Summoning all cat owners

[Amargith]

As some of you may know, I'm one of the crazier cat ladies on this forum - and proud of it! I'm also a cat behaviourist who is trying to understand as much as she can about the many possible dynamics between cat and kitty guardian, what can disrupt that dynamic and how easy it is to repair.

I was hoping to pick the brains of fellow cat lovers about their feline companions and how they can drive you crazy, if you guys are up for it(if any dog or other pet lovers feel left out, they can partake with their pet in mind too, of course - just be sure to name that species ) and how you manage to deal with that!

Here are my answers to the series of questions as a template:


Alright, so first off . We all know that all relationships have their ups and downs - so what are your 3 main frustrations with your feline roommate's conduct? Do they leave the toilet seat up?

I'd have to say that litter box issues and intercat aggression were the most annoying ones - and they were tied together, unfortunately. I also have a feral cat who is phobic of people.



And how much does their behaviour affect you? Does it ever keep you up in the middle of the night?

It has occasionally literally kept me up when they'd peed on the bed and I was stuck cleaning it up at 1 am in the evening
Aside from that, I was scared and torn. I couldn't keep living like this nor put my bf through this stuff, but I also didn't want to bring the cat I'd saved from the pound back to the very place she was terrified of. Those two months there were a nightmare for her.



Are they things you can live with or you feel a need to fix right now?

In my case, when my cat started peeing on my couch and bed 3 times a day...there was definitely a sense of urgency to fix it or at least find a way to make it manageable - and the word 'shelter' did get mentioned several times in our household.


Where have you gone for answers and what tools and resources did you use to try and fix it? Did you buy anything to fix it and was it worth the money you spent on it?

I personally used google and dove into books to understand what was going on. And I do owe Pam Johnson Bennett everything on helping me fix the problem. Other than that, I bought some Feliway and toys to help alleviate her stress a bit. The Feliway is quite expensive (20+euro), while most fishing rod toys are around 10. The book itself was around 10 as well and money well spent, for sure.



What were the downsides of the stuff you bought and used to try and address the problem?

It took me a while to digest and process all the information and then put it all together. The whole process took me 9 months to get rid of the behaviour entirely, but luckily, it did rapidly show improvement and diminishing accidents, so I stuck to it. The Feliway I only used the first month and I did slack off on the playtime, which I shouldn't have.


What would be your idea of the perfect solution?

I would've saved myself a lot of hassle reading those books before I got a second and third cat as it would've allowed me to prevent the problems altogether.

 

[ChocolateMoose123]

My mom has a cat named Peppers who refuses to eat anything but cooked chicken and kitty formula.

Her mother was feral and my mom has had her since birth. Her littermates have all been adopted and don't have the fussy diet she has. She also has anxiety based allopecia? She scratches and over grooms to the point she draws blood.

About the food, we have tried everything but she just won't eat anything else - no matter how hungry she is.

 

[miss fortune]

our cats are amazingly ungrateful towards any food that isn't dry cat food, so any time we try to give them a treat they hold it in great disdain... they also try to eat random things that I'm working on in the kitchen when I turn my back... one of our cats ate half of a salad cats aren't supposed to even THINK about eating salad!

they think that they belong on the countertop no matter how many ways we've tried to discourage them, including coating it with aluminum foil (they didn't mind how it felt on their feet) and putting waxed paper on it so they would slip off with it... they DID slip off, dust themselves off and jump right back up

they HATE our dog... admittedly, he's a giant clumsy mess, but even when he's nice and just wants to give them a gentle sniff they hiss and claw at him like he's satan incarnate coming for their atrophied kitty souls... he almost never does anything towards them but they are SUPER aggressive towards him... all he has to do is merely walk into the room and they go full on halloween cat on him and hiss and growl like nobody's business

they always toss their kitty litter out of the box with over enthusiastic kicking of it... we've solved that by getting a mat to go around the box that we can shake out and wash... still annoying though

basically our cats are total assholes

 

[cascadeco]

I have a really, really good cat - I consider myself lucky.

The only issues I do have are I think related to the nature of our lives, in that I've lived on my own, by myself, for most of the past 14 years when I got her as a 4 month old kitten (it's been just she and I for all but maybe 3 of those years), and so I think she's highly possessive of me and becomes discontent and lonely (understandably) when I am away too much. She's also, since a young kitten, very aggressive towards other cats -- well, in the limited way she can be, since she's a 100% indoor cat. In her first year, even, when I was living in an apartment and she saw a cat outside, she'd puff up, start breathing fast/loudly, and occasionally lunge at the window.

13 years later...even if I wanted to get another cat to ease loneliness while I'm at work (though I think she's pretty much ok when I'm at work because she sleeps), I think it would cause her huge amounts of stress / would be a long transition period and I'm not even sure she'd in the end be ok with another cat.

All of that said -- the issues I have had, though they have resolved themselves, have been tied to peeing. The first time was in my first place here, about 6 years ago. It was a ground-level, small place, with cats roaming outside, and in the 2nd year there I noticed she was peeing on a floor mat next to a door that led outside --- in my head, was 'logical' from her pov since I presume she was proclaiming her territory to the cats wandering outside. From my pov, it was annoying, but since it was in the laundry room and only on that one little rug, it wasn't a huge deal.

Fast forward a few years later, in a different apartment, and I noticed one summer after coming home from a 3-day camping trip that she had peed on the entryway rug. Big picture, yeah it was annoying from my pov, but I also consider it my fault, because she was home alone and I had been gone at least one day many of the weekends that summer, hiking, so by that point it makes sense to me that she had decided to 'act out'. I interpreted it that way at least. She was lonely, stressed, etc, I'm guessing. I did a combo of moving her litter box to a place that was more open and to her liking, and after several cleanings of the carpet I believe she stopped peeing on it.

Fast forward a year or two later, she did the peeing thing again in the entry carpet, when I had someone staying with me. I think this may have been stress, and someone new 'invading' her home/ disrupting things. I interpreted it as her proclaiming her discontent.

(The first peeing time I did take her to the vet to make sure it wasn't a medical thing causing her to suddenly not use her litter box)

So yeah... litter box stuff and possessiveness.

 

[five sounds]

Alright, so first off . We all know that all relationships have their ups and downs - so what are your 3 main frustrations with your feline roommate's conduct? Do they leave the toilet seat up?

poos and pukes on the floor, trying to escape/run out the door, afraid of the drums



And how much does their behaviour affect you? Does it ever keep you up in the middle of the night?

meh not very much. i worry about him escaping, espeically with house mates and a wonky door. the poos and pukes suck but with all wood floors it's pretty easy clean up.


Are they things you can live with or you feel a need to fix right now?

i think i can deal. i think about getting him a kitty or puppy friend.

Where have you gone for answers and what tools and resources did you use to try and fix it? Did you buy anything to fix it and was it worth the money you spent on it?

google. i bought a huge mat with little divits in it for the litter he used to track and it helped a lot.



What were the downsides of the stuff you bought and used to try and address the problem?

i've definitely bought things for him that he didn't like. a scratcher, some toys...kinda frustrating to waste the money, but i think it's just like a kid where when they can't tell you you just gotta figure it out. i don't spend money on toys very much anymore.


What would be your idea of the perfect solution?

probably if i were a cat i'd be better at understanding him. also i want to be a cat. my answer is: be a cat

 

[Amargith]

Loving the feedback so far, peeps and will answer all of this in time (and omg, does this make my brain go 'omg, that you could fix that way, this that way and ohhhh)!

For the record, I fucked the OP up, but [MENTION=18819]five sounds[/MENTION] actually read my fellow ENFP mind on how I envisioned the answers being structured so if you guys could use that template, that would be awesome sauce!

 

[cascadeco]

Loving the feedback so far, peeps and will answer all of this in time (and omg, does this make my brain go 'omg, that you could fix that way, this that way and ohhhh)!

For the record, I fucked the OP up, but [MENTION=18819]five sounds[/MENTION] actually read my fellow ENFP mind on how I envisioned the answers being structured so if you guys could use that template, that would be awesome sauce!

sorry re not using template, I did see it, but it was easier for me to get my thoughts out by not using it. Let me know if you have specific questions though!

Also, I think it's really cool that you're working on carving out your own niche/career!!

 

[Pionart]

Oh oh! I'm a cat owner! I have been summoned!

summmoned??? what is this black magic u evil person, get awai frm mii

 

[Rune]

Alright, so first off . We all know that all relationships have their ups and downs - so what are your 3 main frustrations with your feline roommate's conduct? Do they leave the toilet seat up?

My cat Trouble has an eating problem..
She used to poop and pee on on bed.
She still uses her claws a lot.

And how much does their behaviour affect you? Does it ever keep you up in the middle of the night?

Nah, she has 6 other kitty friends to bother..


Are they things you can live with or you feel a need to fix right now?
We fixed the pooping and peeing thing [somehow].. but.. the other stuff is tolerable..
I do feel sorry for her not being able to run around as much and that I replaced love and playtime with treats, causing her to find security in food, but she always has plenty of food around, and hopefully she will not think about eating so much.



Where have you gone for answers and what tools and resources did you use to try and fix it? Did you buy anything to fix it and was it worth the money you spent on it?
I'm not sure how we fixed the poop/pee thing.
Just time, or her very short attention span fixed it, I'm guessing.. or maybe she was mad at us. I don't know.

The food thing is a work in progress.
The dude we rent a room from set up a food tray that keeps food in the tray at all times, so they don't get all riled up over food anymore. She has lost a small amount of weight since it was set up.

The claw thing isn't a huge deal.. but it used to be sort of worse.. I guess.. She would attack my feet under the covers, sometimes when I was sleeping, and I had to keep my feet and hands where she could see them.. and I just got used to that I guess.
She used to be more gentle, but.. I really think she forgets to be gentle with me sometimes.. because she's sort of a hyper, energetic cat.

Basically, though, our housemates are the animal experts. They have 6 cats. xD


What were the downsides of the stuff you bought and used to try and address the problem?
Food being out all of the time means she always gets to eat and get bigger.
With the claws thing, she sort of trained ME.. lol.. not sure if that's really a downside, though, since it wasn't a huge deal..

What would be your idea of the perfect solution?
If I could play with her more so she wouldn't eat as much..