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How do I deal with our new cat's obsessions?



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 20th 13, 05:33 PM
OOMICHELLEOO OOMICHELLEOO is offline
Junior Member
 
First recorded activity by CatBanter: Sep 2013
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Posts: 1
Unhappy How do I deal with our new cat's obsessions?

I'm new here and I need some advice on our three year old Persian cat that we recently adopted a few months ago. A little history about her. When we first adopted her, she came with a whole gaggle of problems that her old owner conveniently didn't mention. (NOTE: we paid $100 for this cat. We found her on craigslist. We understood the risk.) We even asked the owner specific questions, and she blatantly lied to us. For one, we asked if she gets along with other cats. We have a male cat. The only reason why we got another cat was because I started working again and my other cat was getting a bit lonely. Well, she ended up totally not getting along with him, and now they both hate each other her. My male cat is now totally skiddish and weird, but that's a whole other ball of wax. Now I have two lonely cats who won't play with each other. Then we asked if the cat had any health problems, and she said that she did not. Well that was a bold face lie. Within the first day, we noticed that 'Critter' (is her name) had a nasty bladder infection. Really no surprise though, since her last owner had her on a cheap kibble diet. She gave us a bag of it to take home, and we tossed it. We immediately put her on a no-grain natural wetfood diet. Still, she had this bladder infection and we had to deal with it. We took her to the vet, and ended up finding out that on top of the bladder infection, she had tapeworm (which we had to get both our cats treated). The bladder infection ended up being chronic. And we ended up spending over a thousand dollars treating her. This within the first month of having her. That $100 that I already thought was a ridiculous amount to pay in the first place, started to become denser. But, it was worth it. I was happy to accommodate this poor cat who was obviously being neglected. I'm also happy to say that she is a lot better now. We have her on a no carb diet.

Even though she is physically healthier now, there is still her mental health to contend with. One problem worth mentioning is her obsessive compulsive behavior. Once she gets an idea in her head, she cannot let it go until she gets her way. And that is the basis of my problem today, her obsessiveness towards food. This cat is a bottomless pit. We feed her and my other cat 4 times a day, and she definitely gets enough calories for her size. On top of that, I give her treats when she's good (which are pieces of boiled organic chicken), but nothing more than 10 calories, as I have been advised. I've even accidentally overfed her a couple times, due to not communicating with my husband on whether he had fed her or not, and still she was hungry. Anything that reminds her of food (cooking in the kitchen, hearing the sound of can being opened, even just getting up and getting some water for myself), triggers this idea that she is now going to be fed, even after she had just ate seconds ago. I mean, she will literally start begging even while she has food in her mouth. O_o When you don't feed her, this is when she will pace back and forth or in circles around the living room while, here and there, meowing excessively, and every time we got up to get something from the kitchen she would follow us (both my husband and I have tripped over her several times and almost landed flat on our faces). At first, we just ignored her. Something suggested by the ASPCA website and other organizations dealing in animals. We figured by giving in, we were rewarding her bad behavior, thus making the problem even worse. But, what do you do when a cat paces back and forth and begs for four hours straight (which is the amount of time between meals)? Should I skip out on not feeding her for the second meal and just ignore her? Well, we tried that, and it didn't work. She continued to pace and beg, until her 3rd meal. At this point, I'm stressed out. I don't want to starve the cat for the day to make a point. And if she continues onto the next day? Then what? Another day of starvation until she is so famished she can no longer beg? I find that cruel. And besides, I don't think that would even work. I find that the ignoring technique is completely ineffective for her. She has learned nothing from it. So my husband and I now use the spray bottle and we also clap to produce an annoying sound that will make her get out of the kitchen and also stop begging. We figure, out of site out of mind. When she begs for food while we're eating, we make her go upstairs via spray bottle. On top of that, we play with her for an hour a day to get her mind off of food. This has become more effective, and she is learning that she is not allowed to beg or follow people into the kitchen anymore. However, she still does it, and every time we have to spray her and clap. I would like to get it to the point where we don't have to do that every time. Where she can behave without punishment.

Then, there's my second problem -- mornings. Everyday, from 5am - 7pm, she will yowl throughout the house relentlessly, again, begging for food. She will even jump on the bed and pace around crying. Did the whole Ignoring her thing. Spent a couple months wearing earplugs in the morning and kicking her out of the room and closing the door (or else she will try to wake you up physically). It was completely ineffective. She still sat outside the door and in the living room crying relentlessly. Not only that, but wearing earplugs isn't a very good idea when you have to hear your alarm in the morning to go to work (I was almost late for work several times during the week). So now, I'm waking up 2 hours before I have to go to work, to basically shut this cat up. I tried to ignore her, that didn't work. So, I do the whole spraying and clapping thing, and still she does it every morning. Just like at meal time, when she begs, I am, again, making this effort to get her to stop begging and meowing instead of her catching on and just not doing it in the first place. My husband and I are pretty stressed out. It has even crossed our minds to get give her up for adoption due to that and other problems we are having with her that are inconveniencing our lives and the life of our other cat. But we would never do that, she is part of our family for good. We're just frustrated and need to figure out how to deal with this problem. This morning while she was doing her usual morning yowling ritual, I literally screamed for her to 'shutup'. And you know what? She did. But, I ended up spending the rest of my 2 hours thinking about it and feeling horrible about it, and ended up, again, losing sleep. I've had my male cat for 7 years, and I have never once yelled at him or told him to shutup, so you can imagine this made me feel horrible. So, my question is, what other training techniques are there (that doesn't involve ineffectively ignoring, spraying, clapping or now yelling, and also doesn't involve medication or lousy homeopathic placebo meds) to get my cat to eventually behave on her own? All cats are unique with unique problems. A general 'ignore them' technique may apply to most cats, but certainly not mine. Please help!
  #2  
Old September 20th 13, 07:21 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
chaniarts[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 40
Default How do I deal with our new cat's obsessions?

On 9/20/2013 9:33 AM, OOMICHELLEOO wrote:
I'm new here and I need some advice on our three year old Persian cat
that we recently adopted a few months ago. A little history about her.
When we first adopted her, she came with a whole gaggle of problems that
her old owner conveniently didn't mention. (NOTE: we paid $100 for this
cat. We found her on craigslist. We understood the risk.) We even asked
the owner specific questions, and she blatantly lied to us. For one, we
asked if she gets along with other cats. We have a male cat. The only
reason why we got another cat was because I started working again and my
other cat was getting a bit lonely. Well, she ended up totally not
getting along with him, and now they both hate each other her. My male
cat is now totally skiddish and weird, but that's a whole other ball of
wax. Now I have two lonely cats who won't play with each other. Then we
asked if the cat had any health problems, and she said that she did not.
Well that was a bold face lie. Within the first day, we noticed that
'Critter' (is her name) had a nasty bladder infection. Really no
surprise though, since her last owner had her on a cheap kibble diet.
She gave us a bag of it to take home, and we tossed it. We immediately
put her on a no-grain natural wetfood diet. Still, she had this bladder
infection and we had to deal with it. We took her to the vet, and ended
up finding out that on top of the bladder infection, she had tapeworm
(which we had to get both our cats treated). The bladder infection ended
up being chronic. And we ended up spending over a thousand dollars
treating her. This within the first month of having her. That $100 that
I already thought was a ridiculous amount to pay in the first place,
started to become denser. But, it was worth it. I was happy to
accommodate this poor cat who was obviously being neglected. I'm also
happy to say that she is a lot better now. We have her on a no carb
diet.

Even though she is physically healthier now, there is still her mental
health to contend with. One problem worth mentioning is her obsessive
compulsive behavior. Once she gets an idea in her head, she cannot let
it go until she gets her way. And that is the basis of my problem today,
her obsessiveness towards food. This cat is a bottomless pit. We feed
her and my other cat 4 times a day, and she definitely gets enough
calories for her size. On top of that, I give her treats when she's good
(which are pieces of boiled organic chicken), but nothing more than 10
calories, as I have been advised. I've even accidentally overfed her a
couple times, due to not communicating with my husband on whether he had
fed her or not, and still she was hungry. Anything that reminds her of
food (cooking in the kitchen, hearing the sound of can being opened,
even just getting up and getting some water for myself), triggers this
idea that she is now going to be fed, even after she had just ate
seconds ago. I mean, she will literally start begging even while she has
food in her mouth. O_o When you don't feed her, this is when she will
pace back and forth or in circles around the living room while, here and
there, meowing excessively, and every time we got up to get something
from the kitchen she would follow us (both my husband and I have tripped
over her several times and almost landed flat on our faces). At first,
we just ignored her. Something suggested by the ASPCA website and other
organizations dealing in animals. We figured by giving in, we were
rewarding her bad behavior, thus making the problem even worse. But,
what do you do when a cat paces back and forth and begs for four hours
straight (which is the amount of time between meals)? Should I skip out
on not feeding her for the second meal and just ignore her? Well, we
tried that, and it didn't work. She continued to pace and beg, until her
3rd meal. At this point, I'm stressed out. I don't want to starve the
cat for the day to make a point. And if she continues onto the next day?
Then what? Another day of starvation until she is so famished she can no
longer beg? I find that cruel. And besides, I don't think that would
even work. I find that the ignoring technique is completely ineffective
for her. She has learned nothing from it. So my husband and I now use
the spray bottle and we also clap to produce an annoying sound that will
make her get out of the kitchen and also stop begging. We figure, out of
site out of mind. When she begs for food while we're eating, we make her
go upstairs via spray bottle. On top of that, we play with her for an
hour a day to get her mind off of food. This has become more effective,
and she is learning that she is not allowed to beg or follow people into
the kitchen anymore. However, she still does it, and every time we have
to spray her and clap. I would like to get it to the point where we
don't have to do that every time. Where she can behave without
punishment.


cats won't starve if they're not fed every 4 hours. ours are fed a small
amount 2x/day, and when the pet sitter is here, they only get the same
amount 1x/day.


Then, there's my second problem -- mornings. Everyday, from 5am - 7pm,
she will yowl throughout the house relentlessly, again, begging for
food. She will even jump on the bed and pace around crying. Did the
whole Ignoring her thing. Spent a couple months wearing earplugs in the
morning and kicking her out of the room and closing the door (or else
she will try to wake you up physically). It was completely ineffective.
She still sat outside the door and in the living room crying
relentlessly. Not only that, but wearing earplugs isn't a very good idea
when you have to hear your alarm in the morning to go to work (I was
almost late for work several times during the week). So now, I'm waking
up 2 hours before I have to go to work, to basically shut this cat up. I
tried to ignore her, that didn't work. So, I do the whole spraying and
clapping thing, and still she does it every morning. Just like at meal
time, when she begs, I am, again, making this effort to get her to stop
begging and meowing instead of her catching on and just not doing it in
the first place. My husband and I are pretty stressed out. It has even
crossed our minds to get give her up for adoption due to that and other
problems we are having with her that are inconveniencing our lives and
the life of our other cat. But we would never do that, she is part of
our family for good. We're just frustrated and need to figure out how to
deal with this problem. This morning while she was doing her usual
morning yowling ritual, I literally screamed for her to 'shutup'. And
you know what? She did. But, I ended up spending the rest of my 2 hours
thinking about it and feeling horrible about it, and ended up, again,
losing sleep. I've had my male cat for 7 years, and I have never once
yelled at him or told him to shutup, so you can imagine this made me
feel horrible. So, my question is, what other training techniques are
there (that doesn't involve ineffectively ignoring, spraying, clapping
or now yelling, and also doesn't involve medication or lousy homeopathic
placebo meds) to get my cat to eventually behave on her own? All cats
are unique with unique problems. A general 'ignore them' technique may
apply to most cats, but certainly not mine. Please help!


valium. either you, or her, or both.
  #3  
Old September 20th 13, 07:23 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Mack A. Damia
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 212
Default How do I deal with our new cat's obsessions?

On Fri, 20 Sep 2013 17:33:25 +0100, OOMICHELLEOO
wrote:


I'm new here and I need some advice on our three year old Persian cat
that we recently adopted a few months ago. A little history about her.
When we first adopted her, she came with a whole gaggle of problems that
her old owner conveniently didn't mention. (NOTE: we paid $100 for this
cat. We found her on craigslist. We understood the risk.) We even asked
the owner specific questions, and she blatantly lied to us. For one, we
asked if she gets along with other cats. We have a male cat. The only
reason why we got another cat was because I started working again and my
other cat was getting a bit lonely. Well, she ended up totally not
getting along with him, and now they both hate each other her. My male
cat is now totally skiddish and weird, but that's a whole other ball of
wax. Now I have two lonely cats who won't play with each other. Then we
asked if the cat had any health problems, and she said that she did not.
Well that was a bold face lie. Within the first day, we noticed that
'Critter' (is her name) had a nasty bladder infection. Really no
surprise though, since her last owner had her on a cheap kibble diet.
She gave us a bag of it to take home, and we tossed it. We immediately
put her on a no-grain natural wetfood diet. Still, she had this bladder
infection and we had to deal with it. We took her to the vet, and ended
up finding out that on top of the bladder infection, she had tapeworm
(which we had to get both our cats treated). The bladder infection ended
up being chronic. And we ended up spending over a thousand dollars
treating her. This within the first month of having her. That $100 that
I already thought was a ridiculous amount to pay in the first place,
started to become denser. But, it was worth it. I was happy to
accommodate this poor cat who was obviously being neglected. I'm also
happy to say that she is a lot better now. We have her on a no carb
diet.

Even though she is physically healthier now, there is still her mental
health to contend with. One problem worth mentioning is her obsessive
compulsive behavior. Once she gets an idea in her head, she cannot let
it go until she gets her way. And that is the basis of my problem today,
her obsessiveness towards food. This cat is a bottomless pit. We feed
her and my other cat 4 times a day, and she definitely gets enough
calories for her size. On top of that, I give her treats when she's good
(which are pieces of boiled organic chicken), but nothing more than 10
calories, as I have been advised. I've even accidentally overfed her a
couple times, due to not communicating with my husband on whether he had
fed her or not, and still she was hungry. Anything that reminds her of
food (cooking in the kitchen, hearing the sound of can being opened,
even just getting up and getting some water for myself), triggers this
idea that she is now going to be fed, even after she had just ate
seconds ago. I mean, she will literally start begging even while she has
food in her mouth. O_o When you don't feed her, this is when she will
pace back and forth or in circles around the living room while, here and
there, meowing excessively, and every time we got up to get something
from the kitchen she would follow us (both my husband and I have tripped
over her several times and almost landed flat on our faces). At first,
we just ignored her. Something suggested by the ASPCA website and other
organizations dealing in animals. We figured by giving in, we were
rewarding her bad behavior, thus making the problem even worse. But,
what do you do when a cat paces back and forth and begs for four hours
straight (which is the amount of time between meals)? Should I skip out
on not feeding her for the second meal and just ignore her? Well, we
tried that, and it didn't work. She continued to pace and beg, until her
3rd meal. At this point, I'm stressed out. I don't want to starve the
cat for the day to make a point. And if she continues onto the next day?
Then what? Another day of starvation until she is so famished she can no
longer beg? I find that cruel. And besides, I don't think that would
even work. I find that the ignoring technique is completely ineffective
for her. She has learned nothing from it. So my husband and I now use
the spray bottle and we also clap to produce an annoying sound that will
make her get out of the kitchen and also stop begging. We figure, out of
site out of mind. When she begs for food while we're eating, we make her
go upstairs via spray bottle. On top of that, we play with her for an
hour a day to get her mind off of food. This has become more effective,
and she is learning that she is not allowed to beg or follow people into
the kitchen anymore. However, she still does it, and every time we have
to spray her and clap. I would like to get it to the point where we
don't have to do that every time. Where she can behave without
punishment.

Then, there's my second problem -- mornings. Everyday, from 5am - 7pm,
she will yowl throughout the house relentlessly, again, begging for
food. She will even jump on the bed and pace around crying. Did the
whole Ignoring her thing. Spent a couple months wearing earplugs in the
morning and kicking her out of the room and closing the door (or else
she will try to wake you up physically). It was completely ineffective.
She still sat outside the door and in the living room crying
relentlessly. Not only that, but wearing earplugs isn't a very good idea
when you have to hear your alarm in the morning to go to work (I was
almost late for work several times during the week). So now, I'm waking
up 2 hours before I have to go to work, to basically shut this cat up. I
tried to ignore her, that didn't work. So, I do the whole spraying and
clapping thing, and still she does it every morning. Just like at meal
time, when she begs, I am, again, making this effort to get her to stop
begging and meowing instead of her catching on and just not doing it in
the first place. My husband and I are pretty stressed out. It has even
crossed our minds to get give her up for adoption due to that and other
problems we are having with her that are inconveniencing our lives and
the life of our other cat. But we would never do that, she is part of
our family for good. We're just frustrated and need to figure out how to
deal with this problem. This morning while she was doing her usual
morning yowling ritual, I literally screamed for her to 'shutup'. And
you know what? She did. But, I ended up spending the rest of my 2 hours
thinking about it and feeling horrible about it, and ended up, again,
losing sleep. I've had my male cat for 7 years, and I have never once
yelled at him or told him to shutup, so you can imagine this made me
feel horrible. So, my question is, what other training techniques are
there (that doesn't involve ineffectively ignoring, spraying, clapping
or now yelling, and also doesn't involve medication or lousy homeopathic
placebo meds) to get my cat to eventually behave on her own? All cats
are unique with unique problems. A general 'ignore them' technique may
apply to most cats, but certainly not mine. Please help!


Cats get to know the temper of your voice. My cats wake me at 4 am to
be fed, and I accommodate them. The slightly older one will sometimes
try to wake me at 2 am, but I firmly say, "No" (half-asleep) and they
leave me alone until later. They don't like a harsh-sounding word.

From whomever you bought the cat from, I would give him/her a piece of
your mind about the health problems - maybe you can even recoup some
of the expenses if you threaten court action.

Stick with what you want to happen; be firm, and your cat will
eventually get the idea.

--


  #4  
Old September 20th 13, 11:08 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
buglady[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 88
Default How do I deal with our new cat's obsessions?

On 9/20/2013 12:33 PM, OOMICHELLEOO wrote: For one, we
asked if she gets along with other cats. We have a male cat. The only
reason why we got another cat was because I started working again and my
other cat was getting a bit lonely. Well, she ended up totally not
getting along with him, and now they both hate each other her. My male
cat is now totally skiddish and weird, but that's a whole other ball of
wax. Now I have two lonely cats who won't play with each other. Then we
asked if the cat had any health problems, and she said that she did not.
Well that was a bold face lie. Within the first day, we noticed that
'Critter' (is her name) had a nasty bladder infection.


................Two valuable lessons. One - don't pay for cat until new
and old have met. Any two cats might not get along, no matter what the
owner says. Two - ask for copies of all the vet records. If there
aren't any, that tells you volumes.

And that is the basis of my problem today,
her obsessiveness towards food. This cat is a bottomless pit. We feed
her and my other cat 4 times a day, and she definitely gets enough
calories for her size.

[...]
O_o When you don't feed her, this is when she will
pace back and forth or in circles around the living room while, here and
there, meowing excessively,

[..]
Then, there's my second problem -- mornings. Everyday, from 5am - 7pm,
she will yowl throughout the house relentlessly, again, begging for
food.


...................Have her tested for hyperthyroidism.

My husband and I are pretty stressed out. It has even
crossed our minds to get give her up for adoption


...........Yes, might be for the best. Cat must be stressed also.

So, my question is, what other training techniques are
there (that doesn't involve ineffectively ignoring, spraying, clapping
or now yelling, and also doesn't involve medication or lousy homeopathic
placebo meds)


............oh too bad, homeopathy works in my house. I'd suggest BAch's
flower essences, but you'd probably run screaming. By all means keep
spraying and clapping.

............Otherwise try clicker training.

buglady
take out the dog before replying

  #5  
Old September 20th 13, 11:28 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Bill Graham
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,065
Default How do I deal with our new cat's obsessions?

OOMICHELLEOO wrote:
I'm new here and I need some advice on our three year old Persian cat
that we recently adopted a few months ago. A little history about her.
When we first adopted her, she came with a whole gaggle of problems
that her old owner conveniently didn't mention. (NOTE: we paid $100
for this cat. We found her on craigslist. We understood the risk.) We
even asked the owner specific questions, and she blatantly lied to
us. For one, we asked if she gets along with other cats. We have a
male cat. The only reason why we got another cat was because I
started working again and my other cat was getting a bit lonely.
Well, she ended up totally not getting along with him, and now they
both hate each other her. My male cat is now totally skiddish and
weird, but that's a whole other ball of wax. Now I have two lonely
cats who won't play with each other. Then we asked if the cat had any
health problems, and she said that she did not. Well that was a bold
face lie. Within the first day, we noticed that 'Critter' (is her
name) had a nasty bladder infection. Really no surprise though, since
her last owner had her on a cheap kibble diet. She gave us a bag of
it to take home, and we tossed it. We immediately put her on a
no-grain natural wetfood diet. Still, she had this bladder infection
and we had to deal with it. We took her to the vet, and ended up
finding out that on top of the bladder infection, she had tapeworm
(which we had to get both our cats treated). The bladder infection
ended up being chronic. And we ended up spending over a thousand
dollars treating her. This within the first month of having her. That
$100 that I already thought was a ridiculous amount to pay in the
first place, started to become denser. But, it was worth it. I was
happy to accommodate this poor cat who was obviously being neglected.
I'm also happy to say that she is a lot better now. We have her on a
no carb diet.

Even though she is physically healthier now, there is still her mental
health to contend with. One problem worth mentioning is her obsessive
compulsive behavior. Once she gets an idea in her head, she cannot let
it go until she gets her way. And that is the basis of my problem
today, her obsessiveness towards food. This cat is a bottomless pit.
We feed her and my other cat 4 times a day, and she definitely gets
enough calories for her size. On top of that, I give her treats when
she's good (which are pieces of boiled organic chicken), but nothing
more than 10 calories, as I have been advised. I've even accidentally
overfed her a couple times, due to not communicating with my husband
on whether he had fed her or not, and still she was hungry. Anything
that reminds her of food (cooking in the kitchen, hearing the sound
of can being opened, even just getting up and getting some water for
myself), triggers this idea that she is now going to be fed, even
after she had just ate seconds ago. I mean, she will literally start
begging even while she has food in her mouth. O_o When you don't feed
her, this is when she will pace back and forth or in circles around
the living room while, here and there, meowing excessively, and every
time we got up to get something from the kitchen she would follow us
(both my husband and I have tripped over her several times and almost
landed flat on our faces). At first, we just ignored her. Something
suggested by the ASPCA website and other organizations dealing in
animals. We figured by giving in, we were rewarding her bad behavior,
thus making the problem even worse. But, what do you do when a cat
paces back and forth and begs for four hours straight (which is the
amount of time between meals)? Should I skip out on not feeding her
for the second meal and just ignore her? Well, we tried that, and it
didn't work. She continued to pace and beg, until her 3rd meal. At
this point, I'm stressed out. I don't want to starve the cat for the
day to make a point. And if she continues onto the next day? Then
what? Another day of starvation until she is so famished she can no
longer beg? I find that cruel. And besides, I don't think that would
even work. I find that the ignoring technique is completely
ineffective for her. She has learned nothing from it. So my husband
and I now use the spray bottle and we also clap to produce an
annoying sound that will make her get out of the kitchen and also
stop begging. We figure, out of site out of mind. When she begs for
food while we're eating, we make her go upstairs via spray bottle. On
top of that, we play with her for an hour a day to get her mind off
of food. This has become more effective, and she is learning that she
is not allowed to beg or follow people into the kitchen anymore.
However, she still does it, and every time we have to spray her and
clap. I would like to get it to the point where we don't have to do
that every time. Where she can behave without punishment.

Then, there's my second problem -- mornings. Everyday, from 5am - 7pm,
she will yowl throughout the house relentlessly, again, begging for
food. She will even jump on the bed and pace around crying. Did the
whole Ignoring her thing. Spent a couple months wearing earplugs in
the morning and kicking her out of the room and closing the door (or
else she will try to wake you up physically). It was completely
ineffective. She still sat outside the door and in the living room
crying relentlessly. Not only that, but wearing earplugs isn't a very
good idea when you have to hear your alarm in the morning to go to
work (I was almost late for work several times during the week). So
now, I'm waking up 2 hours before I have to go to work, to basically
shut this cat up. I tried to ignore her, that didn't work. So, I do
the whole spraying and clapping thing, and still she does it every
morning. Just like at meal time, when she begs, I am, again, making
this effort to get her to stop begging and meowing instead of her
catching on and just not doing it in the first place. My husband and
I are pretty stressed out. It has even crossed our minds to get give
her up for adoption due to that and other problems we are having with
her that are inconveniencing our lives and the life of our other cat.
But we would never do that, she is part of our family for good. We're
just frustrated and need to figure out how to deal with this problem.
This morning while she was doing her usual morning yowling ritual, I
literally screamed for her to 'shutup'. And you know what? She did.
But, I ended up spending the rest of my 2 hours thinking about it and
feeling horrible about it, and ended up, again, losing sleep. I've
had my male cat for 7 years, and I have never once yelled at him or
told him to shutup, so you can imagine this made me feel horrible.
So, my question is, what other training techniques are there (that
doesn't involve ineffectively ignoring, spraying, clapping or now
yelling, and also doesn't involve medication or lousy homeopathic
placebo meds) to get my cat to eventually behave on her own? All cats
are unique with unique problems. A general 'ignore them' technique
may apply to most cats, but certainly not mine. Please help!


Sounds like you need, "The Cat Whisperer". (A guy who trains cats on TV) He
can work miracles with mentally disturbed cats....

 




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