Advice please

Right then. We've use feliway diffusers already. We've tried tiring her out before bed and feeding last thing at night. Even shutting the bedroom door and nothing seems to work! Bramble is getting worse with her attention seeking in the morning (read early hours and through the night). Closing them both downstairs is out of the question as Mads is such a good girl and gets so upset with closed doors that she's sick and/or scratches them to hell! LOL! We can't close Bramble in anywhere on her own as she cries until she's hoarse, then continues crying... jeeze, when I go out to work she sits on the mat by the door crying and when I return she's on the living room window sill waiting and as soon as I'm through the door she's all over me! lol.

I mean, its nice that she's so loving, but its too much! I need my sleep! lol! She's such a needy little girl, you'll remember when we put her in a cattery and she spent the whole time hiding under a blanket and refusing to eat! She just wants company and attention all the time. Plus we can't shout at her too much as she's still so jumpy. She's a really stupid cat (I'm not being mean there, I just mean she has the IQ of a house plant lol) and has definate behavioural problems and just lacks any form of the usual cat like independance. We just don't know what to do. We couldn't even rehome her as am sure she'd end up starving herself to death and would just be so traumatised, so we need to come up with some sort of 'reconditioning' for her to try and stop this behaviour without upsetting her or mads, but we don't even know where to start.

Sorry for the same old rant about my grey rat (LOL), its just she's getting even worse, and I didn't think that could be possible!

I've been having a think overnight whilst being kept awake by a Boo... and I think the most irritating of the noises is her scrabbling at the cuboard door and the door to Narnia (we've put the linen basket in front where the double doors close, but she just picks and scrabbles at the sides and pulls the carpet up *sighs*). So am thinking about possibly getting those soft claw cover things to stop her scratching... She's an indoor only cat so it shouldn't cause her any problems, the only downside would be that we'd have to clip her claws, which would freak her out no end... Or even if its possible to get some sort of water shooter with a sensor so when she goes near the doors she gets squirted with water... In some ways its a shame we kept her as with hind sight she would have been alot happier with someone on their own that doesn't sleep much or in a multi cat household so she'd have company all the time (at night Mads just ignors her for most of it, until the constant yabbering and scratching even annoys her, then she gets up and chases her! LOL). As I say tho, thats not an option as she wouldn't cope with the change as is way too attached to her mummy moo and human mummy.

Have you thought of leaving her in a room with a radio on, and maybe some of your old clothes to sleep on? The radio *may* help convince her that you, or someone else, is still around.

What's in the cupboard that she finds so irresistable? If there's nothing she can/will damage, maybe some old clothes there would persuade her to lie down on them and sleep.

I don't like the idea of those claw covers personally, but as she's an indoor cat they probably wouldn't be so bad, tho' as you say, clipping would be another matter altogether

Ian

Ian B wrote:

What's in the cupboard that she finds so irresistable? If there's nothing she can/will damage, maybe some old clothes there would persuade her to lie down on them and sleep.



Ian

And there in lies the question! LOL! I have no idea what she finds so irresistable. Its a large double doored airing cuboard, so there's the water heater (with a gap round the back just big enough for a Boo to squeeze in and then get stuck ), shelves where we have our bed linen, towels etc. and a hanging rail where we hang our clothes to dry, with a shoe rack at the back that if Mads gets in she makes a beeline for and curls up on it, but shes easy enough to pluck back out and doesn't insist on going straight back in! LOL! Thing is with the gap behind the water tank, I don't want Boo in there in case she gets trapped and we aren't able to get her out before she cooks (prob wouldn't happen like that, but does in my head), not to mention the drying clothes, some of which are work clothes so don't really want cat hair stuck to them.

Ian B wrote: Have you thought of leaving her in a room with a radio on, and maybe some of your old clothes to sleep on? The radio *may* help convince her that you, or someone else, is still around.

We could tidy out the spare room that used to be her 'kitten room' and give that a go. I leave my jogging pants out during the day so she can curl up on them. When she was a tiney tiny kitten it wasn't so bad, but when she saw there was a world outside the room she started crying her head off and scratching at the door, which is when I made the 'kitten gate' as she was still too small to safely roam free in the house, so she could see her mummy moo and not feel as trapped... then she got bigger and learned to jump! LOL! She's always been incredibly loud and vocal (we wouldn't have found her in the bramble bush if she wasn't)

I think the answer will lie in somehow conditioning her to stop this behaviour, its just with her being so easily frightened the whole 'cause and effect' thing could be cruel, so I have no idea where to begin. Would it be hellishly cruel to speak to the vet about sedating her during the night? It would wouldn't it? Hmmm, yes, I guess it would, as soon as I said that I felt a prang of guilt, so its must be wrong.... still...

If there's room for a covered cat bed in there, that may be worth trying, and perhaps would help stop cat hairs getting everywhere.

Can't you block the gap behind the water heater? I know I had to do that with a gap under the gas fire when Beckett was a kitten as this gap fascinated him.

I don't know, but I guess there are mild tranquilisers for pets that'd be suitable, there's no harm in explaining the situation to your vet, they might just have the perfect solution.

Ian

LOL! Oh she's shouting and singing her head off right now for no reason.... which is fine during the day.... oh I don't know, maybe taping some soft mittens to her feet and gagging her is the way forward! (joking although tempting )

I guess we could block the gap and cover the wires in there (what is it with some cats and gaps? lol) I know its mean of me, but the damp clothes in there hang nearly touching the floor so she'd brush past them, I just don't want her in there! LOL! I swear she knows this which is what makes it even more attractive to her Hmmmmm, I could make a plastic shield to cover the lower half of the doors... *strokes chin thoughtfully*

I will start leaving the sliding door wardrobe in our bedroom open and I'll clear a space in there for her pyramid bed, which is a big concession on my part as hearing her trampling through my things during the night drives me nuts! LOL! If only cats were easier (or even possible) to train eh?

Do you think if I talked to the vets, they'd call the rspca on my mention of possibly drugging her?

Call the vets? I very much doubt it, they probably get that kind of request every week

Just watch, the solution is bound to be something so obvious you haven't thought about it yet.

Ian

LOL! I'll just have to remember not to mention my gagging idea!

I'm afraid I can't offer any advice as Percy is quite the opposite (read - he rarely wants attention!) Have you read any Vicky Halls books? She's full of good advice and her books can usually be found in the library.

Have a looksie at her website: http://www.vickyhalls.net/feline_faqs.asp

xxx

Oh bless.... Bramble-Boo is suck a lttle sweetie... but I know where you're coming from... Poks not the best cat at night either (or BG with my partner, when she comes to get all her cuddles during the night my partner wakes up, I just sleep right through it).

The wardrobe.... save any clothes you want cat-hair-free somewhere else. Leave the wardrobe doors open. She'll make a racket in there (if she's like Pok), but will hopefully after a few days get fed up when she realises that you don't mind her going there. Pok hasn't begged for the wrdrobes to be open anymore here after he realised that it didn't piss us off when he started scratching on them, instead we opened them for him.

You can buy calming tables for kitties at the pet store (they're some herbal stuff). We tried them on Pok-Pok (when he was going through his very aggressive stage) with the advice from the vets. Didn't help one bit though, but it could be that they do the trick for Bramble.

Best of luck though!

OOoooo calming tablets.... now that sounds good! I'll start letting her in the wardrobe, but I really don't want to let her in the airing cuboard... yet anyway.... I'll wait until all washings been done and dried and instead of just leaving it hanging in there (lol yup, am a lazy cow lol) I'll actually put it away and try letting her in for a few days.

Laura, I've never read any of her books but shall keep a lookout

Thanks all.

OMG what a pain, Sophie is a pain at night but not quite so bad. I think she has you trained just the way she wants, so you have to break the habit and this is the hard bit. If you shut her in the kitten room with your jogging pants, DO NOT GIVE IN when she stars her crying, you have to be hard or you will always have this problem, she WILL get used to it but we are talking weeks of breaking the habit. Play a radio as Ian suggests, even put a TV in there, buy one of those fish DVD's that cats find so attentive and leave her. If you let her in your wardrobe, block off the area you don't want her to get stuck in and leave her to find her safe place. But you are going to have to be strong, wear ear plugs for the first few days when she will really let you know she's not happy but stick it out, lack of sleep is destroying and you have enough to cope with without that too.
Have you thought of a cat behaviourist, it probably is pricy but something has to be done.

Well, I gave in to her last night and as she was picking at the sliding door wardrobe, instead of shouting or throwing a sock ball at her (LOL) I got up simply opened the door, then lay there silently seething at the sound of her pawing through all my handbags etc. Told myself it was for the greater good and turned my head so my hearing ear was buried in the pillow, and next thing I knew I woke up needing to pee..... but little miss noisey was curled up asleep between my legs and I had that decision, to get up which would stirr her and start 'the fun' or to lay there uncomfortable... I went for the second option, fell back to sleep and woke up at 8.30 It was the first night she hasn't thrown herself repeatedly at the 'narnia' doors! I got up and she got up and started talking to me so I picked her up and went downstairs to let my partner have a Boo free lay in and I gave her some biccies straight away as a reward for being such a good girl last night!

It'll never last! LOL! But I wonder if letting her in the sliding door wardrobe is enough to passify her? If so, I can live with her pawing through my things and chewing my belts (ggrrrrrrrrrrr) for a relatively uninterupted nights sleep and a happy Boo, so will start leaving it open at night... if it doesn't work, then sorry Boo... its the kitten room!

Then there's Mads, oh such a night time angel, she just either curls up at the bottom of the bed, (although sometimes manages to steal the duvet! lol), but more often then not, there's just no sign of her! She goes under the bed in the spare room and stays there all night! She likes her sleep just as much and knows that if she's in our bedroom, she'll get disturbed by a needy Boo! LOL! Hmmmm, so there's another solution, we could leave our room and curl up under the spare bed with Mads!

OH YE GADS!!!!!! *vomits*

She's just ran in and out the bathroom when I was in the bath, with crap all down her breeches..... so we hunted her down and as we were cleaning her up, her bottom started squirting foul *read worst smell in world ever.com* smelling liquid! Her glands! No wonder sometimes when she's got crap down her, the smell lingers... I think she's got an anal gland problem like my sisters' Shamie does!

Grey stinking rat cat, very active at night, enjoys cuddles, but is v jumpy..... FREE TO ANY HOME! (LOL, just kidding, but man alive, I can still smell her! )

OMG.... and here I was all smiles on my face reading how nicely last night went.... until the runny poopie situation! Eeeeeeeek! Poor little Boo, and poor you guys too!

LOL sorry , god almighty I spend my time on this forum apologising. LOL

Move your handbags. belt etc out of the wardrobe and PRAY.LOL

ROFL! Oh I know, but am afraid to look at my bags etc!

I think my disgusted reaction got to her! We've just got back in and she's slinking around looking like she's done bad! Awww, my poor little girl, its not her fault. I told my sister and she's said to feed her just on dry as that did her Shamie a world of good, so its biccies city for wor Boo!