Is there any way you can train a kitten to, at least primarily live in just a few areas of your house and the connected yard, or go into them when required, rather than the whole place? Yesterday my mother gave me this kitten, according to the pet shop she was born on 14 Dec 2010 and is a half Siamese crossed with ordinary tabby cat.
Let me explain what I live in, it's called a 'villa', unlike an apartment it has an attached garage and at the back a small fenced backyard/courtyard thing. I don't have a car so the garage is like a big room, and there is a sliding door connecting the garage to the rest of the villa, and a screen door connecting it to the backyard. The backyard courtyard is small, completely enclosed, and has a tiny lawn, various beds of plants, etc. The main living area of the villa is sort of like an apartment and you can't really close much off. The main 'room' thing is around the size of the garage. You are allowed to have pets in the complex if they are approved, and when I first moved here 3 years ago I got approval to have a cat, as I was thinking of maybe getting one once I settled in or I might have to take or mind my cat from my parents' house. But I have had a lot of unforseen problems with this neighbour who I think has clinical paranoia and is terrified of animals. She has had a succession of past strange vendettas against other neighbours, who eventually move away, one day about 2.5 years ago she found this clay stuff in her yard which is just old rubble, I have some too, and decided it was cat excrement, and decided that 'I had a cat' even though I had no pets, and took out a strange full scale vendetta against me. Among other things she thew some kind on animal dung fertiliser onto my doorstep every morning for 6 months, made all kinds of threats I won't repeat her due to offense, and a long string of other things I won't bore you with, but eventually I had to get int the police, who already had her listed as a problem. After this she kept in sending health inspectors to my home with pet-related 'complaints' even though I had no pets, one was because this wild lizard, with which I had no interaction, would sometimes come and sit in the midday sun in my yard, so she called the health inspectors saying I had an 'illegal crocodile'. Then there were some rats which lived in a large property behind and came in at night to her and my courtyard, I didn't like them either and only ever put out poison, but she claimed they were 'living on my property' so yet more health inspectors. When the health/council/whatever inspectors come they see the place is totally clean, I have no pets, and she is insane, and refuse to be called out to her new complaints, but she makes a complaint to another authority. It's going to be a lot tougher for them to see that she is crazy insane if I am keeping pets and they are the suposed source of 'filth' she is complaining about. The police have visited her and warned her about her threats and I'm in the process of getting a lawyer to write to her on my behalf. But you can see the insane vendetta she acquired just for thinking I had an imaginary cat 3 years ago. It's a lot easier when all these inspectors turn up to explain that you have no pets, since all her claims you have them and the place is ever a health risk with the associated filth looks even more ridiculous. I was thinking if I show them the cat only lives in the garage and yard it would look better, also since the garage is on the other side to her property.
Another problem is I am kind of sensitive to poor air quality. The air quality problem at my parents with the cats wasn't so bad, because I usually left the door of my room shut with the cat only coming in occasionally and the cats spent a lot of time outside, but I'm not sure how I'll cope with cat hairs all through my small living space here, it's sort of an unknown.
I at least want to be able to put her somewhere when I'm away, right now as a kitten, who knows what she might get up to when I'm out with nobody supervising her, in terms of unforeseen dangers and breakables.
Pets aren't toys, it's like suddenly being made to adopt a kid or something... I admit I am pretty terrified.
I don't have a car or anything, so the garage is just like a big room, and it has a screen door to directly access the courtyard-yard thing, there's another door connecting it to the house. Thus far it has 2 old lounges, a table, a desk and various other innocuous stuff which shouldn't bother her, I've put pet related stuff in there as well (bed, 'tent', scratching post, litter, toys, food bowls etc. But she's figured out, obviously, that I disappear off into the house through the door connecting the garage to the rest of the house, and has escaped out a few times when I exit. When I leave one of these happens:
-a few minutes after I've gone she starts meowing, constantly for about 5min.
-she immediately meows for ages complaining and sometimes pawing at the door.
I'm scared leaving her like this will make her not like me or not bond with me or something. If I do let her out into the house, I'm worried I won't be able to make her go back into the garage when I need to. I'm also worried if I respond to her meowing by coming back whenever she does it (rewarding the attention tactic), she will learn to become a 'problem meower' and sit around meowing at inconvinient times, to which the neighbour might call in an authority also. See, I don't know whether to equate it with a child whining or crying in real distress or something, she's a kitten but not really, really young or anything, she must be almost 4 months old.
I don't know if it's impossible or cruel not to let her have roam of the rest of the house, but I don't want her to do so unsupervised at least at the moment when I don't know what might happen, I know it sounds mean. The villa is that small I can't close off rooms/things where I don't want her, I have a kind of problem with sensitivity to air quality so I'd prefer to confine the cat hair etc. if at all possible. Also if this unfortunate neighbour calls in health inspectors etc. she will typecast me as a crazy cat lady and claim my house is filled with cat filth or something, so it would look a lot better to be able to explain to the authorities that the cat lives in the garage and yard. Thus far the inspectors have all seen that there is no problem with my property and the neighbour is insane, but I don't want to give them legitimate ammunition for anything, because both past 'inspections' have been called on the claim I am keeping some kind of pet (a 'crocodile') or that 'a rat infestation lives here' (they don't, some rats used to come in from a large property behind this complex into both my courtyard and hers.) As I said due to all the problems and lack of space I never got a kitten myself after it was approved 3 years ago, but my mother just bought it for me and brought it over yesterday. I feel terrified like I've just been told I'm to adopt a baby, because it's nothing like how it was with our cats at my parents' with a large yard, lots of room and other people around.
So I guess these are my queries:
-Can I make her live in the garage and back yard-thing, or is it too cruel, if so, how?
- Or as a compromise, be able to make her go into the garage when I'm out or there are dangerous/inconvenient things around/maybe when I'm asleep? Sort of like how you can put toddlers in a play pen?
-What to do in response to her meowing when I leave her separated by a door? If I can do either of the above in terms of her staying in the garage and yard part or all of the time, how to train her and stop her from trying to escape when I leave? I know I have to do some kind of training if I want her to stay in the garage part or all of the time and I have to know how to respond to the meowing. I don't want her to hate me and not bond with me, nor do I want her 'training' me and becoming a problem if you know what I mean...
I'm sorry if I sound mean or something. I don't want to get rid of her, I might be able to move eventually also to a better property, I hope, maybe within a year. I know some peoples' dogs only live in the yard, but a cat isn't the same, I don't want to do the wrong thing and I want her to like me and I don't want to hurt her.
Let me explain what I live in, it's called a 'villa', unlike an apartment it has an attached garage and at the back a small fenced backyard/courtyard thing. I don't have a car so the garage is like a big room, and there is a sliding door connecting the garage to the rest of the villa, and a screen door connecting it to the backyard. The backyard courtyard is small, completely enclosed, and has a tiny lawn, various beds of plants, etc. The main living area of the villa is sort of like an apartment and you can't really close much off. The main 'room' thing is around the size of the garage. You are allowed to have pets in the complex if they are approved, and when I first moved here 3 years ago I got approval to have a cat, as I was thinking of maybe getting one once I settled in or I might have to take or mind my cat from my parents' house. But I have had a lot of unforseen problems with this neighbour who I think has clinical paranoia and is terrified of animals. She has had a succession of past strange vendettas against other neighbours, who eventually move away, one day about 2.5 years ago she found this clay stuff in her yard which is just old rubble, I have some too, and decided it was cat excrement, and decided that 'I had a cat' even though I had no pets, and took out a strange full scale vendetta against me. Among other things she thew some kind on animal dung fertiliser onto my doorstep every morning for 6 months, made all kinds of threats I won't repeat her due to offense, and a long string of other things I won't bore you with, but eventually I had to get int the police, who already had her listed as a problem. After this she kept in sending health inspectors to my home with pet-related 'complaints' even though I had no pets, one was because this wild lizard, with which I had no interaction, would sometimes come and sit in the midday sun in my yard, so she called the health inspectors saying I had an 'illegal crocodile'. Then there were some rats which lived in a large property behind and came in at night to her and my courtyard, I didn't like them either and only ever put out poison, but she claimed they were 'living on my property' so yet more health inspectors. When the health/council/whatever inspectors come they see the place is totally clean, I have no pets, and she is insane, and refuse to be called out to her new complaints, but she makes a complaint to another authority. It's going to be a lot tougher for them to see that she is crazy insane if I am keeping pets and they are the suposed source of 'filth' she is complaining about. The police have visited her and warned her about her threats and I'm in the process of getting a lawyer to write to her on my behalf. But you can see the insane vendetta she acquired just for thinking I had an imaginary cat 3 years ago. It's a lot easier when all these inspectors turn up to explain that you have no pets, since all her claims you have them and the place is ever a health risk with the associated filth looks even more ridiculous. I was thinking if I show them the cat only lives in the garage and yard it would look better, also since the garage is on the other side to her property.
Another problem is I am kind of sensitive to poor air quality. The air quality problem at my parents with the cats wasn't so bad, because I usually left the door of my room shut with the cat only coming in occasionally and the cats spent a lot of time outside, but I'm not sure how I'll cope with cat hairs all through my small living space here, it's sort of an unknown.
I at least want to be able to put her somewhere when I'm away, right now as a kitten, who knows what she might get up to when I'm out with nobody supervising her, in terms of unforeseen dangers and breakables.
Pets aren't toys, it's like suddenly being made to adopt a kid or something... I admit I am pretty terrified.
I don't have a car or anything, so the garage is just like a big room, and it has a screen door to directly access the courtyard-yard thing, there's another door connecting it to the house. Thus far it has 2 old lounges, a table, a desk and various other innocuous stuff which shouldn't bother her, I've put pet related stuff in there as well (bed, 'tent', scratching post, litter, toys, food bowls etc. But she's figured out, obviously, that I disappear off into the house through the door connecting the garage to the rest of the house, and has escaped out a few times when I exit. When I leave one of these happens:
-a few minutes after I've gone she starts meowing, constantly for about 5min.
-she immediately meows for ages complaining and sometimes pawing at the door.
I'm scared leaving her like this will make her not like me or not bond with me or something. If I do let her out into the house, I'm worried I won't be able to make her go back into the garage when I need to. I'm also worried if I respond to her meowing by coming back whenever she does it (rewarding the attention tactic), she will learn to become a 'problem meower' and sit around meowing at inconvinient times, to which the neighbour might call in an authority also. See, I don't know whether to equate it with a child whining or crying in real distress or something, she's a kitten but not really, really young or anything, she must be almost 4 months old.
I don't know if it's impossible or cruel not to let her have roam of the rest of the house, but I don't want her to do so unsupervised at least at the moment when I don't know what might happen, I know it sounds mean. The villa is that small I can't close off rooms/things where I don't want her, I have a kind of problem with sensitivity to air quality so I'd prefer to confine the cat hair etc. if at all possible. Also if this unfortunate neighbour calls in health inspectors etc. she will typecast me as a crazy cat lady and claim my house is filled with cat filth or something, so it would look a lot better to be able to explain to the authorities that the cat lives in the garage and yard. Thus far the inspectors have all seen that there is no problem with my property and the neighbour is insane, but I don't want to give them legitimate ammunition for anything, because both past 'inspections' have been called on the claim I am keeping some kind of pet (a 'crocodile') or that 'a rat infestation lives here' (they don't, some rats used to come in from a large property behind this complex into both my courtyard and hers.) As I said due to all the problems and lack of space I never got a kitten myself after it was approved 3 years ago, but my mother just bought it for me and brought it over yesterday. I feel terrified like I've just been told I'm to adopt a baby, because it's nothing like how it was with our cats at my parents' with a large yard, lots of room and other people around.
So I guess these are my queries:
-Can I make her live in the garage and back yard-thing, or is it too cruel, if so, how?
- Or as a compromise, be able to make her go into the garage when I'm out or there are dangerous/inconvenient things around/maybe when I'm asleep? Sort of like how you can put toddlers in a play pen?
-What to do in response to her meowing when I leave her separated by a door? If I can do either of the above in terms of her staying in the garage and yard part or all of the time, how to train her and stop her from trying to escape when I leave? I know I have to do some kind of training if I want her to stay in the garage part or all of the time and I have to know how to respond to the meowing. I don't want her to hate me and not bond with me, nor do I want her 'training' me and becoming a problem if you know what I mean...
I'm sorry if I sound mean or something. I don't want to get rid of her, I might be able to move eventually also to a better property, I hope, maybe within a year. I know some peoples' dogs only live in the yard, but a cat isn't the same, I don't want to do the wrong thing and I want her to like me and I don't want to hurt her.
