Stealing Shiny Objects

[kimidee]

We adopted Boo, an (approx.) 2 yr. old male stray in October. He's been neutered and has adapted well to our family.

Here's the problem - he has a obsession for small, shiny objects (jewelry, change, paperclips, etc.). He will intensely gaze at the object of his desire and then take it in his mouth and run around with it and then hide for several minutes. Then, when he grows tired of his treasure, it's abandoned wherever he's standing at the moment. We try to put these things away, but he seems to know when we put something down for "just a minute". He does this on almost a daily basis.

He has toys, which he pretty much ignores.

As you can imagine, Boo went CRAZY when we put up xmas decorations. He tried to EAT the lights. The decorations were put away pretty quick.

This behavior is just a mild pain in the butt for us, but I'm afraid he may choke or end up with a bad mouth injury.

Any suggestions for discouraging his fetish would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Edited by kimidee on 01-14-2001 at 04:39 PM]

 

[sandie]

HeHe, sorry I had to giggle, some cats are like that. We have a brother and sister who do that. It is a pain but we do have to put some things up. At least the small things like change and jewelry. However, the only way to keep them out of big stuff is to buy one of those bitter sprays. They make several kind and some work different on different cats. Sometimes with cats, they can be obsessive compulsive like people, some cats like the shiny stuff. We keep cups with lids for change and we keep the bathroom doors shut and I take my rings and such off in there. I know it's a pain, but they are worth the effort in the long run. Try the spray for the big stuff...I hope this helps!!

 

[Anne]

Our Gezer loves to push small objects off shelves and tables and play with them until they disapear under the sofa or our bed

He has trained us well, and we don't leave around change, jewlry or anything else that he might consider a toy. My hubby is better trained - I still have my lapses and I guess we'll find a lot of money when we move house (in a few weeks)

 

[kimidee]

Thanks so much for your replies - i'm glad i'm not the only one with this situation. I will try the bitter spray though, and hopefully this may curb his fetish a little.

Again, thank you.

Kim

 

[hatchytt]

Our Hecate loves to steal shiny things off the table. I've started laying out dragon tears, (the shiny glass pebbles about 3/4 of an inch in diameter), for her to drag off so my keys can be left alone. So far, it's a roaring success. My floor is littered with dragon tears, but, she can't really pick them up. They slide right out of tooth and claw, so she gets bored with them fairly quickly once they hit the floor. But, she's leaving my keys alone as long as there are dragon tears to steal.

 

[eck1kaylie]

My parents female used to steal all of our jewelry (and hair bands) and stash them under a rocking chair in the basement. XD I never did figure out how to stop her.