Long story short: recently, my best friend’s cat gave birth to kittens, and he decided to give them away. He asked me if I wanted the mother and one of the kittens. Since I have been having a problem with mice, I accepted. But Missy, the mother, soon left permanently, so now I’m stuck raising her son, Alex.
Problem is, Alex is one mischievous cat:
He follows me ALL THE TIME, even to the bathroom. And if I don’t let him, he bawls like a baby!
He loves to play- by BITING. Most often he just nibbles playfully, but sometimes, he bites HARD.
He loves to play on places I’ve forbidden him to, like my bed or my PC.
Yes, I spank him and have been spraying him with water to try to teach him to behave. But so far, no luck. Any ideas on how to handle him?
He follows you because he thinks you’re his father. Spanking him will only lead to a crazy cat when he’s an adult. What you gotta do is yell at him like adults do to children when they do things they shouldn’t do. As for the biting, I think he’s looking for some milk or food. Finnaly, for the forbidden places: they seem to be the most interesting/comfortable places for him. You gotta give him something else to distract him so he doesn’t go to such places.
Well, my cat used to be like that… sometimes they grow out of it after a while…
unlike dogs however, cats take a lot more effort to train. took mine about 2-3 years to really teach him… but one thing that really helped my cat out was when it grew up a bit, get another kitten for a short time (babysit one or something)… the other cat will hate it and probably will just mope around by his food dish all day for the rest of it’s life (well, that and sleep on the couch, bed, rocking chair, table, or any other spot).
other than that, I have no clue… my cat liked it when I sprayed it with water… but I can’t remember what I did… but now the cat will come when I call for it… your efforts will be your reward when you have a cat.
Well, unlike most people, if my cats misbehave my dad abuses them… but, I usually yell at them and they’ll do as told when I yell once. But, if you stick with the water bottle, maybe that’ll work.
Just stay patient with him and spray him when he’s bad…
my cat LOVES being spanked. Be nice to the little guy, those problems are signs he LIKES you. As long as he doesn’t get rid of his needs there he’ll be fine. Just shoo him off when he gets behind your pc so he doesn’t chew up your wires.
Get him some toys, some treats and maybe even a little buddy.
He’s still in his kitten stage so he’s bound to be rebellious. Don’t spank him at all, he’ll just be even more retarded as he ages. That’s what happened to my dog…well there are be differences between dogs and cats but by the sounds of it your cat has an un-natural habit of biting. Cats usually scratch although if they’re still young they have a tendency to devour your fingers…just firmly tell him no and give him a gentle tap.
As for the sleeping in bad places, it might be a bad alternative, but spray with a scent that turns a cat off. I wouldn’t know what repels a cat since mine never had a problem and generally acts like she owns the house so she’s very docile…however if I put an object or spray something that she’s not allowed to be near, she wont go near my computer, for instance.
And yes they usually grow out of it.
I’ve had a lot of cats over the years since we’ve lived in such a large farmhouse. Yeah a lot of them are rambunctious. Some are mean, some just loaf around, it just kind of depends on the cat. As long as you take care of the cat it’ll usually turn out ok. I’ve even had a couple of our feral cats come to trust us and live in our house.
Originally posted by SweetCookiePie
[b]My step-mom’s cat is exceptionally cruel to everyone that isn’t my step-mom, he’ll attack you while you sleep, he’s done it to me loads of times.
Anyway, Try hitting him with a newspaper or pillow when he’s bad. [/b]
I don’t see what’s the problem, Wil. I have four grown cats and they all do that, especially the bitting and playing on the bed parts.
Anyway, does your cat go outside? He’s young. He needs to play. Give him some toys, like Sin said. Take the time to play with him. I’ve never been able to teach any of my cats to behave. I’ve learned to appreciate them as they are or something.
Hmm… I guess you guys have a point: the loss of his mother might have caused him to develop this obsessive behavior.
Buying him some toys to chew on might be a good idea. Also, I remember seeing some stuff for keeping dogs and cats off of lawns at my local Pet Shop. I don’t know if it’s safe for indoors use, but I’ll ask.
And, to be TOTALLY fair, he does have his nice moments, too. Like when he joins me to sleep in the couch. He actually allows himself to fall sideways on top of me! :yipee:
Thanks for the tips, folks. And hey, if you think of more, let me know!
Wil, it sounds like normal behaviour for a cat of that age. As for the niting, a quick (but not hard) tap to the bridge of the nose lets the cat know that the behaviour is not acceptable (its the same motion the the parent cat deals to the youngster when they are out of line). My cat had all of the above problems, but tshe did grow out of them.
Clarification just for VE:
As for the cat sleeping on the bed, you should probably give up now
Toys ar also a good way to keep the cat amused. Remember, the little kitty feels safe around you (you are its parent figure) and as such will not want to leave you until it feels ready. Thats also why it mews when it can not get to you, as its scared and lost, so it reverts to its normal distress behaviour.
Originally posted by Wilfredo Martinez 3) He loves to play on places I’ve forbidden him to, like my bed or my PC.
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Yea, I wish I had a cat - but my condo just isn’t big enough for a cat, which sucks, because cats fucking rule. That and my mom hates cats…but the second I move out, I’m getting a cat.
Anyway, get him some toys, things to keep him occupied.
The bed doesn’t matter much as long as he’s potty trained to go in the litter box. 95% of cats are clean freaks anyway. He’ll always want your attention as long as you’re nice to him. You should actually be happy you have a sociable cat. A lot of cats are really “bleh” , which isn’t all that fun. However, like a little kid, the little fella will be a time sink you’ll have to deal with.
Suggestions for toys: nothing complicated; my cat loves it if you run around with string (he’ll run after it, hide and pounce etc, or paw at it if you dangle it in front of him) and balls. Try dif toys like fake mice and stuff. He might like that. Something we recently tried was this cheap little rechargeable remote controlled car. Think of the combination of the movability of the ball and the control of the string. Very neat. Very funny.
Also, with the cat, you might end up getting a chick 8P
Lazer pointers are great cat toys, hours of laughs. Anyway when he bites you bat his nose semi-softly, but firmly, it worked on my cat that bit. Male cats tend to get more docile after they get neutered too. What I do with my kittens is pick them up and toss them gently to a safe spot a foot or 2 away and they learned not to go under the computers.
Just ignore the cat. In time, it will stop doing these things or you throw it outside. Most cats prefer to go outside than to stay in. Once you let a cat outside, usually they only come in when it’s hot, cold, rainy, or they are just hungry.
Your cat sounds perfectly normal for his age. They are wild and seemingly rebellious: Pretty similar to a lot of human teenagers, I’d say. From my experience it doesn’t help to spank, or spray the cat with water, yelling helps a little, but cats are better at learning what is right than what is wrong: Give him a treat when he behaves like you want him to. As for the teeth: That is true for most young animals, their teeth are growing and itch, biting things helps against that. Buy him a chewing toy like others have already mentioned. And my cat follows me around too, and bawls if there’s a hinderance in his way. Rather than being annoyed you should be honoured, it’s very unusual really, they grow out of it, though.
Umm, his cat doesn’t have a bed problem.