Couple Questions

[tiberius709]

I have noticed that since my kittens got spayed, one of them seems to be wanting a lot of attention. (I'm assuming this is the case.) She meows and makes some weird noises I can't even begin to describe. At first I thought maybe she was in pain from the surgery, but then after she did it one time I picked her up and started petting her, scratching her head, etc and she was purring a lot and extremely satisfied. My first question is, could her meowing and noise making be a sign of sickness, or is it her way of trying to get my attention to give her attention? I wish I could describe what the sound is that she makes. The other kitten, completely the same.

My second question. There are certain places we really don't want our kittens going, such as our desks, dressers, night stands, tv stand. They are like bulls in a china shop and they knock everything over. I've had some really nice things damaged/destroyed because they were on our dresser and knocked them off. I understand that cats don't get the value of things to us humans, but I wonder what the best way is to get cats to not get on certain things. Someone told me to get a water bottle and squirt them with it but that just doesn't seem right to me. I usually just pick them up and set them back on the floor. We usually go through this about 10-15 times and they will run away like they have finally given up. lol I don't like yelling at them or patting their butts so I'm curious as to how I can accomplish this. I love them to death, but I'm getting tired of waking up in the morning with my stuff all over the floor. They have so many things to get on and play with but they seem to want to mess with our things. One thing is that I will not clear everything off just so they can walk all over our desks and dressers. That is not feasible as with a child, I am not going to change how I do things to accommodate them. That may sound mean to some, but they have beds, couches, ALOT of things they can get up on and play with. I just want to avoid them breaking something of real value. For example.. The reason I do not want them on my tv stand is because I caught one getting ready to do the nail scratching thing on the front of my TV and the last thing I need is the cats to dig their claws into my $1500 tv. I hope someone can understand that.

So, to recap, how do you get your cats to stay off of certain pieces of furniture that you do not want them to be on?

 

[ldg]

Well, we have one kitty that when she wants attention, she starts knocking stuff off the tables. We felt like you did at first - but in the end, we realized that having cats is like having perpetual 3-year olds that also go vertical living with you. And parents DO child-proof their homes.

So we put all the breakables away, and we clear our surfaces.

One of our cats also loves plastic bags - but they're very dangerous, so rather than teach her not to play with plastic bags, we put them away, out of reach.

In the end, the only place we didn't want the cats to go was the kitchen counter. We solved this problem by COMPLETELY COVERING the surface for a little over a month. It was a PIA for that month, but it worked. With no place to jump up, it became uninteresting, and I guess over that period of time, they gave up and forgot about it.

Others have gone the other way - completely clearing the surface. Some people set a strip of aluminum foil on it, so when kitty jumps up they go sliding because of the aluminum foil, and that's scary, so the stop jumping.

But you're right - water is not a good deterrent. They don't associate the water squirting at them because of what they're doing, they associate it with you, as the person squirting the water... so that over time, they just get scared of you, and don't really get they shouldn't be jumping on something. Also, the water can get in their ears and cause all kinds of problems.

If you want to continue to fight this battle, here's information that will help.

Cats are all about "what's in it for me." And, just like little children, they learn best from positive reinforcement, not negative reinforcement. They need to know what you don't want them to do - but you have to offer them an alternative, and telling them HOW GOOD they are any time they're not doing what you don't want them to will help. Of course, with that many surfaces you don't want them on, you've got a long battle ahead of you.

When saying "no" to a cat, we blow a short, sharp puff of air directly in their face, say "no" and redirect them - and praise them to heck for being redirected.

So... cat jumps on desk. You get up, blow in cat's face, say "no," set cat on different surface that is OK (perhaps buy a cat tree and set it next to the desk and next to the TV? May help reduce the time you fight these battles)... and play with kitty there for a few minutes, telling her WHAT a good girl she is! Next time, instead of putting her someplace she should be, blow the puff, say "no" and put her in the bathroom and close the door. Leave her in there for five minutes. Open the door to let her out without saying anything or looking at her. Alternate - this teaches her that if she jumps on the desk, she gets ignored. If she jump on the whatever, she gets played with.

Personally, I think it's a losing battle with that long list of "no no"s. Cats live in a vertical world - are you sure they've got enough vertical space? Check this out:

Kitty Wall!


...and as to your little lover... when were they spayed? If it's within the last couple of days, it's probably the anesthesia. Some cats get REALLY needy and lovey from the anesthesia, and this should wear off in another day or two.

 

[ldg]

You can also try these: http://www.amazon.com/Premier-SSSCAT...2222175&sr=8-1

 

[tiberius709]

Thank you for the suggestions. They were spayed on December 8th so it's been 3 weeks.

I think I will work on not getting on the tv stand first. That's really the one that bothers me. I will take your advice and see how that goes.

I have always been more of a dog person than a cat person, but I love my kitties. They are very attached to me too. Which is so different from any cats I had as a kid.

I am learning how to handle cats and I want to make sure that they don't associate something bad with me and become scared of me. BUT I want them to understand boundaries if that is possible.

As far as vertical things.. we don't have any shelves up or anything like that but there is one dresser and a portable closet (I don't know if that is exactly what it's called) and we have it sitting in front of the window so that they can get on top of it and look out. I would love to get those things with the circles and shelves (cat tree?) but they are so expensive I just can't afford them.

Thanks again for your suggestions and I def will take your advice and see how things go.

You are right though, I feel this may be a battle I will lose.

 

[ldg]

Actually, several people have purchased this cat tree from Walmart - it's only available in stores, not online, but I think it costs around $45/$50: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...ct_id=10319490

...and here's what it looks like (I think it comes in different colors): http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=200105

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=200108

 

[hosman]

Since Alley got spayed she seems to be more whiney and needy as well.No idea if it is something caused by the operation or just due to the fact she`s an only cat and spoiled.Most likely the latter.

She`s learned that certain meow that usually gets a response or action from me(and is not shy about using it!).Time was she would only meow for food or thinking she was getting food or a treat.Now she "talks" to me if I don`t play with her,if I`m not giving her enough attention,if she wants me to follow her...Kind of cool but,well..you know.

The only out-of-bounds areas in my small bachelor pad are the kitchen counter and my bass guitar and amplifier.Yeah,she`s spoiled.

 

[kittyl0ve4]

Mittens is my lovey girl.

When she is feeling very affectionate and in the mood for lovinz, she will do a little purr/meow [it kinda sounds like "MMMuuurrroooww"], flop onto the floor while rolling on to her back, meowing the whole time and wriggling her body around. She follows me everywhere. Immediately after her breakfast in the morning she will jump into my lap and sleep there as long as possible. She's a Mommy's girl and I LOVE it!

As far as boundaries, my cats know NO boundaries what-so-ever. They go where they want, and no matter how much you try to stop them, there really is no point because when you aren't there they will just do it anyway.

That is why we don't have places in our house where they can't go. They rule this place, which is something I think my boyfriend's mother is in denial about!

 

[lizi59]

The only place that is strictly off-limits to my cats is the kitchen table, especially while we're eating (I've visited friends who actually allow this!). When they were kittens every time they'd get on the table I'd say NO firmly, pick them up and put them on the floor. It takes awhile but it does eventually sink in. None of my cats jumps on the table. Of course, they get into everything else!

Think of it as teaching a toddler. It takes consistency and lots of repitition. They are just being kittens, they're really not out to destroy your home! Just like a child, they would much rather please their "parents". They just have to be taught how to do that.

Good luck with your babies!

 

[3catsn1dog]

Good luck!! Youve gotten tons of good advice from people! I know how you feel about the whole TV thing. My BF built me an oak entertainment stand that we put our TV on and sure enough our GiGi figured out how to scale the stand. It took one time for us to see her doing it and the stand shaking to the point where we were bracing for the TV to fall over that we just rearranged the living room and moved the TV down onto a different stand we had around. Now GiGi has her own little perch that is hers only! We even got lucky and now have a kitchen table to use and eat at because one was given to us so I have the ugly table in the kitchen in front of the bay window that Hercules gets to sleep on and another that he doesnt bother with in our "dining room" that we can sit at and actually manage to eat on! I guess for us it just worked out and was easier for us to give the cats a little of what they wanted and rearrange what we wanted so it was still ours and they had their stuff....Now if I could just get Fatman to stay off my side of the bed!!!

 

[mira's_mommy]

I never used to mind my kitties getting up on surfaces like the counters, tables, mantle, etc...
But I have this ring holder, it's metal and very heavy, in the shape of a cat with his butt in the air, you put your rings on his tail. I never take off my rings but I liked it because, well, it's a cat, so it sets on the corner of the mantle. Next to the mantle on the floor I keep a very old large Japanese urn that my grandpa brought back after he was stationed in Okinawa. It matches the rest of my living room, which is decorated with other items he brought me, as well as random oriental pieces I've collected at yard sales and thrift stores. Well, I woke up one morning to find that one of my kitties had knocked the metal cat off the mantle and sent it crashing into my urn! I don't know how I didn't hear it and wake up. The urn was in a million pieces, and I was devastated. I wanted to be mad at them, but I knew it was my fault for letting them up there and placing those particular items where they were. It was too late to teach them not to get up there, because I've been letting them do it for as long as I've had them, but I didn't want anything else important to me broken. I managed to super glue most of the urn back together. It is missing some pieces in the lid because the pieces were too small to put back together. But if I turn the lid so that the part that's missing pieces is in the back, you can hardly tell it was broken (thank goodness!). I put the cat back in his original place, except this time I put a tiny piece of double-stick tape under each of his paws. Then I went around my entire house and taped down everything that would break if knocked off the surface it was on. I've not had a problem since. Spent a fortune in double-stick tape though.