Cat Blocking Car

[tallyollyopia]

To start off with our house has six cats; Rose, Ra, Princess, Slipper, Asia, and Spot. Last year AWM, one of the three people in the house, changed her job from the post office to working for Uber, and last week was Master's (golf, for those who didn't grow up in the area), and working became very stressful for her. On Sunday night she went to go to work and Ra, the problem child of this thread, waited for her to get in the car before jumping on the door handle of the driver's side door. She rolled down the window, the cat jumped down, and no one thought anything of it. Last night the cat jumped on the hood of her car, stalked up to the windshield, and tried to burrow  through the glass to AWM. RB, the other human (besides me) in the house, had to go out and get him since he didn't move after AWM started the car and honked the horn. Tonight Ra jumped down on the car as it was going between the trees, slid down the windshield, and planted his big furry bottom (and it is  big) on the windshield right in front of AWM's face blocking her view through the windshield. I had to go out and get him.

Why is he doing this? How do we make him stop? (By the way, this is Ra)

Ra on bedspread.jpg

• tallyollyopia
• Apr 13, 2016

 

[ohws]

AWM should stroke him once or twice while he is on the car, pick him up and put him on the ground, then stroke him again a couple of times. Hopefully, he will be satisfied with a little bit of attention and leave it until next time.

 

[tallyollyopia]

Okay, so I gave AWM your advice, and she got out to give him some pets--only to have him slip into the car the moment the door was open and somehow push himself under the pedals. (I had a horrible moment when I thought he was trapped there and we were going to have to get help to get him out.) Again, he didn't come out until RB came to get him. 

 

[Caspers Human]

Strictly on the matter of safety, I'd make sure the cat is inside the house before leaving.  You don't want Kitty to get hurt when the car pulls out.  That would be awful!

On those grounds, I'm not concerned as much about the behavioral reason because, in my book, safety trumps behavior.

Do whatever you have to do.  Put the cat inside the house or garage.  Make sure the cat is in the back yard or wherever he can't get hurt from the car.  If somebody has to hold Kitty while the other person drives the car away, so be it.

On the behavior side, it sounds like you have a possessive kitty.  He wants to be with his human and gets upset or anxious whenever she leaves.  He's probably acting like a three-year-old kid who gets upset when his mother leaves.

In that situation, I'd treat Kitty the same way I'd treat a kid.

First off, be firm...  "Mom has to go on an errand and you have to stay home but I'll be back, soon."

Second, I'd reassure Kitty by giving attention before it's time to leave.  Playtime.  Petting.  Treats.  Etc...

Finally, I'd be sure that I greet Kitty as soon as I got home.  Again...  Playtime.  Petting.  Treats.  Etc.  More so when you return than when you leave.

Just like a kid, I think you should reassure Kitty before you leave and stage a happy reunion when you get home so that you make the association with  "Leaving > Reunion > Fun."

I'm not 100% certain but this is my first thought as I read your story.

I hope it helps shed some light on your little mystery.

 

[tallyollyopia]

AWM doesn't go out of her way to ignore him, but she doesn't go out of her way to interact with him either and with six cats it's hard to interact with all of them unless you actively try (and I do). I don't know where this sudden possessive streak towards AWM came from.

 

[ohws]

 
Okay, so I gave AWM your advice, and she got out to give him some pets--only to have him slip into the car the moment the door was open and somehow push himself under the pedals. (I had a horrible moment when I thought he was trapped there and we were going to have to get help to get him out.) Again, he didn't come out until RB came to get him. 

OK, that didn't work. This is beyond general attention seeking

 
The only problem with your theory is this--AWM is not Ra's human. RB is. And yes, when RB leaves for work I make sure Ra is inside, because he'll chase the car to get RB back. (And RB's first action when he gets home is to give Ra loves and pets.) Up until this moment the most interaction Ra had with AWM was her moving him over on the bed she she had room to sleep, and he's not the only cat that sleeps there. 

AWM doesn't go out of her way to ignore him, but she doesn't go out of her way to interact with him either and with six cats it's hard to interact with all of them unless you actively try (and I do). I don't know where this sudden possessive streak towards AWM came from.

It looks to me as if Ra is developing a serious fixation with AWM. Perhaps because RB has 6 cats, Ra has decided that RB is a resource in limited supply and has decided to try his luck with having AWM as a human all to himself? Is there any other evidence to support this idea?

Mind you, if this is the case, I have no particular suggestion as to how to deal with it, in part, it would depend on AWM's attitude to the idea ... But if it is the case, you are probably a little step forward in dealing with it.

 

[tallyollyopia]

 
OK, that didn't work. This is beyond general attention seeking

It looks to me as if Ra is developing a serious fixation with AWM. Perhaps because RB has 6 cats, Ra has decided that RB is a resource in limited supply and has decided to try his luck with having AWM as a human all to himself? Is there any other evidence to support this idea?

Mind you, if this is the case, I have no particular suggestion as to how to deal with it, in part, it would depend on AWM's attitude to the idea ... But if it is the case, you are probably a little step forward in dealing with it.

I don't think so. The only cat that RB gives serious attention to (although he will absently pet a cat if it happens to be near him when he's watching TV) is Ra. Both RB and I give Ra plenty of attention (he loves to be the center of attention and isn't above playing for it), and AWM gives him the same amount of attention that she gives all the other cats. 

 

[tallyollyopia]

We kept him in tonight when AWM left and he yowled at the door as he tried to burrow through it to get it open before she left. This amount of stress can't be good for the cat; what's causing it?

 

[Caspers Human]

Wow!  That goes above and beyond! 

It seems that the cat has decided that AWM is *his* human, regardless of what anybody else thinks.  I've seen that kind of behavior in dogs but never a cat!

My mother's dog, a Brittany Spaniel, barks and howls around the house when he's left alone and he gets all lovey-dovey when his main human (my mom) comes home.

I have an aunt whose Siberian Husky sits by the door and yowls whenever my aunt leaves the house.

In both cases, I believe the dogs have a form of separation anxiety.

In the case of my Mom's dog, it's not so bad.  She just makes sure that she greets the dog and gives him some lovin' when she gets home.  In the case of my aunt's dog, he really gets hyper and makes a racket.  As most of you know, Huskies are known for being "talkers" that bark and howl and act all hyper.  Well, my aunt's dog does that on steroids!

For my aunt's dog, she has to do the opposite.  She has to be calm when she comes home.  The dog gets a brief greeting and maybe a pat on the head but not much more.  She waits for five or ten minutes until the dog calms down before he gets his homecoming attention.

I don't know if this would be a good solution for a cat.  This is the first time I've ever heard of anything like this.  I'm strictly thinking on my feet, here.  I'm just comparing what I know from dogs.

 

[detroitcatlady]

In my experience, this kind of behavior is usually triggered by separation anxiety, more common in clingy/possessive cats. It can also be attention seeking. What starts out as a possessive behavior may later be repeated because the cat knows they will get some form of attention while they behave this way or afterwards.

 I have learned that the right way to handle this kind of behavior is not always the same with every cat. With anxious cats it does help to reassure them and reward them for good behavior, make sure to spend time with them and give them attention when you get home. But this does not always stop the same reaction from occurring every time you leave. The situation here seems to be that Ra has become attached to AWM and doesn't like it when she leaves.

Honestly, Ra's behavior reminds me of the way my cat Shadow used to behave with me when I would get ready to leave. She would meow constantly and try to scratch the door down, jumping up at the door and using a lot of force, as if she was having a temper tantrum. She would only stop doing this when she would see me again or she would continue doing it until she wore herself out and went to sleep. Shadow has always been very attached to me and very possessive. She wants to be with me all the time, as close as she can get. She follows me around like a puppy from room to room when I am home. It is just her personality, I've had her since she was only a couple of weeks old and since she was orphaned at such a young age she has always been a very clingy/possessive cat.

I am not sure what would trigger a cat to suddenly become possessive of someone, maybe a change of some sort? I don't know. Nothing really helped me to get Shadow to stop trying to scratch my door down, she just eventually got used to me coming and going and is more tolerant of it than she was before. I learned that giving in didn't help and the best thing I could do was to ignore her and not give her attention until I got home, otherwise it was like rewarding her and giving her negative attention and she would go on to do the same thing the next day. She still meows loudly when she hears me on the other side of the door, coming and going, but she no longer attacks the door to try to get to me.

This is going to depend a lot on how AWM responds to Ra. If Ra is reacting to her leaving, it is how she interacts with him that is going to matter the most. But I would suggest keeping him inside and not opening the door so that he sees AWM, this is just going to make the behavior continue. Things like talking to Ra through the door so that he hears her voice could also set him off. Sometimes cats just know or assume that whenever they hear someone on the other side of the door it is "their person" coming and going, especially if they are anxious about them being gone.

 

[tallyollyopia]

Well, RB reminded me of what I ended up doing with Slipper when she was following me everywhere. What I did was to pick her up and cuddle her until she got down on her own. So, the two of us suggested that AWM do this with Ra--who bit her when she picked him up. What? Why?

 

[tallyollyopia]

Okay, we managed to fix the problem. I"m not sure how, but here's what happened: AWM took Sunday and Monday off from work. When she left Tuesday, last night, nothing. Ra gave her no more attention than before Master's week. He wanted her to take a break? 

 Maybe? 

 I don't know--point is, the behavior has stopped. 

 

[Caspers Human]

Maybe the kitty had a premonition of some impending disaster and he wa was trying to warn you. Now that you stayed home for two days, the danger has passed and Kitty has returned to regularly scheduled programming.

I'm only partly joking...

 

[tallyollyopia]

Maybe so. I've seen stranger things with these cats...     

 

[Caspers Human]

We've all heard stories of  animals exhibiting preternatural behavior.

Cows gather together in the field before a storm.  Dogs and cats get restless before an earthquake.

Some dogs can even be trained to bark and warn people when their master is getting sick.

It is a stretch of the imagination but not a very far stretch to think that your cat MIGHT have known something was wrong and was trying to warn you.

But...then, again...I might be watching too many reruns of "The X-Files!" 

 

[detroitcatlady]

 
Okay, we managed to fix the problem. I"m not sure how, but here's what happened: AWM took Sunday and Monday off from work. When she left Tuesday, last night, nothing. Ra gave her no more attention than before Master's week. He wanted her to take a break? 

 Maybe? 

 I don't know--point is, the behavior has stopped. 

Interesting that suddenly all went back to normal. I guess we really never know what it is cats are picking up on, sometimes it seems like they must know things we don't.

 

[kodak83]

You initially stated that Madters week was pretty stressful for your roommate. Did this behavior start when AWM became stressed? It's possible Ra is being empathic and this his his was of pretecting one of his pride.
As for who belongs to whom... My baby (6.5 yrs) has recently decided he belongs to my sister. I raised him since he was 5 months and wild, but he's obsessed with my sis. His obsession started when my sis lost her kitty and became very sad. cats are very sensitive to emotions.

 

[ohws]

 
Okay, we managed to fix the problem. I"m not sure how, but here's what happened: AWM took Sunday and Monday off from work. When she left Tuesday, last night, nothing. Ra gave her no more attention than before Master's week. He wanted her to take a break? 

 Maybe? 

 I don't know--point is, the behavior has stopped. 

Ah, it becomes clear. During Master's week, RA noticed AWM missing and was trying to make sure that AWM stayed with the gang.

 

[Caspers Human]

You said that this cat, Ra, is one of many.  Right?

Would Ra happen to be the "Enforcer" cat of the group?

Not necessarily the "top cat" or "alpha cat" but more like the cat who makes sure all the others obey the rules.

Could it be that Ra was acting like the enforcer toward AWM?

(Just wondering...)

 

[tallyollyopia]

 
You said that this cat, Ra, is one of many.  Right?

Would Ra happen to be the "Enforcer" cat of the group?

Not necessarily the "top cat" or "alpha cat" but more like the cat who makes sure all the others obey the rules.

Could it be that Ra was acting like the enforcer toward AWM?

(Just wondering...)

No, Ra's usually the cat in the center of whatever's going on. If someone's on the computer, he tries to lie on the keyboard. If someone's on their phone, he jumps in their lap. If another cat is playing with a human, he butts right in. He doesn't bully the other cats (I think the enforcer is Princess, who stops him if he starts to bully the other cats), but he loves to be pet and played with. He does not  like baths or the grooming brush.  Does that help?