My cat is tearing up my floor!

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Zanna
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Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 6:11 am
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My cat is tearing up my floor!

Post by Zanna »

Hoping someone sees this and has some advice!

I recently brought a new cat into my apartment. For the first year of her life, she lived outside in my mother’s neighborhood, seemingly without an owner. She was very weak and young so I decided to take her to my apartment. She is my baby now and her name is Birdy.

I was excited to share a room with her and possibly some cuddles, but then I discovered my sweet angel turns into a demon at night! She gets an absolutely wicked case of the zoomies at night, you wouldn’t believe it. I tried to sleep with her in the room for about two weeks, but after that I couldn’t take it anymore and had to move her to the bathroom at night. This was fine for a while, but now a couple months in and she has torn up the carpet outside of the bathroom just past the door and has recently started tearing up the cheap flooring in the bathroom. Oh I am so stressed about it, as I believe I’ll have to pay quite a bit to fix it once I move out.

I have no plans on getting her declawed. She has a scratching mat in there with her, along with her food, litter box, bed, and a rug that I attempted to place along the door (which she moves out of the way so she can scratch up my carpet!). She cannot freely roam at night, as my roommate has two dogs (my cat likes them) and a cat (my cat hates this cat) and my roommate is usually awake before me. I don’t want to let her back in my room, since I am a full time college student and I desperately need my sleep. Anyone any advice?
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Mollycat
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Re: My cat is tearing up my floor!

Post by Mollycat »

First of all well done you for rescuing this little soul, and secondly thank you for not declawing - this forum and possibly most members are UK based where declawing is illegal and has been seen as horribly cruel barbaric practice for a long time.

A young cat with lots of energy used to fending for herself, now finds herself in a loving home with everything provided for her without any effort needed, she is bound to have surplus energy to play with and make mischief. Then, cats are most active at dusk and dawn, and with artificial light in our homes this really means low light conditions only exist in the 7 or 8 hours when we need to sleep, we have a clash of needs.

Have you tried step by step introducing the two cats to each other, taking weeks not days? There is bound to be a problem just bringing a new cat into another cat's home, but if done carefully it might be possible to integrate them at least enough to let Birdy free roam at night and play with her other furry friends rather than keep you awake.
Zanna
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Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 6:11 am
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Re: My cat is tearing up my floor!

Post by Zanna »

I hope I’m responding correctly!

We have tried slowly introducing the cats, but they have had a couple accidents that ended in a tussle, and we’re afraid that has completely ruined their chances of getting along. My roommate’s cat is not a very sociable animal to start with, but I hope one day they are able to get along.

Perhaps I could try cat proofing our table and counters, and maybe she would be able to wander at night. Thanks for the response! I will just keep working with Birdy and hopefully she will get more comfortable with her environment soon :)
nelsondub
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Re: My cat is tearing up my floor!

Post by nelsondub »

I once have a cat like Birdy that caused many troubles for me for long. She became a destroyer and went all long to destroy some clothes and a bohemian style rug that a had. I went on some platform to learn how to handle my catout, and it works for me. I had to exercise my cat. Some cats get upset because they don't get enough exercise. So I let him go outside, and I also enrich his environment with games and cat trees.
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