paper put up so that its not so tempting. Leaving the end hanging down from the dispenser is just to much for most cats, whereas it just sitting on the back of the toilet dosen't look like its as much fun to chase.
More than anything it really sounds like she's extremely bored! Try to incorporate some extra time playing with her and run out that excess engery, then she'll be able to rest more during the time that you can't play with her and hopefully she won't be so destructive! Make sure that she has plenty of safe toys she can play with while you are gone and keep a few special ones that only come out during your play times so that she dosen't get bored with those! Good luck and I hope this was of some help!
 
MoochNNoodles

MoochNNoodles

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Originally Posted by maddensmom

As far as staying off the counters, cats generally don't like the feel of alluminum foil or plastic wrap under their feet so taping some to the counter that you don't want her on may help. Once again, it all depends on the cat! We've always just had to keep the paper towels and toilet paper put up so that its not so tempting. Leaving the end hanging down from the dispenser is just to much for most cats, whereas it just sitting on the back of the toilet dosen't look like its as much fun to chase.
More than anything it really sounds like she's extremely bored! Try to incorporate some extra time playing with her and run out that excess engery, then she'll be able to rest more during the time that you can't play with her and hopefully she won't be so destructive! Make sure that she has plenty of safe toys she can play with while you are gone and keep a few special ones that only come out during your play times so that she dosen't get bored with those! Good luck and I hope this was of some help!
Click to expand...
I agree with everything Maddensmom suggested. We also have a large dog kennel for our babies. They were really into cord chewing when we brought them home. They had toys, food, a small litter pan, and soft bedding in there. They still go in it for naps now.
 
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yosemite

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She's a kitten - that's what kitties do. It's kind of like going through the "terrible two's" of children except the kitties grow up faster!


I agree that she sounds bored and could use more interactive play time with you. Another option would be get her a playmate - another kitty to chase and play with and tire each other out.

Watching Bijou and Mika chase each other around and then fall asleep curled up together is a wonderful sight.

My husband always said he wouldn't want more than one cat, but since our daughter moved back home with Mika, we often wonder why we never had more than one at a time.
 
blueyedgirl5946

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I agree with all the above good advice. Good luck with your cats. They sound like a lot of fun to me.
 
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