Okay so I have a 4 and a half month old Savannah. She and most of her breed have pica issues - chewing on and eating things that are not edible - such as carpet, metal, wires etc.
So in my home I have a cat room - a place for her cat beds, her cat tree's, scratching posts, litter box, food dish, and toys. The flooring is vinyl. When I'm at work and when I'm sleeping she is in the cat room. Not only because of the pica issues but also because I have a split foyer house and because of the way the stair well is designed it would be very easy for her to jump onto a very enticing looking perch for her and then fall down like 15 feet to most likely be injured or worse. I know cat's land on there feet and all that but I still think she would get hurt particularly because she's only 4 months at the moment. My mom, dad, and grandma are all telling me to let her free roam and get used to the house - I've had her for almost a month now... every time she is upstairs she is scared of me and very skittish. Downstairs she is better with me because that's where I am most with her... I have a finished basement btw.
I don't want to be a bad pet mom, but I also don't think I will be letting her free roam...
So please can anyone tell me idea's that I can do to make the basement more enticing to her. Things I could set up to get her interested, she's very intelligent and VERY VERY active. The toys I keep in the room with her all the time she is bored with particularly after a month. I keep a catnip mouse, a toy squirrel, and a laser pointer for play time with me that she still finds very interesting. She is not interested in feather toys... I mean she is kind of but she's very aggressive with it and likes the stick part of it more than the feather part of it. Compared to the other toys she doesn't like that one as much. I'm willing to buy stuff from petco or pet smart or whatever. I want her happy and I also want her thinking... I don't want her to become sullen and depressed.
Also another thing is ever since I got her she would do these little play biting things.. not too bad but I would do the stern "no" and then usually she would go back to licking. I've looked up a lot of different things online to try but can anyone help me to stop that behavior? At times it's harder than just a play bite and hurts. Twice today and today is the first time she did it.. she bit me on the chin and once hard enough to bleed a tiny tiny bit. Both times it hurt though. Before she always licked or nuzzled my face which I was happy with. Today though she went from licking to a hard-ish bite and I really want to nip that behavior in the bud.
She's also learned of my tactic of throwing one of her toys into the room, and then when she goes to chase after it after play time is when I close the door. So now she really doesn't like her "cat room"... I NEED her to like that room more... I feel terrible that she doesn't like it... But with my last cat dying from lymphoma I'm terrified of something happening to this one of her either falling off the banister or choking on something or getting a blockage or all sorts of things that could potentially happen..
Yes I know I sound like a bad pet mom for keeping her caged in a room, but I mean well and I'm trying to make it better =(
So in my home I have a cat room - a place for her cat beds, her cat tree's, scratching posts, litter box, food dish, and toys. The flooring is vinyl. When I'm at work and when I'm sleeping she is in the cat room. Not only because of the pica issues but also because I have a split foyer house and because of the way the stair well is designed it would be very easy for her to jump onto a very enticing looking perch for her and then fall down like 15 feet to most likely be injured or worse. I know cat's land on there feet and all that but I still think she would get hurt particularly because she's only 4 months at the moment. My mom, dad, and grandma are all telling me to let her free roam and get used to the house - I've had her for almost a month now... every time she is upstairs she is scared of me and very skittish. Downstairs she is better with me because that's where I am most with her... I have a finished basement btw.
I don't want to be a bad pet mom, but I also don't think I will be letting her free roam...
So please can anyone tell me idea's that I can do to make the basement more enticing to her. Things I could set up to get her interested, she's very intelligent and VERY VERY active. The toys I keep in the room with her all the time she is bored with particularly after a month. I keep a catnip mouse, a toy squirrel, and a laser pointer for play time with me that she still finds very interesting. She is not interested in feather toys... I mean she is kind of but she's very aggressive with it and likes the stick part of it more than the feather part of it. Compared to the other toys she doesn't like that one as much. I'm willing to buy stuff from petco or pet smart or whatever. I want her happy and I also want her thinking... I don't want her to become sullen and depressed.
Also another thing is ever since I got her she would do these little play biting things.. not too bad but I would do the stern "no" and then usually she would go back to licking. I've looked up a lot of different things online to try but can anyone help me to stop that behavior? At times it's harder than just a play bite and hurts. Twice today and today is the first time she did it.. she bit me on the chin and once hard enough to bleed a tiny tiny bit. Both times it hurt though. Before she always licked or nuzzled my face which I was happy with. Today though she went from licking to a hard-ish bite and I really want to nip that behavior in the bud.
She's also learned of my tactic of throwing one of her toys into the room, and then when she goes to chase after it after play time is when I close the door. So now she really doesn't like her "cat room"... I NEED her to like that room more... I feel terrible that she doesn't like it... But with my last cat dying from lymphoma I'm terrified of something happening to this one of her either falling off the banister or choking on something or getting a blockage or all sorts of things that could potentially happen..
Yes I know I sound like a bad pet mom for keeping her caged in a room, but I mean well and I'm trying to make it better =(