Naughty Kitty When No One Is Home

[linkworshiper]

My younger cat was adopted as an adolescent and is still learning how to live in an apartment. He’s come a long way, but he’s still doing naughty things when I’m at work. Mainly, he climbs onto my piano and knocks stuff off it. Today I came home to a broken picture frame. I know he knows it’s bad because he’ll jump off if I catch him. I’ve tried crowding the piano lid with more stuff but I hate how cluttered it is. I don’t know what to do because this mainly happens when I’m not home.

 

[Psybug]

Hi... it sounds like he needs to be "entertained" which basically means he needs toys and perhaps someone to come over and play with him. Instead of crowding the piano...I would just remove everything...my kitten is 10 months old and he has energy attacks and runs all over the place after he eats food...and he's cute and entertaining but I remove everything so he can be safe and expend the energy... it won't last long... he will settle down and become what I call a live cushion at some point...lol.... but toys and a cat sitter are what I can suggest. Good luck

 

[danteshuman]

He might as well be shouting “I’m bored!!!” Every time he knocks something down! He needs more play & (rotating) interactive toys.

I would remove everything off the piano for 6-12 months (when he calms down a bit.) If you really want to train him to stay off the piano use sticky tape made for cats or Ssssscat.

 

[linkworshiper]

He might as well be shouting “I’m bored!!!” Every time he knocks something down! He needs more play & (rotating) interactive toys.

I would remove everything off the piano for 6-12 months (when he calms down a bit.) If you really want to train him to stay off the piano use sticky tape made for cats or Ssssscat.

I have so many toys for him! I built him a fort out of boxes, I have one of those Kong toys with the balls on the track, one of those tube thingies to crawl inside, plus some electric toys and like a billion balls. I play with him when I get home, and I've even installed a bird feeder outside the window he likes to sit at, and that entertains him for hours. And he loves to wrestle with my other cat. He's really smart though, and he'll get bored of things within days.

 

[susanm9006]

A cat can’t tell the difference between our things and toys. If it is out and it can be moved or played with they will. So you need to either remove them or Velcro them down so that they become less interesting and can’t be damaged.

 

[linkworshiper]

I'm thinking I might need to barricade his point of entry with velcro. My piano is an upright, and I think he gets on it from a nearby shelf. My problem is that a lot of the stuff on the piano is the only place I have to display it in my little apartment XD

 

[danteshuman]

I rotate most of my cat’s toys. Loosing his toy for 2-6 weeks makes it brand new again. They usually loose interest in ball tracks in their 5-12 month age.

For your boy I would recommend things like: different puzzle feeders you rotate (try putting dry kitten food in it to motivate him!) , interactive toys that move on their own (balls that light up, motion activated spinner balls with those feathers, that thing that moved under the blanket (put a new toy out 1 day a week just to spice things up but enough he doesn’t get bored of them).... think things like that (there is a whole section of interactive toys on Chewy) more bird feeders & morning/evening play sessions with their humans.

 

[danteshuman]

The kittens (teens) love the smartkat whirl balls, smartykat hide & seek and this laser toy that moves the laser on it’s own. Their absolute favorite toys are the real rabbit fur mice (I buy long haired ones off amazon that rattles and cut the tales off.... they eat them!) They love to play ‘get the toy if you can/kitten soccer’ with the mice.

Maybe one day a week pull out the catnip (or catnip & silvervine) to give them a fun/chill day. I use Kong catnip spray on their kickeroo’s once a month and on their other favorite toys. I also grow grass for my twerp.

 

[linkworshiper]

The kittens (teens) love the smartkat whirl balls, smartykat hide & seek and this laser toy that moves the laser on it’s own. Their absolute favorite toys are the real rabbit fur mice (I buy long haired ones off amazon that rattles and cut the tales off.... they eat them!) They love to play ‘get the toy if you can/kitten soccer’ with the mice.

Maybe one day a week pull out the catnip (or catnip & silvervine) to give them a fun/chill day. I use Kong catnip spray on their kickeroo’s once a month and on their other favorite toys. I also grow grass for my twerp.

Hemingway (the cat in question) is getting pretty fat, but he does love food. The last puzzle treat thingie I bought him, he tore to shreds to get at the treats. He has one of those spinny electric ones with the feathers and I have this little green thing that moves around on the floor like a bug. (The only flaw is that I can't leave it when I'm gone, or it can get stuck in some deep dark hole I'll never find it in.) He likes his rattle balls and he likes things with strings on them. I have some of those little mice things but he doesn't seem as interested in them as he used to be. His favorite toy is the ribbon on a stick for sure.

Hemingway also (of course) doesn't react to catnip. I have the spray as well, and while my other cat is lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling like he's seen the face of god, Hemingway is busy doing... whatever it is that he does.

Honestly, I thought I'd gotten him trained out of climbing on the piano, but the addition of the printer to the shelf right next to it seems to have created a new avenue for him to investigate. He already thinks the printer is a mysterious new toy. I'll check out the puzzle feeders on chewy thoug.

 

[danteshuman]

You can try silver vine. Some cats respond to it when they don’t respond to catnip.

 

[linkworshiper]

So after looking up silver vine, all the product reviews I could find said that it would excited my cat. If there is one thi g Hemingway doesn't need, it's excitement. (put him in a hamster wheel ND he could power a city....) Does anyone have a specific product they suggest for silver voney?

 

[Kflowers]

This won't help you keep kit off the piano, but it will help the piano and other hard wood pieces of furniture. When kit slips or skids or manages in some way to scratch the furniture or even score it with deep claw marks, spread a lot of regular mayonnaise (not the diet stuff) over the spot.

Cover it with paper towels and set something on them. This is to keep the cats from licking the mayonnaise off. In the morning wipe the mayonnaise off the furniture, gently, no need to rub. I suspect you will be surprised at the vanishing scratch marks. Once they are gone you don't need to repeat. new ones will need a
first treatment. It also works for dog scratches and it works on the light plywood stained wood of doors too.

 

[susanm9006]

One thing to keep in mind is that about 95% of cats do naughty things while we aren’t at home. Some are just better than others at covering it up and not getting caught. And since you do have other cats, are you absolutely certain who the piano culprit is? It may be worth setting up a video cam to see who goes exploring and what seems to be the attraction for them. You can also try setting up a motion detecting toy on the piano , like a billy bass singing fish or a Halloween decoration that shrieks or talks.

 

[linkworshiper]

One thing to keep in mind is that about 95% of cats do naughty things while we aren’t at home. Some are just better than others at covering it up and not getting caught. And since you do have other cats, are you absolutely certain who the piano culprit is? It may be worth setting up a video cam to see who goes exploring and what seems to be the attraction for them. You can also try setting up a motion detecting toy on the piano , like a billy bass singing fish or a Halloween decoration that shrieks or talks.

Oh I'm sure lol. Hemingway is a tornado in cat form, or a dog in cat form. My other cat can hardly be bothered walking from his bed to his food bowl. The piano is only interesting to Hemingway. The other cat doesn't even jump onto the keyboard.

 

[linkworshiper]

Brief update: I bought some catnip with silver vine in it. My other cat who usually reacts to catnip is melting through the floor. Hemingway (seen in the back of this photo) only poked at the bag long enough to figure out it wasn't treats. In any case, I'm going to get him a puzzle feeder at least.

 

[danteshuman]

OMG he looks a lot like my bud Dante ...... who was a hyper terror until he started mellowing at 7.5 years old!!!! (God I miss my best bud!!!!) What calmed my terror down? Outside time (contained in the yard) to ‘hunt’ the birdies.

 

[linkworshiper]

Haha! They both have the same grump face! Hemingway has a big "mustache" on his nose though. Unfortunately, I live in an apartment, so I don't have a yard. I've tried to get him used to wearing a harness, but the first time I tried to "walk" him, he forgot how to cat and just plastered himself to the ground.