A Few Questions for Cat People

[orlagu]

Originally Posted by A Y

That is sweetest love letter to a cat I have ever read.
+1.
Mine does most of those things. She's nine years old (human year), meows whenever she enters my room at my presence, tries to open any door/closet in the house to sneak in and sits on my chest until I wake up and feed her. She's a saucy little minx, and we love her too much to ever want to adopt any other cat after she's gone.

 

[bdeuce22]

notes in bold.

also. think about getting another one. i'm not trying to go all cat-hoarder on you, but they will take all their energy out on each other. the first week my girlfriend brought one home, i hated it for all the concerns you have. it was super hyper and wanted to play all the time. two weeks later she got another one and the first one calmed down big time.

Originally Posted by HgaleK

I'm a dog person- never had a cat with the exception of a feral cat that lived in the neighborhood. A couple months ago I adopted a cat. He's a ballin' motherfucker. That said, he's also neurotic as hell. I'm guessing that he's just being a cat, but I wanted to run a few things by yall to see if they're normal, or if I'm being an ignorant pet owner.



-Yowling at me several times a day for no reason. The patio door is open, his litter box is clean, food and water are provided for, and he doesn't want to play. He's been to the vet recently and is totally fine. There aren't any visible injuries either
normal. my 2 cats, well girlfriend's cats, do this when they want a treat or are hungry or just because they want to annoy me.

-Deciding to eat me while we're playing. He'll roll over on back for me to pet him, and then grab me with both front paws, kick repeatedly (claws in) with his back paws, all the while biting/chewing/noming the ever loving hell out of the hand that he grabbed

when mine were younger they did this to me all the time. it's playtime. they have since stopped doing this to me but will do it to each other

-Clawing the **** out of everything. My couch is cheap and I sleep on a futon, so I'm not that worried about this one, but he never stops clawing at things. He's got a cardboard scratch pad, a hemp one, and a tower (he loves the first two and won't even acknowledge the third), but seems to prefer the carpet, couch, and bed.
this was my biggest problem with them. we didn't stop it in time or train them to use a post and ended up having to declaw. i know people think it's cruel, but it came down to $$$$$$ invested in couches, carpet, rugs, etc or their claws. It was EVERYTHING. My office chair, my ottoman, the carpet in my bedroom, my couch, etc. Stop it now or pay the price later


-He won't eat the last several pieces of food or the last few sips of water. He straight up refuses, and will start harassing me for more food when he has about 1/8 of a bowl left.
Common. Most likely the food bowl has crumbs in it. Mine are picky as **** and won't eat the food at the bottom. Water. Same.

-He hates women. I think this is just a good judgement call on his part, but the du takes ages to warm up to chicks while being fairly chill with guys.
don't know what to tell you here.

-Waking me up by clawing me. He'll either hide at the edge of the bed, or at the edge of the covers off to my side and reach his paw under in order to scratch the daylights out of me once between 3 and 6 am depending on what time I went to bed.
happens to me all the time, but now, clawless. much less painful. mine would hide under the bed and wait for the first foot to go on the ground then would ninja attack me. i faked them out by throwing a balled up sock on the ground.

-Super fuxxed sleep schedule. He gets active from 11:30PM till 1AM, 3-6AM, 10-11:45ishAm, and then sleep until 11:30 for the most part.
i read somewhere, cats are most active during sunrise and sunset. sunrise is definitely true, not so sure about sunset. i am always woken up around 4-5am by what sounds like a stampede of water buffalo going through my house. i can hear them running all over the house and sometimes they use my bed as a wrestling ring. it's really cool at 4:30am.

-He won't actually walk up close enough to be petted. He'll go within anywhere from 6-20" of my reach, lay down, and just wait until I go to him.
normal

Thoughts and advice?

 

[rjakapeanut]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

and Lol @ saying you're a pet owner if you have a cat. You aren't. You just happen to live with an animal that you feed and clean up after.

that's awesome.

also funny ass OP, dude.

but yeah, my cat does that thing where he wants me to rub his belly or whatever and he'll wrap up around it, try to kick my hand away, and naw on it/bite it. that's normal playing.

most of that **** is normal.

 

[Andrewc2232]

My cat (about 2 years old when I got her) used to grab my hand and claw me with her back legs too. However, whenever she did this I would immediately pull my hand back and stop playing with her.

After about 6 months she learned not to bite so hard. After about a year, she knew never to paw at me with her claws out and never to bite down more than a gentle nibble.

I can't remember the last time I had a cat scratch/bite mark on me. Cats can definitely be trained if you are consistent with them.

 

[Dakota rube]

Originally Posted by Andrewc2232

Cats can definitely be trained if you are consistent with them.

That's just what the cat has led you to believe.

 

[Piobaire]

Cats are not for everybody and I think it takes a certain type of person to develop a well behaved cat. Also, they really do make better pets if they have been "fixed."

 

[w.o.e.is.me.]

this makes me want to go home and hug my cats.
they hate being hugged.
cute, but privileged bastards.

 

[Rambo]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

Cats are not for everybody and I think it takes a certain type of person to develop a well behaved cat. Also, they really do make better pets if they have been "fixed."
Meaning spayed/neutered & declawed or just the former? When you guys declaw do you do both sets or only the front?

 

[shellshock]

my cat loves biting but i think he's slowly learning to not bite so hard. in the morning he comes in my room and bites my feet.

he also seems to meow loudly once in awhile for no reason from another room, and i just answer back. i dont think he appreciates being mimicked.

it's definitely kitty's world and he does what he wants, but i still pick him up and try to hug him a bunch even though i know he doesn't enjoy it.

 

[Rambo]

Originally Posted by shellshock

it's definitely kitty's world and he does what he wants, but i still pick him up and try to hug him a bunch even though i know he doesn't enjoy it.

Your cat ever look all around the room while you are hugging him? Sort of a "hey, what the hell is going on here? I didn't sign up for this!"

 

[NorCal]

Yep, he's a cat.

 

[HORNS]

Please! Please! Please! PLEASE!!!!!!! Do not de-claw your cat!!!! It is mutilation and the problem it's supposed to address is solved with very little effort from a behavior modification standpoint.

I've got three cats who all wanted, at first, to claw furniture. I used consistent soft scolding of the cat along with removal of them from the area where they were scratching. I also used double-stick tape and put it on areas where they wanted to scratch, like this: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...m?pcatid=14938. This is not gimmickry, it really works. Furthermore, you can stimulate your male cat to use scratching posts by rubbing them with cat nip. Male cats like the nip more than the females do.

And I agree with Mr. Gimpy about your interaction with the cat and their manic swings in behavior - you will learn to notice their body language. Yes, they do roll on their backs, but I have the feeling that they do this not as an invitation but as an instinctive defensive move. But also, I've realized that my cats like some types of tummy rubs versus others. Again, it's a body language thing.

Enjoy your cat! They certainly are fascinating creatures.

 

[Dewi]

Originally Posted by HgaleK

Thoughts and advice?

You now serve a cat. Enjoy your lot in life.

Seriously though, that's all pretty normal. The Wife and I have two cats that we rescued when they were kittens, and most of that is pretty consistent with them. Neither of our cats are all that particular about which sex they prefer (RE: your comment about the cat hating women). One of them loves everyone, the other is scared of just about everything that moves, himself included at times. Ours have stopped waking us up with the clawing, for the most part. That was a thing they did when they were kittens, but that was mostly because they were bored and wanted to play all the time. They've slowed down considerably.

 

[suited]

I agree, don't declaw it. Don't want an animal that barks and needs walked, no dog. Don't want an animal with claws, no cat.

 

[MrGimpy]

Originally Posted by HORNS

Please! Please! Please! PLEASE!!!!!!! Do not de-claw your cat!!!! It is mutilation and the problem it's supposed to address is solved with very little effort from a behavior modification standpoint.


+1000000

For an indoor cat, de-clawing is cruel (and illegal in many places). For an outdoor cat, it's absolutely sadistic.