My boyfriend and I have had Poster, 11 month old, male Norwegian Forest cat, for the better part of a year. He is neutered, and gets a lot of attention and love, he has plenty of toys, and a scratch post. He’s a very good cat, very loving and friendly, but recently he’s just been really getting on last nerve. I want to say, maybe about a month ago, he suddenly learned how to jump on the counter, open our sliding closet doors, open cabinets, and taken a strange new fascination to all the wires behind our tv. We have a small side table/cabinet next to our couch, where we kept his treats and other various junk. I came home from the gym one day to discover not only that he’d somehow managed to open to the cabinet (which has small “U” shaped swinging handles on them, and magnets to keep them shut), but he’d ripped open his bag of treats, and strewn the contents of the ‘junk’ all over the living room. He’s been waking me up, like clock work, every morning at 4-4:15, trying to scratch his way into our closet (the doors are mirrors) so you can imagine how irritating this would be to wake up too every single morning. Once I shoo him away from the closet, he moves onto the side cabinet in the living room and works on that. Last night I found a bushel of bananas under the kitchen table that he’d knocked off the counter and dragged under there. I’m serious, I’ve had it. This started out of nowhere and no matter what we do, spraying him with water, yelling, ignoring him, giving him a light smack, he just continues to do it. I know it sounds ridiculous but I’m practically to the point of tears some nights because I’m so fed up with his behavior and keeping me awake at night, waking me up in the morning, actually losing sleep over a cat.
I even wasted $7.00 bucks on a bottle of ‘KEEP OFF’ cat spray, and after using half the can, he actually walked over and sniffed it like he liked it. I have just had it, and I don’t know what to do. My boyfriend can sleep through it, but I’m a light sleeper and am having a huge problem with it.
Is anyone else having this problem or know of ANYTHING that I can do. I’m getting desperate.
Thanks, J C, but let me make something perfectly clear. I do not ABUSE my cat, and I am very patient with him. I realize this is normal cat behavior, but after a month of being woken up over and over again, it’s becoming very irritating. Thank you for your opinion, but I don’t appreciate being made out to be some animal abusing freak who neglects our pet. If you have something negative to say about my question, keep it to yourself. I was looking for an honest answer with someone who may have a solution. Not a bashing.
Ok, let me rephrase my question, is there anything I can do to prevent my cat from doing these things. It’s not the climbing I am concerned with. I have done much research on the NFC, and I realize climbing is part of his nature. I throughly enjoy his company, and my boyfriend and I love him and play with him very much, but I am just tired of being woken up night after night because he does not understand that he shouldn’t be doing those things. We have no intentions of ‘getting rid’ of him because he is our pet, we love him. We actually do plan on getting another cat when we move out of our apartment and into a house next month. I have had many cats before, I understand their behavior, but none that have insisted countless nights on getting into anything and everything, so maybe I am just not used to it. Like I said, I wasn’t looking for a bashing. Just something that may deter him from making messes and getting into things he shouldn’t be.