- Joined
- Jul 16, 2015
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I have two cats, an eleven year old fixed male (Percy) and a two year old fixed female (Peaches), and the female's behavior has become incredibly frustrating recently.
We moved into a new apartment five months ago. This isn't the first time I've moved house with both of them, and probably the least dramatic move. The move before this was Oklahoma to Connecticut by plane. This one was only a short car ride.
Shortly after we arrived she began showing the first destructive behaviors, primarily clawing at the underside of my room mate's box spring and the couch. She lays on her back and drags herself along by her claws- not normal scratching behavior. I put it down to stress and got her more scratching posts and the room mate kept his door closed. Her response was to claw at the door until the paint came off and cry continuously. I think this may be where the problem really started. When she ran under my room mate's bed, he would get the fishing rod toy to lure her out. When he reached his limit with her screaming at his door, he'd go get the fishing rod toy and play with her for a bit to try and distract her. This seems to have made her associate play time with destructive and annoying behavior.
Now, what feels like once an hour, once every few hours at most, she decides she wants attention and begins crying. When meowing extensively doesn't get me to leave my desk, she starts getting destructive, clawing the back of my chair and, most worryingly, chewing on a wicker box I keep my art supplies in. I won't rule out other causes, but it certainly seems to me to be attention seeking. She stops as soon as I look at her and comes trotting towards me making play time chirps. Even if I do stop and play with her for ten or fifteen minutes till she loses interest, she's soon right back at it.
Last night I was trying to hang up a tapestry in my room before bed, and she was trying to get me to play with her. She almost immediately decided the tapestry was a new toy, as were the tacks I was using to hang it. She dragged the tapestry off the wall the second I turned away, then took one of the tacks and ran off with it. I had to go take it back from her, terrified she was going to stab herself in the mouth or swallow it. This morning I wasn't getting out of bed fast enough to suit her, so she immediately began clawing at the tapestry again, trying to pull the tacks out of the wall with her teeth. Later, I sat down to work, and she dragged it off the wall again. I've just put it away now because I can't risk her getting hold of one of the tacks while I'm not in the room.
I work from home, so there's always someone here to pay attention to her and she gets play time every day, but nothing seems to satisfy her, and I can't stop working at the drop of a hat every time she gets bored. I have serious focus problems and interrupting my work can throw me off for the rest of the day. I normally just ignore bad behavior and reward good behavior, but I can't ignore her when she's destroying things and endangering herself, which she seems to have figured out. She has plenty of toys and I've even spent money on electronic toys to try and get her to play by herself, but she won't use them unless I'm playing with her. I've done everything I can think of to give her a fun, enriching environment and a reliable schedule. She has a puzzle feeder, a fountain, multiple cat trees and beds around the house, so many scratchers I'm practically tripping over them. I don't know what else I can do! My room mates are pissed at her for tearing things up and I'm getting really frustrated as well at the constant interruptions to my work. Why is she being so desperate for attention, and what can I do to satisfy her, or at least get her to stop chewing on things that could kill her?
We moved into a new apartment five months ago. This isn't the first time I've moved house with both of them, and probably the least dramatic move. The move before this was Oklahoma to Connecticut by plane. This one was only a short car ride.
Shortly after we arrived she began showing the first destructive behaviors, primarily clawing at the underside of my room mate's box spring and the couch. She lays on her back and drags herself along by her claws- not normal scratching behavior. I put it down to stress and got her more scratching posts and the room mate kept his door closed. Her response was to claw at the door until the paint came off and cry continuously. I think this may be where the problem really started. When she ran under my room mate's bed, he would get the fishing rod toy to lure her out. When he reached his limit with her screaming at his door, he'd go get the fishing rod toy and play with her for a bit to try and distract her. This seems to have made her associate play time with destructive and annoying behavior.
Now, what feels like once an hour, once every few hours at most, she decides she wants attention and begins crying. When meowing extensively doesn't get me to leave my desk, she starts getting destructive, clawing the back of my chair and, most worryingly, chewing on a wicker box I keep my art supplies in. I won't rule out other causes, but it certainly seems to me to be attention seeking. She stops as soon as I look at her and comes trotting towards me making play time chirps. Even if I do stop and play with her for ten or fifteen minutes till she loses interest, she's soon right back at it.
Last night I was trying to hang up a tapestry in my room before bed, and she was trying to get me to play with her. She almost immediately decided the tapestry was a new toy, as were the tacks I was using to hang it. She dragged the tapestry off the wall the second I turned away, then took one of the tacks and ran off with it. I had to go take it back from her, terrified she was going to stab herself in the mouth or swallow it. This morning I wasn't getting out of bed fast enough to suit her, so she immediately began clawing at the tapestry again, trying to pull the tacks out of the wall with her teeth. Later, I sat down to work, and she dragged it off the wall again. I've just put it away now because I can't risk her getting hold of one of the tacks while I'm not in the room.
I work from home, so there's always someone here to pay attention to her and she gets play time every day, but nothing seems to satisfy her, and I can't stop working at the drop of a hat every time she gets bored. I have serious focus problems and interrupting my work can throw me off for the rest of the day. I normally just ignore bad behavior and reward good behavior, but I can't ignore her when she's destroying things and endangering herself, which she seems to have figured out. She has plenty of toys and I've even spent money on electronic toys to try and get her to play by herself, but she won't use them unless I'm playing with her. I've done everything I can think of to give her a fun, enriching environment and a reliable schedule. She has a puzzle feeder, a fountain, multiple cat trees and beds around the house, so many scratchers I'm practically tripping over them. I don't know what else I can do! My room mates are pissed at her for tearing things up and I'm getting really frustrated as well at the constant interruptions to my work. Why is she being so desperate for attention, and what can I do to satisfy her, or at least get her to stop chewing on things that could kill her?