Z Is A Jerk.

[Zenith and Aaron]

Another behavior post here. I made a post earlier about Z sucking on our chests when he can. I was wondering if some of you had answers to his other quirks.

When we describe Z we describe him as "The reason people don't like cats"

He almost seems to be Bi-Polar. Some parts of the day he will be the laziest cat in the world lounging around and catching all the naps.

The next second he is cat lightning zooming around jumping from cat tree to cat tree (often knocking the trees over). We take this as a sign of play and when we approach him to do so he arches his back and gets bouncy. He then usually swats at us with claws. After a second he will lay down and almost pretend to be lazy, but If you walk past you better be alert, or you might get a claw to the head. This might last for about 10 minutes, we will ignore him and he will come to us for some pets, then ignore us again.

When we go to bed he will come and jump up and maybe lay on one of our chests and do the knead/ suck. Then he will find a spot (usually on my wife's head) stay there for a couple seconds, crawl over her face (he is not light-pawed) to another spot between us. This continues for about 20 minutes. Crawling all over us and laying down for 30 seconds. Eventually he will go to our feet. God forbid you move your toes in your sleep, because he will attack them like its life or death (usually getting me to kick him out).

We just wanted a nice cuddly kitty, but somehow we rescued Satan incarnate. We love him to death and he has good days where he is sort of cuddly. Mostly though he is kind of a jerk.

Are we just stuck with his moody personality? Or are there ways to calm him down into a more relaxed cuddly cat?

 

[Purr-fect]

I suggest you use toys on sticks to play with him, ie a play mouse tied to a stick, or feathers tied to a string on a stick ect.

He needs to learn that YOU are not the toy.

On rare occasions I play a game with gerg or arnold I call "bleeding finger". I tease them with my finger by poking it around a corner for them to attack.

I know I should not do it and if they hurt me its my fault. But they know when the game is over and they dont intentionally attack when im not expecting. They understand I am not the toy. In fact they are rougher with each other than they are with me.

Keep a toy between you and your cat.

 

[Zenith and Aaron]

I suggest you use toys on sticks to play with him, ie a play mouse tied to a stick, or feathers tied to a string on a stick ect.

He needs to learn that YOU are not the toy.

On rare occasions I play a game with gerg or arnold I call "bleeding finger". I tease them with my finger by poking it around a corner for them to attack.

I know I should not do it and if they hurt me its my fault. But they know when the game is over and they dont intentionally attack when im not expecting. They understand I am not the toy. In fact they are rougher with each other than they are with me.

Keep a toy between you and your cat.

We have quite a few toys we use with him, but still he insists on using us. Most times he will just lay atop his tree and when we walk past give us a smack.

Any thoughts on his "restlessness"? He will seem like he wants to cuddle, but won't make up his mind and eventually resorts to attacking our feet.

 

[susanm9006]

Sorry, he just sounds like a normal young cat to me. You can train him not to suck on you or bite you while you are in bed by consistently removing him from the bed and shutting him out of the room if he doesn't stop. Going from calm and cuddly to a manic in 30 seconds is something he will outgrow to some extent eventually but some cats remain very active to their senior years.

 

[danteshuman]

I would add making your heads/face a no go zone. Each time he tries to go there, pick him up while saying no and place him on the floor. If he persists kick him out of your room for the night. Same thing with attacking your toes. Say OW! and put him out of your room for 15 minutes. If he does it again (or wakes you up) kick him out for the night. If you see him stalking your toes or you know he is going to claw you if you walk by... I would try throwing a toy for him to run after and playing with him a bit. Hang in there it gets better He is just going through the cat version of the terrible twos.

 

[Zenith and Aaron]

We do tell him "No" and "Ow" ever since he was a kitten. He's 2 and a half now and still doesn't get the memo.

Honestly dont mind him sleeping by our heads, just the constant moving. Always walking over us, never finding a comfy spot to lay down.

 

[betsygee]

Sorry, he just sounds like a normal young cat to me. You can train him not to suck on you or bite you while you are in bed by consistently removing him from the bed and shutting him out of the room if he doesn't stop. Going from calm and cuddly to a manic in 30 seconds is something he will outgrow to some extent eventually but some cats remain very active to their senior years.

Agreed. The bipolar thing is what we call the 'zoomies'. We have three cats, all 8 years old, who still get the zoomies (though not as much as when they were younger) and one 14 year old who does, too--sometimes she just randomly runs down the hall, around/all over the furniture, and back down the hall. Now that we know they're not possessed, it's pretty funny to watch.

One of our cats was a head walker, too. I have no idea if this would work for you, but what worked for me was to just put the sheet over my head. Once she couldn't get to my head, she quit. Now that she's older, she will run over my face once or twice but then settles right in to sleep.

If your kitty is an 'only child' lots of toys are good--catnip toys if he likes that, and ping pong balls are good for young cats. Wand toys are good for when you're there and can play with him.

He really isn't satanic, just young and full of energy.

 

[Zenith and Aaron]

Agreed. The bipolar thing is what we call the 'zoomies'. We have three cats, all 8 years old, who still get the zoomies (though not as much as when they were younger) and one 14 year old who does, too--sometimes she just randomly runs down the hall, around/all over the furniture, and back down the hall. Now that we know they're not possessed, it's pretty funny to watch.

One of our cats was a head walker, too. I have no idea if this would work for you, but what worked for me was to just put the sheet over my head. Once she couldn't get to my head, she quit. Now that she's older, she will run over my face once or twice but then settles right in to sleep.

If your kitty is an 'only child' lots of toys are good--catnip toys if he likes that, and ping pong balls are good for young cats. Wand toys are good for when you're there and can play with him.

He really isn't satanic, just young and full of energy.

He is an only cat. We once looked after a "friends" cat for a "week". That turned into indefinetly because she basically forgot about Her. We did our best to introduce them and intergrate them, but Z never let her get close. Even after 2 months we couldn't get them in the same room without hissing and a fight.

We had no problem permanently taking care of the other cat, but Z wasn't having it (he was less than a year old at the time). So we gave her to my in-laws where she and 4 other cats live in harmony.

Maybe Z needs a baby? He ha this stuffed cat that he occasionally carries around in his mouth.