- Joined
- Apr 25, 2016
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My girlfriend and I have had our second cat, Alfons, for about six months now, and he's about one year old. He's so sweet, and very affectionate--he has FIV, but we're caring for him and getting him regular checkups to make sure he's staying healthy. C: Unfortunately, for the last four months he's developed a really, really bad habit of getting into the trash.
We had a cheaper, plastic step-to-open trashcan, but the bag hung out over the edge and he would dig his claws into that as leverage to pull it over, so I went out and bought a nice large stainless steel version that hides away the bag and makes it inaccessible. The only problem is, the top is made of plastic, and he's still clawing at it to get it open and get in! We've tried spraying him with water, spraying the can with nasty-smelling scents that are cat-safe, and distracting him with other toys that contain treats, but none of that stops him forever. He'll even do it in the middle of the night while we're sleeping, getting loud enough that we both wake up repeatedly and are tired the next AM.
At this point, I'm having to literally tape the can shut with packing tape, but he's chewing through it now and continuing to fight with the lid! Short of literally duct-taping our trashcan shut, what can we do?
Before anyone suggests some obvious tips, I just want to say that we cannot put the trashcan in a cabinet or in a closet/pantry--they're all too small (we would need the tiniest kitchen trashcan I'd ever heard of to succeed at this), and if possible I'd like to avoid buying yet another trashcan considering this one was somewhat expensive and really is very nice.
Any behavioral/training tips you all can offer?
We had a cheaper, plastic step-to-open trashcan, but the bag hung out over the edge and he would dig his claws into that as leverage to pull it over, so I went out and bought a nice large stainless steel version that hides away the bag and makes it inaccessible. The only problem is, the top is made of plastic, and he's still clawing at it to get it open and get in! We've tried spraying him with water, spraying the can with nasty-smelling scents that are cat-safe, and distracting him with other toys that contain treats, but none of that stops him forever. He'll even do it in the middle of the night while we're sleeping, getting loud enough that we both wake up repeatedly and are tired the next AM.
At this point, I'm having to literally tape the can shut with packing tape, but he's chewing through it now and continuing to fight with the lid! Short of literally duct-taping our trashcan shut, what can we do?
Before anyone suggests some obvious tips, I just want to say that we cannot put the trashcan in a cabinet or in a closet/pantry--they're all too small (we would need the tiniest kitchen trashcan I'd ever heard of to succeed at this), and if possible I'd like to avoid buying yet another trashcan considering this one was somewhat expensive and really is very nice.
Any behavioral/training tips you all can offer?