I just adopted two shelter kitty brothers back in mid January. They were almost 6 months old then. It goes without saying that they are VERY active and energetic guys. Now I've had over 10 cats in my lifetime, most of which were under a year when I got them, but these two are a handful. I don't ever remember my cats being so...off the wall, for lack of a better term. While they are a bit crazy, this is the only real problem we've had and cannot curb.
They attack our feet at night. This is NOT normal play. Our smaller cat, who is usually more energetic all around, will play with our feet and get bored or will IMMEDIATELY stop if a squirt bottle is even picked up. If he runs and comes back, he usually doesn't start playing with our feet unless provoked. On the flip side, our other cat who is normally very relaxed, spends all hours of the night attacking our feet. ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT!! No matter if we are awake or not, moving or not, he pounces and will not let up. As soon as we put him on the floor he jumps up and is back into it like nothing happened. Even when we spray him with the bottle, he stands there defiantly as our wrath reins upon him. It takes a squirt in the face for him to finally jump down on his own...only to return less than 5 minutes later with more vengeance. It is absolutely ridiculous. My husband and I are actually losing sleep at night because it is never ending. I can currently count over 20 scratches on my legs and feet, and this is through 2 duvets, a sheet, socks and pj pants. Even when my legs aren't covered he touches them all night! He isn't attacking, but he's grabbing at them and his claws happen to be dragging on my skin, which makes me jump or move and that makes him think I'm playing.
We have tried a handful of things to help this and nothing has worked. Extra blankets on the end of the bed get pulled down, spray bottle works for everything BUT this, tiring them out before bed with lots of toys, etc. What is really annoying is we NEVER played with them under the blankets and they did not do this when we got them. They are not aggressive cats so I have no idea why they would randomly start? I don't want to get them declawed but I'm starting to think I might have to if this keeps up. :'(
*Before someone says kick them out of the bedroom at night, let me mention that I HAVE to keep them both in our room at night. We have a weird living arrangement with very little space (basically a bathroom and bedroom) and there are other people sharing this house with other animals. I don't want to chance anything bad happening so I don't let them near the other part of the house without me being nearby. I hope that makes sense.
They attack our feet at night. This is NOT normal play. Our smaller cat, who is usually more energetic all around, will play with our feet and get bored or will IMMEDIATELY stop if a squirt bottle is even picked up. If he runs and comes back, he usually doesn't start playing with our feet unless provoked. On the flip side, our other cat who is normally very relaxed, spends all hours of the night attacking our feet. ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT!! No matter if we are awake or not, moving or not, he pounces and will not let up. As soon as we put him on the floor he jumps up and is back into it like nothing happened. Even when we spray him with the bottle, he stands there defiantly as our wrath reins upon him. It takes a squirt in the face for him to finally jump down on his own...only to return less than 5 minutes later with more vengeance. It is absolutely ridiculous. My husband and I are actually losing sleep at night because it is never ending. I can currently count over 20 scratches on my legs and feet, and this is through 2 duvets, a sheet, socks and pj pants. Even when my legs aren't covered he touches them all night! He isn't attacking, but he's grabbing at them and his claws happen to be dragging on my skin, which makes me jump or move and that makes him think I'm playing.
We have tried a handful of things to help this and nothing has worked. Extra blankets on the end of the bed get pulled down, spray bottle works for everything BUT this, tiring them out before bed with lots of toys, etc. What is really annoying is we NEVER played with them under the blankets and they did not do this when we got them. They are not aggressive cats so I have no idea why they would randomly start? I don't want to get them declawed but I'm starting to think I might have to if this keeps up. :'(
*Before someone says kick them out of the bedroom at night, let me mention that I HAVE to keep them both in our room at night. We have a weird living arrangement with very little space (basically a bathroom and bedroom) and there are other people sharing this house with other animals. I don't want to chance anything bad happening so I don't let them near the other part of the house without me being nearby. I hope that makes sense.