My Cat Is A Jerk And I Hate Him

[Resigned]

Resigned : I really appreciate your honesty. Is that Oliver in your profile picture? If so, possibly he has some Maine Coon in his background and according to my local vets, MCs are "working cats" much as Border Collies and Cattle Dogs are considered "working breeds" so they have exceptional I.Q. , curiosity and very high energy (other cats can be much more content with inside apartment life). One of my vets says that MCs are really good at interspecies communications & likes to have them as barn cats for his horse barns. Also, MCs mature later, around 4 or 5 years. I have a MC and he is fantastic personality wise but his energy level is off the scale and he is happiest as an indoor/outdoor family cat. I have seen him interact with foxes (playing tag with a young fox); "hanging out" with skunks (he even brought one inside the cat flap and casually walked to his food dish with the skunk following, sat nearby while the skunk ate and then through some "cat-skunk speak" led the skunk back outside while the other cats and I huddled on the couch, hoping and praying that nothing startled the skunk into spraying; interacting with chickens, practicing his stealth skills by walking among the flock unnoticed or in bouts of mischievousness, charge & chase & scatter them for a few moments then calmly lay down. For a time, JC had a couple of pet rabbits as indoor buddies but when I was out of town, my ex decided to give the rabbits an outside pen and foolishly did not wrap the fence underneath and the rabbits tunneled out and escaped forever. Anyway, I am glad to read that it seems that Oliver and you are doing better - it might be helpful to realize that he is more like a racehorse and his present lifestyle is more like a "pony rides" for children at the local park.
I am looking forward to reading more updates as you have time, as well as maybe seeing pictures of your bunny and Oliver together. You sound very busy with your studies and I salute you for taking the time to work with your pet family.

That sounds a lot like Oliver. I do think he is part MC. He is large for a cat, and very smart. He knows how to open my door using the door handle and I'm amazed at what he picks up. I think I probably just need to come to grips with the fact that he needs to be an indoor/outdoor cat and I can't freak out when that means he occasionally gets into trouble.

 

[Resigned]

Cats tear through houses when they're bored, and unstimulated. They are very expressive animals - you just have to know how to listen. They don't do these things for no reason. If he's peeing, he either has an underlying health issue, or is protesting being stressed and unhappy, in the only way he knows how. I know being in a small space, if he's not used to it, is likely part of the issue.

I also second what people said about giving him high places to sleep/lay, and just sit on. Shelves, cat towers... anything. Being up high makes them feel more in control.

I also believe that if you're stressed, it may be contributing to his. They're very empathetic, and very sensitive to energy and bad vibes, at least in my experience, and I've had cats since before I could talk.

Probably. He is very sensitive to my moods. I had a cold this past week and he was all cuddly and stuff, but now that I'm better he is back to being his usual self.

Resigned how are things going?

I think its going better. His foot seems to be ok. I tried various methods of entertaining him, and in the end, I think he does need some outside time. There isn't a lot of vehicle traffic around where I live, and I'm in the middle of a rather large city so there aren't a lot of predators either. I just keep reminding myself of the things I like about him. For instane, he's very handsome. And I have been watching videos on Youtube from the cat whisperer guy and stuff to see where I can improve our relationship.

 

[Resigned]

Oh, this is him "helping" with my rabbit when she was sick a couple of years ago. I think this was when she had a tooth abscess, because that is my bunny's hospital cage, her normal one is larger and has more stuff. He decided he should share it with her, but I took him out after I took a picture of it, lol.

 

[lalagimp]

I had to put a top on the guinea pig pen because the cats kept eating the hay and screwing up their poop. Otherwise they leave the guinea pigs alone and sometimes would hang out and take naps in there with them.

 

[Resigned]

I had to put a top on the guinea pig pen because the cats kept eating the hay and screwing up their poop. Otherwise they leave the guinea pigs alone and sometimes would hang out and take naps in there with them.

Yeah, I think I put a top on her cage for a while, but then I can't reach in and pet her whenever I want, so that is a problem. But Oliver doesn't try to get in her cage as much anymore.

 

[inkysmom]

Years ago I was in graduate school and after an awful experience with roommates who literally kept leaving the front door open and I almost ran over my cat in the driveway, I always make my cats indoor only and a whole bunch of other nightmare roommate stuff, I moved from a large two floor house with a basement to s tiny one room studio apartment for a year or so. The kitchen was separate but it was tiny.
Each cat had lived alone with me in a dorm room during college, one for just a few months when he was a kitten and o found him starving. Then I sent him to my mom's house where he lived with two other cats for a few years. My older cat and my mom hated each other and she kept peeing on my mom's work clothes so she moved into my college dorm room for my last two years of college and lived with me everywhere for the rest of her life. She loved it and never peed again except once peed blood so I got her treated for a UTI.
When I moved from a large house to that small space, both cats got stressed especially the younger one. They were fighting a lot and noisy and running around and clingy and fighting over who got to betbetnext to me in the bed.
We were all going crazy in that little space as we couldn't move without tripping over each other. The window view was a concrete wall so no birds or interesting things for them either.
We got through it and I moved to a larger apartment. What's funny was I thought the younger cat needed the space and the older cat didn't care as much. Nope. The younger cat was freaked out by the new place and all the spa e and huddled crying in a corner for a day befibe he started exploring . Needed lots of reassuring. My fifteen year old girl who had moved everywhere with me was so happy to have room again she literally trotted all around the new place happily. From one room to another nust looking around . literally nonstop trotting and looking all day and all night for a full day long. She wouldn't even stop to use the kitty litter eat or drink but kept going like the Energizer Bunny. I was worried that the small place had driven her literally over the edge and she was going to collapse. She was fine and eventually stopped but kept on trotting around for many hours.
She lived to be twenty.
The enzymatic cleaners the pet stores sell vet rid of the pee smells better so he won't smell it and be tempted to keep marking the same soots.
He definitely looks like he has some Maine coon and at four they're pretty active. He's adorable with your bunny. I never let any of my cats out and my Maine coon mix never peed. My apartment isn't huge now and there were four cats plus my large dog when I moved two and a half years ago. Two cats have since died of cancer. Now he just got diagnosed with cancer so I'd say enjoy your pets while you can they're pretty fragile. I personally don't let them out and if he gets hurt outside already it's just going to be more expensive in vet bills and you have to vaccinate them more. Plus how would you feel if he did get hit by a car? I live in a large city and there's coyotes even here, spotted in the local dog park. They're everywhere and eat cats.

 

[Talien]

I think I probably just need to come to grips with the fact that he needs to be an indoor/outdoor cat and I can't freak out when that means he occasionally gets into trouble.

Unless you want your Cat to die keep him inside. "Not a lot of vehicle traffic" doesn't mean anything, there's not a lot of vehicle traffic in the area I live either but there are always carcasses on the sides of the roads. The difference being in cities there are people who are paid to clean up animal carcasses and they're usually gone within a day while out here in farm country the Vultures and Coyotes do it so it can take a while.

There are a lot of things you can do to alleviate his boredom. If he doesn't show much interest in toys you could try leaving your TV on when you aren't home, a lot of Cats will sit and watch TV if they see something interesting so you just need to find out what he likes. Obviously you can't play with him when you aren't home but try spending more time with him when you are, and try spending some time playing with him before you leave your apartment to see if that helps cut down his destructive behavior.

Since he's still relatively young another Cat may help keep him occupied but if you're having trouble with upkeep on the one you have then that's probably not the best idea right now.

 

[Furballsmom]

Wow, he's a beautiful cat, --jawdropping actually! You're getting a lot of great advice, hang in there!