This may be a long one, so bear with me.
Background: our cat, Milliard "Millie" Peacecraft, is a 14yo neutered male domestic shorthair tuxedo cat that we've had and kept strictly indoors since he was about a year old. A few years back, he developed sediment buildup in his bladder, which necessitated a switch to a prescription food and denying him bits of cat-safe people food. He's been healthy since then, and a recent checkup (with extra blood work due to his age) confirmed that he's doing very well. As none of the behaviors listed below are new, I'm not concerned about them being signs of health problems - rather, I think most of them are to do with self-stimulation and/or attention-seeking, but my partner and I have run out of ideas for how to discourage/redirect these behaviors into ones less bothersome and potentially harmful.
1) bathtub licking. Doesn't matter if the tub's wet or dry, he'll jump in and just start licking the bottom of the tub. Since we keep his collar and tags on him (as a precaution in case he escapes outside), there's a very distinct clinking sound when he does this, at which point we generally chase him out and shut him out of the room we're in for a short while. It seems that he knows the consequences of this behavior, as he will often jump out just from one of us saying his name in a stern tone or hearing one of us get up from where we're sitting, and if it's the latter, he will often show himself out of the room. To note, the tub is fiberglass, and we do our best to keep it clean, but we still worry that he's going to ingest something harmful. We don't like keeping the bathroom door closed because the ventilation isn't great and it gets stuffy and starts smelling weird. We've been hoping that two water bowls (one a filtered fountain, the other a gravity bottle, both separate from his food) and denying him socialization would discourage this, but so far it's done jack-all.
2) chewing on everything. Again, not a new behavior, so we're not concerned about it being a dental issue. He has a tendency to go for cardboard, loose papers, and plastic (especially shrink-wrap plastic - the more the crunch, the more it fascinates him). Apart from small pieces of rubberbands (which we have long since learned to keep well out of his reach), he doesn't ingest any of it, as far as we can tell, but again, it could still potentially harm him at some point (and...it's just really annoying). He has a bunch of toy mice, several cat dancers, an automatic "red bug" toy, and a cat tree, but he still prefers going after plastic and cardboard. Even when we pay attention to him and try to play with or cuddle him, he still prefers going after plastic and cardboard. As far as we can tell, he just likes doing it, even though it usually causes us to chase him off and put whatever he was getting at out of his reach. To a lesser (and less obsessive) extent, he'll also try to chew on earbud headphones and their wires; he also goes after string and used q-tips with earwax on them, so those are all probably related (but still, we did lose several pairs of earbuds to this behavior when we first got him...).
3) pawing at anything on a surface. I know this is a common grievance from cat owners, but it's usually a sign of under-stimulation, and like I mentioned, he has plenty of toys to play with, and as with the chewing, he'll opt to do this even when we are trying to socialize with him. He also likes going after things that make noise, either when he pushes them or when they fall - most often this ends up being pill bottles, but he's also fond of batting at the TV remote (which has a rounded back, so it rocks with every kitty tap). Luckily, we tend to only have bottled drinks around (as my partner and I are both somewhat clumsy, and Millie also has a tendency to stick his head in any open cup, regardless of what is or isn't in it), so it's rare for him to knock over, say, a glass of water, but that doesn't mean he doesn't try to go after our bottles anyway.
4) constant vocalizations. I'm honestly more just curious as to why, since we first adopted him, he is almost always vocalizing. I find it difficult to categorize them as "meows," as they're closer in volume and "shape" to yowls, but without any obvious distress, plus he makes more noises we tend to call "chirps," "squeaks," and even "quacks." Alongside all this noise he actively makes, he's also constantly purring, to the point that every vet that tries to listen to his heart beat has to come up with a different technique to get him to stop for long enough that they can hear what they need. He's just...a very, very noisy cat, and we've never really figured out why. Our best guess is that he has some Siamese in him, as the shape of his snout and ears are similar, and that breed does tend to be rather talkative, but any other theories are welcome.
Like I mentioned at the beginning, any insight and/or advice to help understand/curb these behaviors would be much appreciated!
Background: our cat, Milliard "Millie" Peacecraft, is a 14yo neutered male domestic shorthair tuxedo cat that we've had and kept strictly indoors since he was about a year old. A few years back, he developed sediment buildup in his bladder, which necessitated a switch to a prescription food and denying him bits of cat-safe people food. He's been healthy since then, and a recent checkup (with extra blood work due to his age) confirmed that he's doing very well. As none of the behaviors listed below are new, I'm not concerned about them being signs of health problems - rather, I think most of them are to do with self-stimulation and/or attention-seeking, but my partner and I have run out of ideas for how to discourage/redirect these behaviors into ones less bothersome and potentially harmful.
1) bathtub licking. Doesn't matter if the tub's wet or dry, he'll jump in and just start licking the bottom of the tub. Since we keep his collar and tags on him (as a precaution in case he escapes outside), there's a very distinct clinking sound when he does this, at which point we generally chase him out and shut him out of the room we're in for a short while. It seems that he knows the consequences of this behavior, as he will often jump out just from one of us saying his name in a stern tone or hearing one of us get up from where we're sitting, and if it's the latter, he will often show himself out of the room. To note, the tub is fiberglass, and we do our best to keep it clean, but we still worry that he's going to ingest something harmful. We don't like keeping the bathroom door closed because the ventilation isn't great and it gets stuffy and starts smelling weird. We've been hoping that two water bowls (one a filtered fountain, the other a gravity bottle, both separate from his food) and denying him socialization would discourage this, but so far it's done jack-all.
2) chewing on everything. Again, not a new behavior, so we're not concerned about it being a dental issue. He has a tendency to go for cardboard, loose papers, and plastic (especially shrink-wrap plastic - the more the crunch, the more it fascinates him). Apart from small pieces of rubberbands (which we have long since learned to keep well out of his reach), he doesn't ingest any of it, as far as we can tell, but again, it could still potentially harm him at some point (and...it's just really annoying). He has a bunch of toy mice, several cat dancers, an automatic "red bug" toy, and a cat tree, but he still prefers going after plastic and cardboard. Even when we pay attention to him and try to play with or cuddle him, he still prefers going after plastic and cardboard. As far as we can tell, he just likes doing it, even though it usually causes us to chase him off and put whatever he was getting at out of his reach. To a lesser (and less obsessive) extent, he'll also try to chew on earbud headphones and their wires; he also goes after string and used q-tips with earwax on them, so those are all probably related (but still, we did lose several pairs of earbuds to this behavior when we first got him...).
3) pawing at anything on a surface. I know this is a common grievance from cat owners, but it's usually a sign of under-stimulation, and like I mentioned, he has plenty of toys to play with, and as with the chewing, he'll opt to do this even when we are trying to socialize with him. He also likes going after things that make noise, either when he pushes them or when they fall - most often this ends up being pill bottles, but he's also fond of batting at the TV remote (which has a rounded back, so it rocks with every kitty tap). Luckily, we tend to only have bottled drinks around (as my partner and I are both somewhat clumsy, and Millie also has a tendency to stick his head in any open cup, regardless of what is or isn't in it), so it's rare for him to knock over, say, a glass of water, but that doesn't mean he doesn't try to go after our bottles anyway.
4) constant vocalizations. I'm honestly more just curious as to why, since we first adopted him, he is almost always vocalizing. I find it difficult to categorize them as "meows," as they're closer in volume and "shape" to yowls, but without any obvious distress, plus he makes more noises we tend to call "chirps," "squeaks," and even "quacks." Alongside all this noise he actively makes, he's also constantly purring, to the point that every vet that tries to listen to his heart beat has to come up with a different technique to get him to stop for long enough that they can hear what they need. He's just...a very, very noisy cat, and we've never really figured out why. Our best guess is that he has some Siamese in him, as the shape of his snout and ears are similar, and that breed does tend to be rather talkative, but any other theories are welcome.
Like I mentioned at the beginning, any insight and/or advice to help understand/curb these behaviors would be much appreciated!
