Selfish/attention

[kittiekitten]

just a little background: We have 4 cats (serj almost 2 years old, sascha, the mom, almost 2, the helmytt and thao are 10 months old). 1 we have had for a little over a year(serj). We adopted a cat from the humane society only to fnd out she was pregnant and she had her kittens less then a month after we had her. we kept her and the kittens. serj took over being their "dad" and was always very loving and they act just like a family would, affectionate to eachother and all of that stuff when we finally let them all be together. from the age of 3 to 4.5 months old (the kittens) i was out of state and my fiance watched them. he was working long hours so the cats did not get as much attention as they do when i am home. when i got home, one of the kittens,helmytt, was timid, but i have worked with him and he has come around, he listens very well and hardly ever does anything to get "in trouble". serj, the cat we had before we got the mother is a very loving cat too and listens and never gets in trouble. the mother, sascha, was very skidish when we got her but i have worked with her and she slowly came around and once we got her fixed she has became a lot more loving and never gets "in trouble". now to the "problem" cat. thao is crazy about attention. he will get in trouble to get attention, he will do anything for it. if i am giving them catnip, food or anything he pushes his way so he is first. he does not listen at all either. i make sure if i give one cat attention they all get attention (if in the same room) and i mix up the order they get attention so there is no favorites. i am almost at whits end trying to figure out what is wrong. he is soo selfish! he does things he KNOWS he is not suppose to do, and when i catch him and tell him to get down or stop he looks at me and acts like he is going to stop, only to do it again right in front of me. i have tried to spend a little bit of extra time with him and that doesnt seem to work. i am going crazy! sorry there isnt more details but it is late. please i need some advice! if there are any questions please feel free to ask. any advice or help is greatly appreciated.

 

[kittiekitten]

so i guess my actual question is, what should i do with him to make him stop being so selfish and so he will listen.

 

[punkygirl0101]

Cats are naturally independant, and they all think they would much rather prefer not listening. He sounds to me like a normal cat

.

One thing you can do to keep him off of things you don't want him on, or to correct bad behavior is to squirt him with a water bottle when you catch him in the act, and say "NO". I have had great success with the water bottle.

 

[larke]

He sounds exactly like my latest did at that age! He's normal, testing everything and challenging everyone just like a teenage boy who's discovered he's hot stuff :-). He'll settle down in a while, but you should be happy he's normal and just feeling his oats. It may be a nuisance to live with for now, but I wouldn't try to change him much (and you won't!), just let him get on with it and over it. Squirting water won't do anything but make him skittish.

 

[punkygirl0101]

I use that method all the time, and none of my cats are skittish the least.

 

[larke]

Well, if I had 30 cats, I'd probably be using a fireman's hose!

 

[kittiekitten]

thanks for the advice! the others are just so much better at listening and staying out of things they know they arent suppose to, i just thought maybe his behavior was learned from a lack of attention during the early months or i spoiled them too much. i did read some other posts and i think i am going to put tin foil on my counter and if he gets up just put him down and make a loud noise (i read it in other posts) and see if that works. i just wish he wouldnt think he had to be up front right there all the time. if i am giving them treats, he will eat his and go try and eat his mom and try and eat hers or any of the other cat's if they havent got theirs down yet. if one cat gets something, he has to investigate and will steal it or eat it or whatnot. but i will just keep working with him and hopefully he will get over this stage. it is a pain at times, but i love them way too much, i just wondered if i did something wrong with him. thanks again for all the advice!!!! have a great week!

 

[kittiekitten]

also i read in one article posted at the top of the behavior forum not to use squirt bottles, i did use them before, but with him he didnt care at all so i just stopped all together. i also felt bad bc if they saw the squirt bottle or if i was using some febreeze, some of them would sorta run away bc they thought they would be squirted and i thought it was installing negative reactions. to each their own, i think it did help a little, but with my cats i think it did more harm then good. thanks again!