I have a cat who is approximately 10 months old and we got her at 5 months. She's an indoor-only spayed female and she still has her claws. She uses her scratching posts regularly, user her litter box, and has no aggression problems. She doesn't chew wires or attack our feet. She's a great little cat but she has a habit (a couple of habits actually) that we haven't been able to really break her of quite yet.
1 - She chews on baseboards an door frames. This isn't nearly as bad as it used to be and spraying vinegar on the areas were she mainly bites usually deters her for a while as does double sided tape. Sometimes I will catch her sneaking upstairs were she KNOWS nobody will see her and she still does it. If tape is on and has pieces that aren't sticky anymore she seems to have and urge to peel it off and chew on it. She will also chew on aluminum foil if available. Is this something she will grow out of? She only started a few weeks after we got her home and it was kind of spontaneous. Is my cat just crazy?
2 - She scratches on the walls, primarily in the morning starting at 6:20 but I make it a point not to get up and interact with her until 7:00 when I get up for work. When this started she was doing it in the middle of the night so it's actually gotten better. Again, this didn't start at first, it started a few months after she was brought home and hasn't stopped since. Literally every morning I wake up to kitty scratching on the wall. TShe very rarely scratches the walls in other places/ times. I got her to stop scratching on one wall in the living room by moving a seldom used scratching post in that location but this bedroom thing is really tough to break.
The walls are just plain drywall and not at all interesting. She sounds a little stressed out when she does it. I've also noticed that she does it in specific places and so far it seems like she just runs her paws against the walls without doing any damage so I'm thinking she could either just be marking, seeking attention or just want to get out of the room (all of the above perhaps?). The sound is my biggest problem with this because it's like nails on a chalkboard.
I'm thinking this may be marking behavior or either attention seeking behavior. She starts in a very specific order and makes her way to specific locations in the room. She has skipped the drapes because they are covered in doubles-sided tape now. If I make any moves as if I'm getting up for ANY reason she runs to me so I can pet her/get up and feed her. I've had her stop scratching in particular spots but because it's not possible to block all walls in the room, she just picks a different place. She has access 2 scratching posts in the room that she does use, one is a shorter sisal one we purchased when she was smaller but the other one is tall enough for her to climb on, stretch out and sit on. There's several cardboard scratchers in the room that she actually ignores. There are toys in the room at night, she is played with and fed before bed and actually sleeps during the night time. Are more toys needed? more elaborate cat climbing things?
3 - Getting her used to having her claws trimmed. Tips on getting cats to be okay with this? She has to be dead sleep to have this done effectively and even then it's a toss-up. After several months of touching her paws a bit she's still quite sensitive about it.
A word on punishing her for these behaviors...I am old fashioned and have no qualms about physical or corporal punishment but I have come to the realization that physical punishments, scolding and other deterrents are in fact not effective. They usually garner the opposite response or she just learns how to hide her behaviors. Shouting, NO, squirting with water, and even kitty time-out may work with some cats but it does not work with this one at all. In attempt to deter her from these behaviors, some of these methods were attempted at first but didn't solve anything. Is it actually too late to curb these habits?
Getting rid of her, declawing her or letting her outside are totally out of the question. I know this is a lot but this is mine and my sister first indoor kitty and these are things that never crossed my mind when getting a cat. These at things we wouldn't get rid of for but it does make it hard to trust her in the house and go about our lives. Right now she has not been allowed free reign all over the house just because she's not trusted to not do weird stuff. lol
1 - She chews on baseboards an door frames. This isn't nearly as bad as it used to be and spraying vinegar on the areas were she mainly bites usually deters her for a while as does double sided tape. Sometimes I will catch her sneaking upstairs were she KNOWS nobody will see her and she still does it. If tape is on and has pieces that aren't sticky anymore she seems to have and urge to peel it off and chew on it. She will also chew on aluminum foil if available. Is this something she will grow out of? She only started a few weeks after we got her home and it was kind of spontaneous. Is my cat just crazy?
2 - She scratches on the walls, primarily in the morning starting at 6:20 but I make it a point not to get up and interact with her until 7:00 when I get up for work. When this started she was doing it in the middle of the night so it's actually gotten better. Again, this didn't start at first, it started a few months after she was brought home and hasn't stopped since. Literally every morning I wake up to kitty scratching on the wall. TShe very rarely scratches the walls in other places/ times. I got her to stop scratching on one wall in the living room by moving a seldom used scratching post in that location but this bedroom thing is really tough to break.
The walls are just plain drywall and not at all interesting. She sounds a little stressed out when she does it. I've also noticed that she does it in specific places and so far it seems like she just runs her paws against the walls without doing any damage so I'm thinking she could either just be marking, seeking attention or just want to get out of the room (all of the above perhaps?). The sound is my biggest problem with this because it's like nails on a chalkboard.
I'm thinking this may be marking behavior or either attention seeking behavior. She starts in a very specific order and makes her way to specific locations in the room. She has skipped the drapes because they are covered in doubles-sided tape now. If I make any moves as if I'm getting up for ANY reason she runs to me so I can pet her/get up and feed her. I've had her stop scratching in particular spots but because it's not possible to block all walls in the room, she just picks a different place. She has access 2 scratching posts in the room that she does use, one is a shorter sisal one we purchased when she was smaller but the other one is tall enough for her to climb on, stretch out and sit on. There's several cardboard scratchers in the room that she actually ignores. There are toys in the room at night, she is played with and fed before bed and actually sleeps during the night time. Are more toys needed? more elaborate cat climbing things?
3 - Getting her used to having her claws trimmed. Tips on getting cats to be okay with this? She has to be dead sleep to have this done effectively and even then it's a toss-up. After several months of touching her paws a bit she's still quite sensitive about it.
A word on punishing her for these behaviors...I am old fashioned and have no qualms about physical or corporal punishment but I have come to the realization that physical punishments, scolding and other deterrents are in fact not effective. They usually garner the opposite response or she just learns how to hide her behaviors. Shouting, NO, squirting with water, and even kitty time-out may work with some cats but it does not work with this one at all. In attempt to deter her from these behaviors, some of these methods were attempted at first but didn't solve anything. Is it actually too late to curb these habits?
Getting rid of her, declawing her or letting her outside are totally out of the question. I know this is a lot but this is mine and my sister first indoor kitty and these are things that never crossed my mind when getting a cat. These at things we wouldn't get rid of for but it does make it hard to trust her in the house and go about our lives. Right now she has not been allowed free reign all over the house just because she's not trusted to not do weird stuff. lol
