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cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 12:00:17 AM   
came4U


Posts: 3572
Joined: 1/23/2007
From: London, Ontario
Status: offline 		My kitten (he is about 6 months old now) when he first arrived found new and random spots to sleep.  Now he has narrowed it down to 3 different spots.  One spot is a definate danger to him and us.  He sleeps on the stairs,  either the top stair or half way down the 13 stairs. If we are upstairs he sleeps near the top, if down, he lazes near the bottom. 

I am so worried that in the night (I have a night light for stairs) if we wake up groggy to get water in the kitchen that he will be stepped on.  Not only would it break his lil ribs but in realizing he is there, it could trip us and cause a tumble.

If his napping spots were elsewhere that I didn't want him to sleep (a certain chair, shoes, boots etc) I would usually lightly spritz the area with a vinegar and water solution.  Cats hate that odour and never return.  In this case I cannot do that for obvious reasons (wood stairs plus water and slipping).

I don't do more than scold him (yes, as if he understands me), not about to even spank his lil bum or kick him. 

Any ideas on how to stop this before it becomes a habitual lifelong behavior or do I just stick it out and hope he returns to finding a new area? 

Anyone want a kitten? lol

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 12:18:33 AM   
Aileen1968


Posts: 6062
Joined: 12/12/2007
From: I miss Shore, New Jersey
Status: offline 		Spikes on that tread would solve the problem. 

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 12:18:59 AM   
came4U


Posts: 3572
Joined: 1/23/2007
From: London, Ontario
Status: offline 		tread?

omg Aileen lol. I had to look up tread.  I thought you meant stair runners, which I have none. 

ohhh you bad! spikes. Aaaaaaa.  No, sorry, I can't be that cruel, he is quite fragile (whimpy mama cat he had).  His lil bones are sooo lightweight.

So far, for 3 weeks we have walked over him.  It is an accident waiting to happen.

< Message edited by came4U -- 11/15/2008 12:24:06 AM >

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 12:22:27 AM   
UmbraDomina


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Joined: 7/22/2008
From: SE Michigan
Status: offline 		put down a little double sided scotch tape easy to remove and kitties hate the stickie factor, should not damage the floor either.

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 12:26:07 AM   
came4U


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From: London, Ontario
Status: offline 		sigh, UmbraDomme,

He digs tape.  He never liked store bought toys so we toss balled up paper and yes, ...even tape balled up.  He does enjoy the 'goo-factor'.  Good idea though, if it were any other cat, not the freak cat I have lol.

My friend suggested putting a few scattered chunks of (clean) kitty litter on the stairs, since he knows that smell.  She thought he wouldn't want to sleep where he has potential to sh*t.  It was slippery as hell and it didn't fool him for a minute. 

< Message edited by came4U -- 11/15/2008 12:29:54 AM >

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 1:45:53 AM   
GreedyTop


Posts: 52100
Joined: 5/2/2007
From: Savannah, GA
Status: offline 		does he prefer one side of the stair to the other (i.e. wall side vs banister side?).. try tin foil, 2 or 3 layers, wrinkly so that it makes noise when weight is applied.... 

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 2:19:55 AM   
came4U


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Joined: 1/23/2007
From: London, Ontario
Status: offline 		No, hmmm.  He does move around quite a bit.  So far I have been up and down the stairs and he is in a ball on 4th step (middle), or 2nds step (left), nope, it is all random.  Tin foil hmmm.

It would take tons of it since he is choosing different steps now.  I would have to tape it down and even then I wonder if we will slip on it.  Now I am thinking what else would be noisy that I could put down there.  Besides my screams as I break my neck and legs on the way down.  I am thinking, lemon wood polish? or that orangy stuff? Wonder if that would turn him off enough and if I rub it enought it stops being so glossy/slippery. 

I find myself walking around him/over him. grrr. He is training me. 

< Message edited by came4U -- 11/15/2008 2:25:34 AM >

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 2:29:06 AM   
candystripper


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quote:

ORIGINAL: came4U

My kitten (he is about 6 months old now) when he first arrived found new and random spots to sleep.  Now he has narrowed it down to 3 different spots.  One spot is a definate danger to him and us.  He sleeps on the stairs,  either the top stair or half way down the 13 stairs. If we are upstairs he sleeps near the top, if down, he lazes near the bottom. 

I am so worried that in the night (I have a night light for stairs) if we wake up groggy to get water in the kitchen that he will be stepped on.  Not only would it break his lil ribs but in realizing he is there, it could trip us and cause a tumble.

If his napping spots were elsewhere that I didn't want him to sleep (a certain chair, shoes, boots etc) I would usually lightly spritz the area with a vinegar and water solution.  Cats hate that odour and never return.  In this case I cannot do that for obvious reasons (wood stairs plus water and slipping).

I don't do more than scold him (yes, as if he understands me), not about to even spank his lil bum or kick him. 

Any ideas on how to stop this before it becomes a habitual lifelong behavior or do I just stick it out and hope he returns to finding a new area? 

Anyone want a kitten? lol


Well, it's not easy to 'train' a cat, LOL.  That's why I referred to myself as the *cat's servant*.
 
Have you tried spritzing the kitty's face with a light mixure of lemon jiuce and water whenever he lays there?
 
Short of that, sadly, all I can suggest is confining poor kitty to a room at night.  Just make sure he has his litter box and his food and water.
 
Nice to see you back, came4U.  You were missed.
 
Anyway, hope it works out.  You poor little cat servant, LOL.
 
candystripper 

< Message edited by candystripper -- 11/15/2008 2:30:17 AM >

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 3:17:09 AM   
LookieNoNookie


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quote:

ORIGINAL: UmbraDomina

put down a little double sided scotch tape easy to remove and kitties hate the stickie factor, should not damage the floor either.


If that doesn't work, double stick tape a pit bull to the top of the stairs.

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 3:52:09 AM   
TNstepsout


Posts: 1558
Joined: 8/3/2005
Status: offline 		Double sided tape would have been my suggestion too. Cats really hate the feeling of their feet and fur sticking to things. I've also heard they hate garlic smell, so if you don't mind your stairs smelling like garlic, you might try a bit of that.

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 6:09:21 AM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline 		one day i went out to start the car. put the key in and cranked the engine:

RALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLALLLLLLLLL!  a cat came screatching out.  a cat took a nap under the hood.

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 6:54:58 AM   
TheHeretic


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From: California, USA
Status: offline 		       A spray bottle of water.

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 7:02:36 AM   
SilverMark


Posts: 3457
Joined: 5/9/2007
Status: offline 		Break the habit quickly or you never will...If there is any animal with a more stubborn attitude than a kitty....I haven't seen it!

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 7:29:01 AM   
Phoenixpower


Posts: 8098
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quote:

I am so worried that in the night (I have a night light for stairs) if we wake up groggy to get water in the kitchen that he will be stepped on.  Not only would it break his lil ribs but in realizing he is there, it could trip us and cause a tumble.


Little tip for your safety: wear shoes when you go downstairs....because in 2004 i slipped on stairs just 1 or 2 stairs down (even without a cat being there and even when my landlady was fallen down another staircase in the same house 1-2 days before me and broke her hand) and dislocated my 2nd smallest toe....it not only required an operation to get back (I waited for too long to go to the doctor and at the end they put a wire into it) it also left me unable to work for 5 weeks, because when I started to work after 2.5 weeks again my whole leg turned swollen and dark and cold. So my GP told me to stay at home until my wire was taken out again....and as I was still  in my probation period I had lost my job....so wearing shoes on stairs can do a great job i suppose (though I still don't like wearing shoes at home).

quote:

Cats really hate the feeling of their feet and fur sticking to things.


Indeed. A while ago curry came in licking himself like mad behind his shoulder blade and I discovered a snail was on him.....yep, he didn't like sticky stuff on him..also Pepper recently got somehow tesa-tape on her fur and went banana until she got it off...thats a good tip :o)

quote:

one day i went out to start the car. put the key in and cranked the engine:

RALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLALLLLLLLLL!  a cat came screatching out.  a cat took a nap under the hood.


And that brings back a brilliant memory from my parents last cat. Because my parents keep saying no new cat in the last years when their furries died. But once my 2 cats died who were with my parents as I was abroad one cat turned up at our GP exactly how you describe it (though I am not so sure if it was exactly this part of the car as I am not that familiar with how the car looks like from underneath) but a couple left their home and didnt know that one of their cats was underneath their car in there somewhere. She could still crawl in as she was still very tiny. And after driving for quite a while they stopped their car near my GP and then this cat had enough and popped out. So this cat ended up at my parents as my GP is not a cat-family and the previous owners decided to leave this cat at my parents. She died after 2-3 years on leukemia and my parents decided again "no cat in the next while." But again, at same time, our GP practice disagreed somehow as this time a woman turned up with wild kitten she managed to catch asking if they know someone who might take them. And so again the phone rang at my parents and they have to previously wild kitten...my dad already told our GP at some point he will bring them an elephant...if they keep calling my parents about cats all the time when they decided not to take another one

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 7:30:50 AM   
tweedydaddy


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Status: offline 		Upgrade to a dog

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 7:40:17 AM   
proudsub


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Joined: 1/31/2004
From: Washington
Status: offline 		You can always lock the cat in another room at night with water and a box. 

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 8:04:56 AM   
windchymes


Posts: 9410
Joined: 4/18/2005
Status: offline 		I was also going to suggest the tin foil.  A friend laid it along the edge of her kitchen counters to keep the cat from jumping up there and it worked.

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 8:10:58 AM   
MissEnchanted


Posts: 510
Status: offline 		Your cat is probably in 'protective mode' from the location you mentioned. Like a guard-cat.

How about the offensive tape/foil ideas on the stairs and a little bed (you might have to try a few spots) for your kitty so it can still be guard-kitty?

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 10:37:22 AM   
came4U


Posts: 3572
Joined: 1/23/2007
From: London, Ontario
Status: offline 		Yes, hmm protective mode, him and his Daddy often sleep at the top of the stairs, half of the body at the stairs, head end looking at me. 

Thanks much and kindly for your tips and stories....I can't wet the stairs, I can't yell or spray him............so I shuffled through the house and had tape so wandered a bit.  The bathroom is where all the girly-goo stuff he hates.  (doesn't like being pet after I use handcream etc). hmmm

So, for now, and for 3 hours it has worked.  Balls of tape with cotton balls with some Vicks vapour rub on them on the back-side of each stair (4balls each step).  The occasional stair I put A535 rub.  He runs like the dickens to get up and down now lol. 

He now is sleeping on my bathmat.  I can't win for losin'.


< Message edited by came4U -- 11/15/2008 10:39:17 AM >

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RE: cat with bad habit - 11/15/2008 10:42:22 AM   
GreedyTop


Posts: 52100
Joined: 5/2/2007
From: Savannah, GA
Status: offline 		Keep a flashlight close to hand,, that way you can use it to go downstairs. Not only will will you be able to see him, likely the light will cause him to get up and move....

eta: the only problem I see with using a spritz bottle is that it may make him frightened of the stairs, and therefore reluctant to go up or down, which could pose a problem as far as litter boxes go (if he gets caught upstairs and the box is DOWN, etc...)


< Message edited by GreedyTop -- 11/15/2008 10:43:57 AM >

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