His name is Shady and he's about 6 months old. I've had Shady since he was 8 weeks old. He's been neutered. He used to be such a sweet kitten- loving and sweet. He was always so excited when I came home that he sat in my lap and purred. Sure, sometimes he'd get into trouble but not often.
Lately, Shady is awful. He bites hard and claws on me any chance he gets. He wakes me up in the middle of the night scratching me, my bed, the floor, anything he can. Yesterday morning he pulled my tablecloth and made my new christmas dishes fall to the floor, one of them breaking. He's started chewing my Christmas tree (he didn't before) and scratching my couch. I thought I'd try the fly swatter so that I could condition him to stop being mean when I picked it up. However, that has had no effect on Shady. I've heard of using the spray bottle with water to squirt at him but he actually likes water and I don't want him to have a fear of it. I also never wanted his carrier to be a punishment because when we travel to my parents' house I don't want him to think he's in trouble. But just now when he jumped beside my tv in the entertainment center, then behind the whole thing where he hit the surge protector and turned the whole system off- I went nuts and put him in the carrier. Now he's crying and clawing trying to get out.
I love my kitten but I don't know how to make him stop being so mean. Any ideas?


Sorry it's so long.

11/29/2005 5:55:20 PM

as someone thats seen my mom pay more attn to cats than anyone else in the world that i know of, my expert opinion is that you are not being forceful enough to your kitten, show it who the owner is

yes i did real all that btw

ps- its still only 6 months old

11/29/2005 6:00:19 PM

I try to be but I don't want to be mean to him.

I mean, I haven't let him out yet and he's still clawing at the cage and crying.

11/29/2005 6:04:02 PM

few things -

he may be sick. cats often act out when they are sick - i.e. peeing outside the litter box may indicate a UTI

have you been away from the apt more than usual? cats enjoy company. if you are gone long stretches of time, this may be his way of telling you he is pissed off. when you are home, pet him a lot, give him treats, pay attention to him.

what has changed in your household? do you have a new pet? are new people coming over? are there loud noises (i.e. construction) goign on nearby? cats don't like new things and it takes them a while to get used it. pet him, play with him, make sure he feels safe.

6mo. is still a kitten. he may just have a lot of energy and you aren't playing with him enough.

my vet told me a good way to discipline a cat is to take a can and put beans or rocks in it. if he misbehaves, hide behind a corner and throw it at him. it will scare him and because you are out of sight, he will not associate the discipline with you being around. if you personally dicsipline him, he will just act out when you aren't around.

11/29/2005 6:06:18 PM

^woah thats really good advice

11/29/2005 6:07:58 PM

you cut his balls off, id be mad if i were him.


get him declawed and grow the fuck up and accept the responsibility of training him. The water bottle is the best punishment. Also try distracting him with toys.

11/29/2005 6:08:22 PM

^^^ never heard of that discipline technique...interesting.

[Edited on November 29, 2005 at 6:09 PM. Reason : you people are fast! ^, ^^]

11/29/2005 6:08:54 PM

i had a dream about your pussy.

11/29/2005 6:12:23 PM

lol.
that sounds like my cat.
get him something to play with... like another cat, or a dog with energy.... actually if he's anything like my cat, get him a dog.... Nebo just beats the shit out of other cats... he wrestles with my dog.
another thing that has helped me has been if I set aside about 10-15 minutes to just hold him and love on him, I decided that maybe he is acting out for attention?
and about the getting scared of water... I don't think the water bottle will do that to him.... the next time he does something bad shoot him in the head with the water, anywhere else and he probably won't care (because he likes water).... I use to think that was really mean, but I would squirt nebo everywhere else and he would just start bathing himself or continue what ever he was doing... now if I just point the bottle at him he immediately stops that bad behavior and doesn't start again.
another thing that has also helped me is if I free-feed Nebo... doesn't attack my legs so much anymore.
also, bitter apple (for the bitting)... spray it on your ankles, or whatever he is chewing on... and softpaws have saved me a lot of scars. Make sure you cut those claws first... for that matter, even just trimming the claws helps with pain and the ruining things.... if he's wild, stick him in a harness when you do it... gives you more control, mine pretends I paralized him and goes limp.
not sure any of these suggestions will work... but, it's helped mine a little.

11/29/2005 6:12:55 PM

He may be sick, but I haven't seen any other signs. I will watch for it though.

I teach in Johnston County so I leave early and get home between 4:30 and 5:30. This has been the routine since I got him, so I don't think it's a surprise to him.

I set aside time every day when I get home to play with him and not do anything else- no computer or tv. Then he plays with his own toys. Before bed I stop playing and start loving on him to settle him down.
I don't have any new noises around the apartment or new pets. A few new people have come over in the last month but he loves on them, too.
I'm going to try the beans thing, but I'm worried he might just think it's a toy and play with it. It is a good idea though because I see your point with him associating the punishment with my presence.

I tried softpaws and he pulled them all off within 3 days. I don't want to have him declawed. I just trimmed his claws a little while ago and since I've let him out of the carrier things seem to be a little better- except that he's mad at me.


thanks for the advice.

11/29/2005 6:25:02 PM

please i implore you do NOT get him declawed

if you do, make sure i do not see him or that you never tell me you did

11/29/2005 6:52:34 PM

he needs a friend. hes an only child with nothing to do all day and you dont pay him enough attention, so he wrecks shit to get your attention when you are there.

bring him over to play with our two during the day, theyll straighten him out.

11/29/2005 7:32:56 PM

Short of beating the crap out of him...

the can of beans thing works wonders, annnnnd, yes he is a kitten, does he have enough toys? Do you play with him regularly? Does he have a scratching post? When he does something bad, try and redirect his energies into HIS toys.

Quote :

"please i implore you do NOT get him declawed"

Oh, and on this note, do you know what declawing is? Go chop off your finger to the first nuckle and you'll know.

[Edited on November 29, 2005 at 7:39 PM. Reason : chopchop]

11/29/2005 7:35:29 PM

yeah and just hope your cat is never outside and a stray dog comes up and the cat TRIES to run up the tree but cant because its declawed

that and ^ is enough right there

11/29/2005 7:43:38 PM

this is the best thing ever. it works extremely well and has turned the most wild and scared male cat into a lap kitty. seriously, it's worth a try if he's not sick.

11/29/2005 7:50:01 PM

i do believe in giving my cat a ton of catnip though

11/29/2005 7:53:46 PM

my first instinct here is he's still a baby and he's not getting enough exercise/playtime. That's why I think people should adopt kittens in pairs when possible Try getting a pair of gardening gloves and wrestling with him, or getting some toys so YOU can play with him. As for the chewing, do cats teeth? If so that might be it. You can get some grass seed and grow some indoors for him to eat. Climbing ... all cats like to climb. If you can afford a tower, get one. The cheapest ones that are really worth anything are about $100 ... we spent $130 on ours.

The can of rocks thing works ... just about anything can substitute as long as it's small enough to move fast and scare the bejeebus out of him.

[Edited on November 29, 2005 at 7:58 PM. Reason : .]

11/29/2005 7:56:55 PM

i have a $35 floor to ceiling cat tower from walmart that has lasted 2 years so far. it was the absolute best $35 i've ever spent. my cats run up and down that thing all day. so did the foster kittens when i had them. don't spend $100 on one.

[Edited on November 29, 2005 at 7:59 PM. Reason : ]

11/29/2005 7:58:38 PM

The 3 cats I have now all got wild between 6 and 9 months old. Do not use a water bottle because if he is on-for instance-your table again with your Christmas dishes, and you spray him, he'll freak out and break another one. When he goes to bite you, don't let him-don't smash his little head or try to close his mouth like you would a dog, but just hold him there for a second and let him think about what he's doing. But really, hes just trying to play dominantly. Play back with him.
That may sound bad, but really its not, he has to learn, and it worked miracles on ours! He will try to scratch the crap out of you though, so be careful about it. The can of beans does work as well, my grandparents used that for theirs, but it mainly just helped stop them when they were in the act, didnt stop the mischief all together. It sounds like he don't like the cage, so that may work too to put him in there when hes being bad.

The young one I have now has a problem with wanting to be on top of cabinets hiding and popping out to scare you...or to just hide and sleep. We can't make her stop getting up there either. So if you have any advice for that, please pass it along!

[Edited on November 29, 2005 at 8:01 PM. Reason : him*]

11/29/2005 7:59:29 PM

^ in that vein ... if you can get scrap carpet, scrap rope, wood, nails, and maybe a staple gun you can make one. The biggest thing is you have to make sure it's stable enough to withstand scratching and jumping. I have some carpet in my attic - it's berber though.

11/29/2005 8:00:00 PM

SIDE NOTE

have you ever heard Meryn Cadell "the Cat Carol" its very very awesome and I hate cats...

http://64.202.98.91:2666

11/29/2005 8:08:43 PM

For the person who mentioned teething, yes puppies and kittens teeth just like babies and will often tear your house apart int he process (my dog chewed a literal hole in our entry way wall). However, kittens teeth at 4months...so a tad late for that.

11/29/2005 8:15:53 PM

this thread talked specifically about this rowdy cats:

http://www.brentroad.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=368027

11/29/2005 8:26:27 PM

Have you tried kicking it really hard?

11/29/2005 8:29:06 PM

welcome to having an energetic male cat

11/29/2005 9:00:23 PM

Leann, you need to get Shady a playmate! They'll take out all their energy on each other, at least thats what my two cats do, they're both about 8-9 months old.


Get yourself a squirt gun and just squirt the shit out of him when he does something you dont approve of. I "trained" my cats not to get on or behind my TV. And now they know the squirtgun means business.

Also keep his claws trimmed as short as possible, and do it once a week. Both my cats front claws arent long enough to even scratch me. They're actually squared off on the ends. Their back claws cant be trimmed up as much since the quick goes much further down in the tip of the nail.

Lastly get him a big and sturdy scratching post. My parents made me one, but this guy on Ebay makes some excellent ones which we copied http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcatcondoheavennewQQhtZ-1

11/29/2005 9:11:05 PM

cat's are nuts

11/29/2005 9:54:40 PM

We have a one year old cat now, but one day we would like to add a pet, whether it's a cat or a dog. How do cats react to new additions to the pet family when they get older?

11/29/2005 11:26:11 PM

my cats are a little standoffish at first, but then they don't care. they're annoyed every so often with trips to my parents' where they have a dog, and sometime my brother brings his dog over, and now my bro's gf has a new pup. just take it slow, use neutral territory, and keep a close eye on them.

11/29/2005 11:29:14 PM

We have three cats currently and they can be little devils at times. However, when we got our first kitten, Boo, she was EXTREMELY playful. She would attack legs and pounce on anything that moved. You could get in the floor and take the "cat attack" stance, as we called it, and she would bow up and walk sideways...it was quite cute, but the whole "attack your legs everytime you walk by" thing got old after a while. We fostered a kitten we found for a couple of weeks and noticed Boo calmed down significantly. After the foster kitten found a home, we adopted our second kitty, Izzy. Boo has since calmed down a lot. When we got our third cat, Sam, Izzy took to him and they are both rowdy, but not as much towards humans as each other. They do tend to tear up some things (ie Christmas trees), but the squirt bottle does the trick. My experience has been when cats/kittens have another cat to get out some of their energy during the day playing with, they tend to calm down. After watching all of our cats play, I have discovered that there is no way I could sit in the floor and play with my cats all day long and exert as much energy out of them as they do playing with each other for a few hours.

11/30/2005 12:32:09 AM

aren't you the one who has given away like a shitload of cats??

also aren't you the one who is trying to sell baby food that was given to you as charity???

11/30/2005 12:35:19 AM

6mos old is still a hyper kitten.

you need to run him around till he is tired. feathers on the end of a stick works very well.

11/30/2005 1:46:17 AM

Your cat is just going through a phase. As others have said, it's still just a kitten.

My cat had a phase (lasted maybe 2 or 3 months), where it would attack me while I was sleeping (if it saw me move, like when I breath or something). It was REALLY annoying.

All I did was shout at it when it did anything wrong and/or slap it on its back. Eventually, it will grow out of it. Just make sure nothing fragile is in the areas it likes to jump around (or secure your fragile things). Also, do play with it more, and play with it kind of rough (to tire it out). If you are really offended by scratches, wear mittens or something.

11/30/2005 1:56:39 AM

***ANSWER***

He's bored. My roommates was the same so I made the decision to get another cat. You might think it increases your costs but it really doesn't. It was so worth giving him a companion and he completely changed. Sure they wrestle now and again and get into trouble but they are not bored and constantly hounding you for attention. He's at an age where he's like a kid. If you were stuck in a house all day long with nothing to do what would you do? Go nuts...

Just make sure you get a cat from the same age range that is playful. At this early an age cats don't mind each other too much. After about a year... it gets a lot harder.

11/30/2005 9:09:12 AM

I skimmed the posts but didn't read them thoroughly so don't know if I'm repeating.

I agree a play buddy of similar age would help a lot but that is not always possible. This is completely normal behavior for a cat that age.

Make sure you never play with him with your hands. He'll see your hands as things to bite and will only get worse as he gets older. The best thing to do is redirect teh behavior. Start teasing him with a feather adn get him to attack that instead of your hand. Never pull away when a cat bites you, this only makes them bite harder. Instead let your arm go limp until he releases. Otherwise you will trigger their prey drive. Sometimes for a quicker release push your hand into the mouth a little, prey don't do this and will confuse enough to lighten the grip and pull away.

Most cats are very obnoxious with Christmas trees. This is the first time my 3 cats have seen a christmas tree (well its going up this weekend) and I anticipate having to tie it to the ceiling (put in one of those plant hanger hooks).

As far as scratching furniture... Cats need to scratch, its healthy for their claws. You need to provide suitable scratching surfaces that are *his*. Carpet won't work. If you have a carpet covered cat tree most cats are not attracted to these. You need a sisal rope covered tree or tree bark for them to scratch (or pole). If its not possible to get a tree then for really cheap get a bunch of those corrugated cardboard things at Petsmart (or Petco). These do work great for their claws! Place them strategically in areas next to where he usually scraches. My cats love these! I even have a ball track with corrugated cardboard in the middle and they go nuts over it.

Everything else you mentioned is all about cat proofing. If you have a tablecloth then use sticky stuff to hold it in place (the stuff you use to put posters up without putting holes in teh wall that acts like gum but is easy to remove) or tape it down (still would be hard if he got really rambunctious).

Also if all else fails with the scratching then use Soft Paws. This is also available at Petsmart/Petco. You can apply them yourself or have a vet do it. Its a little plastic slip that is glued onto the claw. It is shed when the cat sheds teh outer layer of the claw so it is a maintence thing every couple of weeks to keep them on. This is a humane alternative to declawign (an amputation to the first knuckle)
http://www.softpaws.com/

For great advice on felines (where your question comes up at least once a day under Behavior):
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/
I frequent this board a lot. My sn is SolarityBengals.

Ooh also I heard a neat tip to keep cats away from certain things, use lemon/lime juice. My cats hate the smell of lime juice even more then lemon. It also tastes bad (great to put on plants when you have a cat that wants to eat them). I'm thinking partiuclarly around the Christmas tree/bottom ornatments.

As far as the spray bottle goes I have one cat that likes water too. I've added a touch of vinegar to the water. She now hates teh spray bottle - not water in general. Unfortunatley vinegar smelling cats is not cool. I'll be switching from vinegar to lime next time around.

11/30/2005 10:16:25 AM

^ Some of that seems a little crazy. I've owned multiple indoor cats, and I always play with them with my hands. I've also never had a cat pull down a table cloth. I've had them pull down a Christmas tree though, but they only did that once (and the tree wasn't very secure to begin with, and was a fake tree, so no big deal). My cats don't bite or scratch either.

11/30/2005 10:20:32 AM

^ My first cat I always played with with my hands. I would find myself in a bunny kick position quite frequently. But this advice is for people who do have biting cats which is usually brought on by people who play with the cats with hands and then later the cats start seeing the hand as a toy, not every cat will know how painful a bite is. Also this is much more common in kittens and sometimes they grow out of it as tehy mature. Also kittens/cats will give love bites which can be misinterpreted as well.

[Edited on November 30, 2005 at 10:26 AM. Reason : .]

11/30/2005 10:26:00 AM

Another thing I thought I'd throw out there too.. Its most likely he's just finished teething. This might mean he will start biting a little less. However the type of biting you describe sounds like play aggresion (like learning how to fight). This is usually where having a play buddy would help because they can take it out on each other. Cats can bit each other very hard without breaking the skin and they don't realize our skin is a little easier to damage.

11/30/2005 10:38:05 AM

I dont see a need to put softpaws on a cat. If you trim their claws short enough every week then they cant really scratch you anyhow (with their front paws). Both my cats' front claws are squared off since I can trim them short enough. Can someone can tell me if its not good to trim their claws that short without cutting into the quick?

They cant scratch if their claws arent even sharp, or long enough to be sharp!

11/30/2005 11:10:12 AM

11/30/2005 11:15:41 AM

really, you should try it.

11/30/2005 11:17:49 AM

I've always heard wonderful things about feliway. It didn't work for me or my friend. She was dealing with inappropriate elimination with her cat. I was dealing with a combination of that and aggresion between cats. I wonder if it works better on older cats than on kittens? Kittens are bundles of energy regardless.. The aggresion solved itself over a couple months (new cats introduced). I've still heard so many good things that its always worth a try, especially for the biting.

Also use the infuser like pictured above, not the spray. The spray has to be continually reapplied and only good if litter box problems are present.

[Edited on November 30, 2005 at 11:30 AM. Reason : .]

11/30/2005 11:29:31 AM

Haha I was just over on the cat board I go to and someone posted about MAJOR behavior modification by fixing boredom. Its true indoor kitties get very very bored if you don't provide for them. This person fixed there problems with:
http://www.catmewvies.com/

I might have to try this with my kitties. I know at least one of them likes to watch TV but with birds and other things they might like it even more... It will loop all day so you can put it in before going to work for daytime entertainment. It might be worth a try....?

11/30/2005 11:39:45 AM

haha i saw that or something like it on HSC the other day.

the actor cats looked like they enjoyed it.

my kittens get nuts watching the mouse pointer move around the computer screen, theyd probably love those things

11/30/2005 11:50:51 AM

Oh I just realized you said you used Soft Paws. You have to reapply them for at least 2-4 weeks before they will stop pulling them off. As soon as you see 2-3 that are missing you need to put them back on. Its hard at first but eventually they will give in to them. I did this with Hope for a while. After a couple months I was able to correct teh behavior and stop using Soft Paws (she would climb us like trees and it hurt).

11/30/2005 11:55:12 AM

Yeah I am curious also I have two cats and one of them pisses everywhere. She is about 2years old and pees where ever she feels like it. I keep their litter box clean and have had her checked out for any infections. I discipline her and she still does it. Any suggestions?

11/30/2005 12:20:10 PM

^i'd say her problem is simply behavioral if you have had her checked for a UTI.

- you need 1 litter box per cat and then 1-2 more. if you have 2 cats and only 1 box, she may just not want to pee where the other cat does.

- do you use crystals? some cats do not like the feel and won't use it. also make sure you have a min of 1.5 inches in depth.

- keep her box away from her food and keep it in a place of low traffic. like humans, cats like some privacy

- get repellent for areas she keeps going back to and set up barriers. you may need to replace the carpet if you can't remove the odor (remember cats smell is tons better than ours so even if you don't smell it, she can). use an enzyme cleaner. do not use anything with ammonia in it as the urea in urine breaks down to ammonia. so, in other words cleaners with ammonia in it actually encourage your cat to return there.

- you probably need to retrain her to her box. this sounds cruel but it is what my vet told me and it worked well. you will need to lock her up in a small, non-carpeted room (bathrooms are perfect) for approx. 2 weeks with her box. only let her out when you can directly supervise her. once the two weeks is up, start re-introducing her to the rest of the house slowly. if she pees outside the box again, another two weeks.


[Edited on November 30, 2005 at 12:30 PM. Reason : BTW cats do NOT respond to "discipline" the way a dog does... they can actually be spiteful.]

11/30/2005 12:29:29 PM

Quote :

"aren't you the one who has given away like a shitload of cats?? also aren't you the one who is trying to sell baby food that was given to you as charity???"

If a "shitload" means 2...then yes. I fostered one kitten we found across the road in an abandoned building until I found it a home. At the time, we were in the process of a move and I didn't think the kitten would adjust well to all the stress. Plus, our landlady told us at the time that we couldn't have another cat. She since changed her mind and we have 3 cats now. As for the other cat, we got him and he was EXTREMELY aggressive, and with me being pregnant at the time, was not good. We found both a very good home. Your ass would have probably just turned them out on the street or taken them to the pound.
As for the baby formula, please to stfu. This thread is about cats, not other things.






Anyways, BrookeRuff, I still suggest getting another cat to keep your kitty company.

11/30/2005 12:33:54 PM

Quote :

"they can actually be spiteful.] "

This is when you start finding your things (not your roomates' stuff, but your things) that were once on a table or shelf, now on the floor thanks to a selective sweep of a paw.

11/30/2005 1:35:13 PM

And that dear friends, is why you buy a pup.

11/30/2005 1:40:19 PM