Cat help needed asap!

[Bothekitten]

I wrote the following post at the beginning of March - Our cat is one year old, I've had cats all my life but she is very different from most! We have had her since she was about 10 weeks old and she clings to me and my husband, when we're at home she will follow us all around the house, when someone comes round to visit she will run to the door (even if she's sleeping and the postman comes to the door she bounds over to the door!) and she will sit on anyones lap, she just loves attention from anyone and almost all of the time! Now the problem is I'm having a baby in September and we are seriously worried that she is going to be extremely jealous and as we have to shut her out of the kitchen whenever we need to cook and eat (she tries to eat the food, jumps in every cupboard we open etc) I just cannot see how we are going to manage with the baby aswell. Another problem is that she chews through wires all the time, we've protected the ones that she has access to 24/7 but if she happens to get into another room with a phone charging she will chew through it (we've got through 6 chargers!) she chews absolutely everything, cardboard, wool, plastic bags. Obviously we certainly do not want to get to the point where we have to find another home for her but I'm really worried that it will be too stressful with the baby. If anyone has any suggestions then that would be very much appreciated!

We did temporarily find a solution to the problem with her jumping onto our kitchen worktop which was to hit a placemat on the surface next to her which unfortunately doesn't work most of the time now. Instead what happens she jumps onto the worktop and we hit the placemat right next to her and she just sits there looking scared but she very rarely moves off the worktop, and since we have been doing this, which has been for over a month now she has become slightly vicious towards both of us, especially after we've told no to something. So really the situation has got worse and we're really struggling now with whether we can keep her ;-( does anyone have any suggestions?

[Bothekitten]

Another thing to mention is that she is kept downstairs all night and we don't allow her to come upstairs as this results I her scratching at our bedroom door and meowing most of the night! But whenever we need to come downstairs in the middle of the night to go to the kitchen (which will soon become quite a regular occurrence!) she will dart upstairs and it takes ages to get her to come back down and stay there! Also when we let her outside if we leave the door to the back garden open she will run around the garden and in and out of the house all day, however as soon as we close the back door and she is shut outside she meows for up to an hour wanting to come in then eventually disappears over our garden fence until she is hungry. We have a little shed for her to go in as we were thinking about having her outside most of the time but she won't go in it and stay in it, she just sits at the back door.

[lilynmitz]

Lucky you! It sounds to me like you have a very intelligent cat who needs a lot of stimulation. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but have you thought of getting her a companion so that she doesn't need the humans in the house for company, and has something to divert her attention from chewing cables etc? A young kitten at this stage might be too much to take on with a baby on the way, but perhaps a cat of similar age? Ask your local rescue for a suitable cat as a match for her, they may be able to give some guidance on this.

Re the banging table mats/you telling her off and her reaction, ie she's "becoming vicious", this is because she's starting to find this behaviour threatening. I realise you need to keep her off the worktops, but I would suggest you start using a less aggressive way of doing so. My Mo was a blighter for this, and I found if I picked him up and repreatedly put him back on the floor as soon as he did this, even if he did it 5 or 6 times in quick succession, he would eventually realise he was wasting his time and give up. Using a water spray is also effective, accompanied by a firm "no" (but not shouting). Eventually just shaking the plant squirter was enough to make him get down.

Re leaving her outside for an hour when she's calling to come back in, can you not just let her in again? That seems a long time to leave her out there for no obvious reason. Could you get a cat flap? If you're worried about other animals coming in, get her microchipped (if she isn't already) and then get a chip-operated flap such as Pet Porte, which are very effective. Given how bonded she is to humans, and your family in particular, forcing her to be a mainly outside cat will be miserable for her, as she has clearly shown already by remaining by the door waiting and asking to be let in again. I suspect if you go through with forcing her to be an outdoor cat, she will simply vote with her feet and find herself a new home.

[Bothekitten]

Thanks for your advice lilynmitz, ever since we got her at 10 weeks old we've repeatedly picked her up off the worktop and we've been doing that until last month when we discovered the placemat, also unfortunately she loves water! One of the main reasons she jumps on the worktop is to play with the water from the tap. I honestly feel like we've tried everything ;-(

The few times I keep her outside is so that we can do the housework, she plays with everything, the hoover, the hoover wires, chases after our hands while we're cleaning, the problem is she has to be shut in one room everytime we need to do something that involves anything remotely playful for her, but when we do she eventually stratches at the door and it's never for more than half an hour at a time, that's why we keep her outside to do these things and she loves being outside when the door isn't closed!

She seems to me younger than she actually is which is one year, she really hasn't got out of the playful kitten stage at all which we were hoping she would by the time the baby comes along.

[Bothekitten]

And we cant get another cat due to the cost and the amount of space we have. And we can't get a cat flap as we have glass patio doors.

[Meandmymunki]

Was she hand reared or separated from her mummy too early? She sounds like one of mine who was a hand rear.....

[Willowgill]

She actually sounds a wonderful cat and is still a kitten at a year old. Shutting her in one room after she's had the run of the house is counter productive as she's probably bored and wanting to be with her family. First off with the water thing get her a water fountain - Max constantly played with water under the tap and then in a bowl (he's old and blind and cant climb any more) once he found the constant running water he sits by it for ages paddling around in it washing his paws as well as drinking it. If she still insists on sitting on the worktop you could try putting a shelf up a bit higher or a playstation nearby so she can see from a vantage point without being on the tops. The cat flap is a bit of a problem if you don't have any other access into the garden is there a wall at the side of it? I know it's a bit drastic but I do know someone who had made a hole in the wall and put flaps at both sides (the wall was about a foot thick). Their cats soon got the hang of going back and forth through the tunnel A new baby on the way sounds daunting but my son and his wife have 2 cats and recently had a baby. Wayne and Trevor (the cats) have been fine with him and other than finding his changing table a great place to sleep they have integrated well. My other son was the original owner of Max 13 years ago and when my granddaughter was born they were so worried they shut Max in the garage - he was only 9 months at the time and it really didn't do him any good which is why he ended up with us. I'm sure with a lot of patience and some time your little lady will be a lovely friend for your baby when it arrives - good luck!

[Bothekitten]

Thanks Willowgill I will get her a water fountain, I feel like there are so many obstacles at the moment and she stresses both me and my husband out, and my Mum who has had cats all her life has spent the whole day with her and sees exactly where we are coming from and has suggested loads of things that just don't work or if they do it isn't for long. She is so clever she actually jumps onto the worktop and lands on the placemat sometimes so can't get to it!

I don't know why she is the way she is, she was found with her mum and brothers at about 6 weeks, her brothers were rehomed the day before we went to visit her and the staff at the rescue centre said she was crying all night so when we saw her and fell in love with her they said we had to take her straight away as they didn't want her on her own any longer. She is such a lovely cat, she loves everyone and will sleep on anyones lap even if she has only just met them. She is just so needy it really is tiring!

We have a kitchen diner and in the diner is a dining table and in the corner she has a tall activity centre which she can see the whole room from, so she jumps onto the dining table and onto the worktop from there. We've tried moving the dining table away from the worktop but she can still jump plus she can jump straight onto the worktop without the table anyway but the table does make it more of an 'assult course' for her as my mum says, but we need the table.

We are not particularly worried about what she will be like with the baby as we have friends who have their young children round and they pull her around and she is fine, it's more about getting her away from preparing bottles and baby food and from a hygienic point of view and her running from room to room and upstairs as soon as we open the door from the living room to the hallway, plus she's nearly tripped me up so many times when going upstairs.

[lilynmitz]

My Mo never grew out of his "kitten" stage - he was a joyful bonkers into everything cat his entire life. I learned to love the mayhem and chaos he caused, and missed it desperately when I lost him too young to cancer. Your puss is just one of those by the sound of it - a very intelligent, active and inquisitive cat. Even if she is the type to calm down at some stage in her life, this won't be for some years yet, and certainly not while she's this young.

The water fountain is a good idea though. Mo used to love water and I frequently had to clean my teeth around the cat as he was trying to drink from the running tap. I'm sure he would have loved teh water fountain.

To be honest, I think you'll eventually just get used to her being full of beans all the time. I'm ashamed to say I nearly rehomed Mo after about 6 months because I felt I couldn't cope with him, but luckily I realised in time how much I adored the little blighter, and he stayed, and filled my life with joy and chaos. So I do understand how overwhelmed and anxious you feel. There's a limit to what you can do to control a cat, specially ones like this, but you will get used to it and find it's not the disaster you fear.

But if you can find a way to give her more free access to come and go as she pleases (eg a flap through the wall - I've known others who have done this), I think you'll find that helps, as she'll have more outlets for her boundless energy and curiosity. Mo would have been a nightmare if he didn't have a cat flap. I used to shut him in at night for his own safety, and that of the local wild life, and eventually he did learn to accept that with good grace!

[Bothekitten]

They do sound like very similar cats, similar names too ours is called Bo! We have always loved her craziness and she is just the sort of cat we wanted, a bit like a dog in some ways! But its just recently we've been realising how hard certain things will be when the baby comes. We've been reluctant to fit a cat flap as I think it'll put people off when we sell the house, which we are thinking of moving to a bigger house in the country in a year or so which she will love, but I guess if we fit one in the wall we can take it out and seal it up again when we do sell.

Does anyone think getting a feliway plug in will help her at all?

[Bothekitten]

I want to add a picture to my profile can anyone tell me how to do this please?

[Diana]

She is a young cat still and is very active and in need of attention. Some cats are like that but it sounds as if she will need stimulation...something she can do whilst your occupied with your baby (Congrats btw). Different toys or as its been suggested, water fountain. Cats can get jealous however it is much easy to control then when a dog gets jealous as cats are much more independent. So this is already working in your favour. What I will strongly advise is that you pay her the same amount of attention as you do now cause if suddenly your focus is on everything but her...then she may start chewing again and that could lead to some dangerous situation. I know by the sounds of your post you wont ignore your cat once the baby arrives and I think as long as she has stimulation then you wont have much issues.

[lilynmitz]

What sort of doors do you have? Even glazed doors can be adapted for a cat flap, and if you keep the glass, you can refit it if and when you move. eg, if it's a UPVC door, take out the bottom glazing panel, fit a solid insulated panel fitted with a cat flap. If you speak with a good local supplier of UPVC doors, they may be able to help you with this, as you will need someone to cut the hole and possibly to fit the flap. If it's a timber door, even easier. Get a good joiner in to replace the bottom glazed panel with a plywood panel, fit cat flap, reinstate glass when you leave.

And I wouldn't worry too much about when the baby arrives. She may surprise you and take it in her stride. Cats are more adaptable than we give them credit for, and you'll soon find ways of managing the two of them!

I don't think a feliway diffuser will make any difference at the moment, as it's really only useful for stressed cats, rather than over-active ones. It might come in handy when the baby arrives, but just play that one by ear.