My cat is giving me a hellofa trouble

[Howard Moon]

be stoned all day until weather gets better?

That's what I do with myself and it works just fine!

Ok but all jokes aside, maybe the cat just wants attention? Sounds like she has too much energy so maybe playing with her for a few minutes a day would help a bit. Don't really know, I'm more of a dog person.

[Villino]

Just, OMG. Reading this made me so friggin' mad!! If you/the people you are living with don't want to put the time in/know how to train a cat and deal with cat behavior why the hell do you have one??!! Okay seriously though.. Here is what you MUST do. Cat's are extremely trainable and intelligent and the only reason for a badly behaved cat is a bad management by people who do not know how to meet her needs.

First of all a 6 month old cat is a kitten. They are very active and need daily attention. Provide her with interactive toys and preferably engage in play with her yourself. The best kind of toys are 'fishing rod' type with feathers (make sure they are safe and not mall enough to be caught in her mouth) or newspaper strands or a cat toy mouse or something tied to the end. This are great and since you mentioned expense being an issue. You can make these kinds of things easily enough yourself and often home made ones are more appealing than the ones you can buy. Give the cat a daily play time, this is crucial to her development and for her behavior issues.

NEVER and I mean NEVER use your hands or feet as objects for her to play with. Cats who attack human hands and feet have 99% of the time learned this because someone has let them bite and grab at their hands as a form of play when the cat was younger and less able to inflict pain. Find out if this is the case and don't let it happen in future. She will learn quickly.

If she does bite or scratch or engage in anything else that you dislike you should never physically punish or yell at a cat. They do not learn like dogs and she will associate your yelling or physical punishment only with you and will not actually make the connection that she is being punished for an action. This is not just a animal abuse issue (although it is absolutely wrong to hit or scream and yell at a cat) but it is actually POINTLESS. It will not teach the cat anything. She will, if anything become more defiant and aggressive and associate you as a person with bad things and never her actions.

If that cat is biting, scratching or otherwise doing something like say jumping on the dinner table. You should hiss at her loudly like another cat would in the wild. It may take some time but I have never met a cat that this doesn't work on. It is best to be discrete so that she associates the noise with her action and doesn't necessarily see that it is you. If that doesn't work it is probably because she is doing it to get a reaction from you, she is asking for attention. Just keep it up and in the meantime pick her up without talking to her or making a big fuss and move her away a few meters. DON'T give her attention. Hiss at her, move her away and go back to what you were doing ignoring her. This WILL work but you have to be consistent and make sure other people in the house are doing the same. Eventually a hiss should be enough to tell her you don't like what she is doing.

As far as catnip goes. NO NO NO it is not the equivalent of LSD ffs. It is a natural and safe high for cats and it is also relatively inexpensive in most parts of the world. It is a great thing to include in her toys and provides an outlet for extra energy. You should however only give the cat catnip once or twice a week and as she gets older maybe even a little less than that. Not because of any health risks but because it is a simple fact that the more frequent the use the less effective the catnip is. If she has catnip too often it will have no affect on her anymore. It should be provided as a treat and it is great seeing a cat enjoying itself with a bit of catnip.

Cats get bored easily. You should have a good supply of toys but only ever have a few out at each time. So give her 2 or 3 toys for a couple of days and actively play with her and then take those toys and put them away and get out a couple of different toys, do this every couple of days and rotate the toys around. Having a roster of toys minimizes boredom and mean she will stay interested in her toys for longer.

About the scratching. Again getting irate and yelling only encourages her as she feels she is getting attention. You saying about the old guy getting super pissed is really not helping. When she scratches the furniture, hiss at her like you would with any other undesirable behavior but instead of just moving her away take her to the scratching post and carefully put her front paws on it. AGAIN, don't make a big fuss about it and be very very consistent. Cats need a scratching surface it is not a luxury, it is essential. If she has never used the scratch thing you have provided then it is probably not appealing for her. What have you covered it with?? Old carpet would be great or wrapped rope or a bit of both. Also you can attach a dangling toy from it to get her interested and even rub some catnip on it while training her to use it.

It really only takes persistence, common sense and knowing a little about animal behaviour. It makes me sad to see that this is the case and it is entirely up to the owners, not the cat. Try all these things and be consistent in your training, make sure everyone else in the house understands what to do as well and the cat will soon learn.

SOURCES:
Working with cats for the last few years, owned cats all my life (currently 2 beautiful babies who are very very polite and well trained), common fucking sense and patience.

[Purlina]

Cutting claws is not something that is common in Croatia, or even throughout Europe. It is the equivalent of cutting of somebodies fingertips according to my vet. A cat is a cat and it should have claws.

No! He doesn't want you to de-claw the cat...

He want's you to trim the cat's nails. The same thing we humans do with a nail clipper...

[Brazorf]

I wold like to thanks Villino that gave a tons of very useful advices.
I was looking all around for educative tips for my cats but could not really find anything and I will try that.

[smelltheglove]

No! He doesn't want you to de-claw the cat...

He want's you to trim the cat's nails. The same thing we humans do with a nail clipper...

trimming cats claws is counterproductive imo. they fight like hell, and they are perfectly capable of maintaining their claws

[Majad]

trimming cats claws is counterproductive imo. they fight like hell, and they are perfectly capable of maintaining their claws

No, you should cut them, you have too.

My grandma's cats, sometime ago, didn't had their claws cut and they kept growing, a lot, making the claw grow in wards in the paw, both cats were in extreme pain and it got infected and one even had to go to the vet because of it.

I'm not saying this will happen to every cat but you should still cut, you don't need to cut a lot, in fact, you shouldn't cut a lot, just a little bit so it won't be sharp.

[Aquarela]

No, you should cut them, you have too.

My grandma's cats, sometime ago, didn't had their claws cut and they kept growing, a lot, making the claw grow in wards in the paw, both cats were in extreme pain and it got infected and one even had to go to the vet because of it.

I'm not saying this will happen to every cat but you should still cut, you don't need to cut a lot, in fact, you shouldn't cut a lot, just a little bit so it won't be sharp.

That is so weird. Cat's claw shouldn't be growing like that, If they have something to scratch that shouldn't happen. I mean I have 2 cats and I never trim their claws and they are perfect.

[Purlina]

That is so weird. Cat's claw shouldn't be growing like that, If they have something to scratch that shouldn't happen. I mean I have 2 cats and I never trim their claws and they are perfect.

See below...

4) We build a scratch tree for her, but she just doesnt want to fucking use it. Instead she scratches all the old and valuable furniture. The old man in the house is getting extremely pissed by her and starts being aggressive. I try to calm him down and not to attack the cat but I think he is reaching his limit; and I can understand him. The furniture is really expensive and it would be a shame if a cat damages it.

[Jevlin]

That is so weird. Cat's claw shouldn't be growing like that, If they have something to scratch that shouldn't happen. I mean I have 2 cats and I never trim their claws and they are perfect.

It's actually quite common in old cats to get ingrown claws. They, like us, get stiff and fragile at older age and it might be painful for them to maintain their claws.
Also, some cats are just more lazy than others and refuse to maintain personal "hygiene" such as cleaning their coat and trimming claws ^^

[Koraak]

Just, OMG. Reading this made me so friggin' mad!! If you/the people you are living with don't want to put the time in/know how to train a cat and deal with cat behavior why the hell do you have one??!! Okay seriously though.. Here is what you MUST do. Cat's are extremely trainable and intelligent and the only reason for a badly behaved cat is a bad management by people who do not know how to meet her needs.

First of all a 6 month old cat is a kitten. They are very active and need daily attention. Provide her with interactive toys and preferably engage in play with her yourself. The best kind of toys are 'fishing rod' type with feathers (make sure they are safe and not mall enough to be caught in her mouth) or newspaper strands or a cat toy mouse or something tied to the end. This are great and since you mentioned expense being an issue. You can make these kinds of things easily enough yourself and often home made ones are more appealing than the ones you can buy. Give the cat a daily play time, this is crucial to her development and for her behavior issues.

NEVER and I mean NEVER use your hands or feet as objects for her to play with. Cats who attack human hands and feet have 99% of the time learned this because someone has let them bite and grab at their hands as a form of play when the cat was younger and less able to inflict pain. Find out if this is the case and don't let it happen in future. She will learn quickly.

If she does bite or scratch or engage in anything else that you dislike you should never physically punish or yell at a cat. They do not learn like dogs and she will associate your yelling or physical punishment only with you and will not actually make the connection that she is being punished for an action. This is not just a animal abuse issue (although it is absolutely wrong to hit or scream and yell at a cat) but it is actually POINTLESS. It will not teach the cat anything. She will, if anything become more defiant and aggressive and associate you as a person with bad things and never her actions.

If that cat is biting, scratching or otherwise doing something like say jumping on the dinner table. You should hiss at her loudly like another cat would in the wild. It may take some time but I have never met a cat that this doesn't work on. It is best to be discrete so that she associates the noise with her action and doesn't necessarily see that it is you. If that doesn't work it is probably because she is doing it to get a reaction from you, she is asking for attention. Just keep it up and in the meantime pick her up without talking to her or making a big fuss and move her away a few meters. DON'T give her attention. Hiss at her, move her away and go back to what you were doing ignoring her. This WILL work but you have to be consistent and make sure other people in the house are doing the same. Eventually a hiss should be enough to tell her you don't like what she is doing.

As far as catnip goes. NO NO NO it is not the equivalent of LSD ffs. It is a natural and safe high for cats and it is also relatively inexpensive in most parts of the world. It is a great thing to include in her toys and provides an outlet for extra energy. You should however only give the cat catnip once or twice a week and as she gets older maybe even a little less than that. Not because of any health risks but because it is a simple fact that the more frequent the use the less effective the catnip is. If she has catnip too often it will have no affect on her anymore. It should be provided as a treat and it is great seeing a cat enjoying itself with a bit of catnip.

Cats get bored easily. You should have a good supply of toys but only ever have a few out at each time. So give her 2 or 3 toys for a couple of days and actively play with her and then take those toys and put them away and get out a couple of different toys, do this every couple of days and rotate the toys around. Having a roster of toys minimizes boredom and mean she will stay interested in her toys for longer.

About the scratching. Again getting irate and yelling only encourages her as she feels she is getting attention. You saying about the old guy getting super pissed is really not helping. When she scratches the furniture, hiss at her like you would with any other undesirable behavior but instead of just moving her away take her to the scratching post and carefully put her front paws on it. AGAIN, don't make a big fuss about it and be very very consistent. Cats need a scratching surface it is not a luxury, it is essential. If she has never used the scratch thing you have provided then it is probably not appealing for her. What have you covered it with?? Old carpet would be great or wrapped rope or a bit of both. Also you can attach a dangling toy from it to get her interested and even rub some catnip on it while training her to use it.

It really only takes persistence, common sense and knowing a little about animal behaviour. It makes me sad to see that this is the case and it is entirely up to the owners, not the cat. Try all these things and be consistent in your training, make sure everyone else in the house understands what to do as well and the cat will soon learn.

SOURCES:
Working with cats for the last few years, owned cats all my life (currently 2 beautiful babies who are very very polite and well trained), common fucking sense and patience.

This was very informative albet slightly rude. The techniques of training cats may seem like common sense to you, but not everyone has the experience you do. I have two 6 month old kittens, one of them has been getting more aggressive in her play, while the other has become more docile, so the aggressive one starts attacking my legs and arms. i had never let them play with my limbs before, because they played with each other, and one day she just started attacking my arms. so i looked around the internet, and there are varying opinions everywhere. no where did i see that you should hiss at them when they do something wrong. I will be using the techniques you mentioned, but there's no need to get so angry about it.

[Titan2k10]

How to deal with a problem cat

Step 1: Dig whole big enough to bury cat up to head
Step 2: Place cat in hole and fill in
Step 3: Crank lawn mower.

Problem solved.


Infracted.

[Majad]

That is so weird. Cat's claw shouldn't be growing like that, If they have something to scratch that shouldn't happen. I mean I have 2 cats and I never trim their claws and they are perfect.

I know, it shouldn't, but my grandma's cats don't claw stuff, so, that's why, but even so, it's always better to cut a bit.

[smelltheglove]

No, you should cut them, you have too.

My grandma's cats, sometime ago, didn't had their claws cut and they kept growing, a lot, making the claw grow in wards in the paw, both cats were in extreme pain and it got infected and one even had to go to the vet because of it.

I'm not saying this will happen to every cat but you should still cut, you don't need to cut a lot, in fact, you shouldn't cut a lot, just a little bit so it won't be sharp.

i have 2 cats, my mom has 3. none of them need their claws trimmed, they do it themselves. none ever had problems. cats did fine before they moved into houses and had people cut their nails for them :P

[loki504]

Is she spayed ? if not she should be.

Cats do need their outside time and I am generally against the ownership of cats/dogs if they never get to enjoy the great outdoors unleashed as it is essentially animal imprisonment for the selfishness of the owner.

Maybe you have just failed to train the cat due to a lack of punishment for doing such things in which case I suggest a good swat on the nose whenever she is misbehaving though more extreme methods might be needed depending on the cat though females tend to learn quicker from much smaller amounts of physical punishment than their stubborn asshole male counterparts. (same with pretty much any species)

Then again she might just need another animal to torment or be tormented by .

yea till you read about some of the thing people do to other people cats.
no thx i'm not selfish. i'm more protective.

[apepi]

I remember when my cat killed a butterfly..it made me sad:/. A great way the cats I have had let go of some of their energy is finding and killing a died mouse. I swear after one of my cats killed one she threw it up in the air air and just kept playing with it like a chew toy...she was so proud of her kil.

But I guess that is not an option to you since that is more of a random thing...

[Reeve]

No. Catpnip is perfectly fine for cats. It is not addictive, it is just extremely attractive to them. There is no catnip withdrawal or anything. The reason you see cats go crazy for it and they find it if it's in a room is because it smells very strong and very attractive to them. One thing to note is that a lot of cats don't actually react to catnip. Also, if you're worrying about being able to afford it, buy a plant and grow it yourself. Just make sure to keep it in a place they can't get to. The top of the refrigerator is not one of those places, by the way.

Catnip also often doesn't seem to have an effect on kittens below the age of 6 months-1 year.

---------- Post added 2012-11-16 at 09:07 PM ----------

That is so weird. Cat's claw shouldn't be growing like that, If they have something to scratch that shouldn't happen. I mean I have 2 cats and I never trim their claws and they are perfect.

I trim my cat's claws just so they're slightly less deadly weapons. She's pretty good about it actually, and lays there patiently while I do it.

[Bavol]

Ever tried catnip? I've noticed that cats on catnip tend to expend a lot of their energy rolling around on the floor.

I bought a catnip toy for my cat once and it was one where the catnip came separately in a bag (looked like weed lol) and you put some in the ball toy. So, I'm opening the bag and it burst open like a bag of chips, got all over the carpet, what happened next was fascinating. M, my cat, went apeshit and was running his face into the carpet, flipping around, running his whole body in the spot. It was nuts.

Anywho, when my cat would bite me, I'd bite him back lol. I did that with my dog too (black lab, loved to chew). Also, my cat didn't like his belly being rubbed. So when he'd attack my feet, I'd scoop him up and eat his bellies. He eventually got the message.

TLDR: Eat your cat's bellies.

[darenyon]

play with her at least 15 mins a day, or get another cat to play with her. my first cat was like this, but we got him a couple friends to chase and he really mellowed out.

she wants to hunt things, get a feather or toy tied on a stick for her to chase.

[Alski]

Lazer pointers, all of my cats love chasing them (younger ones more so).

[Majad]

i have 2 cats, my mom has 3. none of them need their claws trimmed, they do it themselves. none ever had problems. cats did fine before they moved into houses and had people cut their nails for them :P

Some cats like to claw on the ground or carpets, or anything that they can claw and make their "nails" go off, that's why we need to cute it, so it won't grow and the streets have plenty of places for them to claw, so yeah, if you move them in to the house and don't let them go out, you will need to cut their claws more often.

Mines only come inside to eat and sleep or when it's cold, my mom only cuts their claws like once every 1 or 2 months.

Lazer pointers, all of my cats love chasing them (younger ones more so).

All cats love to chase the red dot. xD