In the last 3-4 weeks my 6 month old kitten, Pebble, has gone from being a fairly quiet and chilled out little guy to a vocal, wall scratching mischief maker!
He's recently started becoming quite vocal, particularly around meal times and for a couple of hours when we get home in the evening, and again around bed time (so basically most of the time we are home during the week!). He's started wandering around the house meowing, jumping all over the bed, trying to open the wardrobe doors and scratching the walls about half an hour before I get up, and sometimes he'll do the same if I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. He also starts scratching the walls around the front door in the evenings. I think this is because I have been walking him on a harness most nights, and he's really keen to get outside! Sometimes he'll be in the room with us and go into another room and just start meowing really loudly. Every time I look at him he will meow too.
This wouldn't be a huge problem except we rent our house and I'm terrified that he's going to scratch the paint off the walls and we'll have to pay for it!
He's neutered and stays inside apart from when I take him out on the harness in the evenings, and when I let him out into the courtyard in the morning to run around for 15-20 minutes (we have high fencing and dogs on all sides which deter him from leaving the courtyard, so far at least!). We are out of the house for 8-10 hours on weekdays, but otherwise home most of the weekend. He has a cat tree, several smaller scratching posts, lots of toys, plus I leave treats hidden around the house and a radio going when we are out. We play with him a couple of times an evening, I take him outside for at least 10 minutes as well. During the weekends he's not so bad but is still very keen to be outside. He doesn't really do much outside except watch birds, chew some grass, and sniff everything.
Is the scratching and meowing just attention seeking? I'm not really sure what I can do to stop it. I've tried ignoring it and giving him lots of attention and praise when he's quiet, but sometimes he'll scratch the walll, I'll move suddenly to try startle him so he'll stop (without looking directly at him or saying anything) but he'll stop for a second, look at me and then start scratching and meowing again. Is there anything I can do to stop this behaviour?
He's recently started becoming quite vocal, particularly around meal times and for a couple of hours when we get home in the evening, and again around bed time (so basically most of the time we are home during the week!). He's started wandering around the house meowing, jumping all over the bed, trying to open the wardrobe doors and scratching the walls about half an hour before I get up, and sometimes he'll do the same if I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. He also starts scratching the walls around the front door in the evenings. I think this is because I have been walking him on a harness most nights, and he's really keen to get outside! Sometimes he'll be in the room with us and go into another room and just start meowing really loudly. Every time I look at him he will meow too.
This wouldn't be a huge problem except we rent our house and I'm terrified that he's going to scratch the paint off the walls and we'll have to pay for it!
He's neutered and stays inside apart from when I take him out on the harness in the evenings, and when I let him out into the courtyard in the morning to run around for 15-20 minutes (we have high fencing and dogs on all sides which deter him from leaving the courtyard, so far at least!). We are out of the house for 8-10 hours on weekdays, but otherwise home most of the weekend. He has a cat tree, several smaller scratching posts, lots of toys, plus I leave treats hidden around the house and a radio going when we are out. We play with him a couple of times an evening, I take him outside for at least 10 minutes as well. During the weekends he's not so bad but is still very keen to be outside. He doesn't really do much outside except watch birds, chew some grass, and sniff everything.
Is the scratching and meowing just attention seeking? I'm not really sure what I can do to stop it. I've tried ignoring it and giving him lots of attention and praise when he's quiet, but sometimes he'll scratch the walll, I'll move suddenly to try startle him so he'll stop (without looking directly at him or saying anything) but he'll stop for a second, look at me and then start scratching and meowing again. Is there anything I can do to stop this behaviour?
He's lucky he's cute!
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