SUCCESS, free reign

As you may remember, I've been debating how/when/if to give Stoli free reign of the house.

well. . .

my husband and i took the first steps toward complete reign this past week. we've worked up to 4 hours alone without checking on him and Stoli is doing great. He doesn't get in to half as much as I expected! He's usually sleeping when we get home. phew, what a load off my plate! We are still working up to letting him stay out of his 'safe room' while we sleep and while we are gone for longer periods of time.

i still think his 'safe room' is safest whem i'm cooking and home alone. i can't do two things at once.

Is he that naughty when you're cooking? Mine are sometimes, but usually they behave. They do get stuck in my bedroom if they are underfoot while I'm cooking though, so they save it til they REALLY want it.

he is pretty naughty. he response to nothing. he constantly wants to be on the stove, on the chopping board. most times he ok, but when i'm cooking something pretty potent, he's right there.

My boyfriend's late cat Cookie had a special chair that was hers when we were in the kitchen, as a kitten they put her on this chair & gave her a treat everytime they went to cook.
By the time I came into the household when she was 9, that was automatically where she went, treat or no treat, she simply loved to watch us cook!
The chair was in perfect position so she could lay down & watch if we were being boring, or climb up onto the arm rest & "tell" us what to do through the whole prep of the meal!
Maybe that will work with Stoli, cause I mean, we all need a bit of direction form our cats, esspecailly while cooking things they've never eaten before! hehe

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, our 2 new ones definatly aren't allowed out of their safe room unsupervised!

Good Luck!
~Jesssica, Titan & Cami

Glad to hear that Stoli is progressing.
They do eventually learn about the kitchen... now mine only jump on the counters when I am making catfood. They've learned to not even try when I am making human food. They just sit in the kitchen window and watch.

ooooo, what a good idea. maybe as a signal i can put his bed on the part of the counter that is ok to be on????? plus treats.