Reptile & Amphibian Forums

At the end of March/early April, I adopted a four month old kitten from my local humane society. He'd been in foster care since February, and he'd just been put up for adoption on March 31st when I saw him and adopted him. On Monday, April 2nd, he was fixed, and I was able to bring him home. Since getting him, I've determined that he is a Maine Coon, and he's calmed down alot. He no longer gets upset when in his kennel. He's only in there when I'm at work or at night when I'm in bed, and I let him out as soon as I wake up or get home. The kennel is just until after he's been declawed (please, don't start a lecture against me on this). However, there are still issues where I need help with him.

He seems to have taken on an attitude with me that crops up at times when he's having one of his outbursts. He has a tendency to get into things he's not supposed to, and once I get him out of what he's getting into, he will return to it in a couple minutes with a bit more of an intensity.

Here's a good example of what will happen. At night I'll be in the bathroom washing up at the sink for bed. He'll decide he wants to play in the bathtub. While I don't mind him just being in there, he will attack the shower curtain and shampoo bottles on the shelf, thudding his paws on the sides of the tub with loud bangs and thudding the shampoo bottles around. The problem with that is that he does this around 11PM, and I have neighbors on the other side of the bathroom wall (I live in a townhouse). I'll tell him no (sometimes giving him a quick squirt of water), and he'll jump out of the tub, run out of the bathroom and go down the stairs. If I look down the stairs afterwards to see if I can see him, he'll be on the stairs looking up and crouched down like he's ready to pounce and play. I'll ignore him at that point as he's obviously getting rowdy and overstimulated and go back to what I was doing. After a couple minutes, he'll come back in the bathroom and head straight for the tub, making commotion again. I'll again get him out of the tub, and he goes down onto the stairs to wait. After a couple times of this, he will come running up the stairs, run into the bathroom, and literally dive into the tub.

The other night, I did get him to stop by stepping in his path into the bathroom when I heard him coming up the stairs. He stopped in the hallway and calmed himself, turning his attention to his toys that I'll leave in the hallway for him (normally his toys are in the living room where I usually am with him).

Anyways, I know that, like in the case of the bathtub incidents, when he gets like this he's probably doing it for attention. Either that or he's testing me to see what he can get away with.

Another thing that I've had problems with him on is his getting onto or into things he shouldn't. Shortly after I got him, I noticed his wanting to get up onto tables, get under the recliner, and get into other places that he shouldn't. For the recliner, I took some clear packing tape, made a loop with the sticky side out, and put that on the carpet under the recliner where he was going under it, flattening it so it was level with the carpet. That's worked, and he's pretty much lost interest in going under the recliner since. However, in cases like on my tabletops, I can put the sticky side of the tape onto the table as it would hurt the wood surface. What I was doing was just taking a strip of the tape and laying it sticky side up on the tables where he was getting up on them. That worked for a while. However, he's realized that the tape isn't fixed to anything and now knows how to move the tape out of his way and then get up on the tables. And he knows he's not supposed to get up on them as I'll tell him no, and then when he sees me reaching for the water bottle, he gets down.

The issue I'm having with him and cords/cables is being worked out. I've found that he doesn't like the taste of cayenne pepper, which I've tried on a couple cords. That has worked and kept him from biting on them. I'm also going around and shortening the cords on lamps (sliding them back into the bases) so that there isn't as much exposed cord for him to play with. I'm also going to be removing the safety tags from the power cords as he tends to play with those more than the cords themselves. I'm also going to be getting behind my computer desks and TV/entertainment center and bundle the cables (been wanting to do that anyways) to make them less tempting for him to play with and get tangled in. I've also put up/stored a lot of things that he's been likely to get in or cause problems with for now (ceramics, my Lionel train in the living room, etc.) just to be safe.

I'm also learning his body language as to when he's getting rowdy and more likely to playfully bite when I'm around him, especially if he's on my lap.

Despite the occasional incidents (which have steadily lessened since I brough him home), he's been a real sweetheart. I also think he'll calm more once he's out of the kennel for good. I've also been thinking about getting a second cat in time when I can afford to get a second one.
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Chessie in his favorite spot while I work in the kitchen.

Congrats on your new kitten! I see you have been introduced to the "midnight crazies" - how long did it take to train you to join in the game with the bathtub?

If the thudding in the tub is really disturbing your neighbors, you might want to think about adding some play time in your evening wind down routine before you get to the bathroom. Do you have toys available to attack? Many cats don't really respond to catnip until they are a closer to a year in age, but I've yet to meet a cat who would pass up a turbo charger - a wheel with a ball that runs the outer edge and cardboard for scratching in the center. Or a feather duster toy is always a joy to kill. Your best bet is to redirect all that kitten energy!

Try a cheap plastic carpet runner on your table tops - nubby side up. It pinches kitten paws so it won't take much time to break the counter cruising habit and you can cut it to size. Foster and Smith sells a scat mat that gives a small electric jolt when stepped on that reportedly works well. (but there was a member here years ago who had a cat who stepped on hers just to get his jollies - if I remember right, he had a really bold purrsonality to begin with)

Having had both clawed and declawed cats, I will pass on this piece of advice - some cats become really insecure when they figure out they have no claws. I fostered a cat who lost her home because her owner had a family member who pushed the cat around everytime they visited. Eventually the cat became a head job with a nasty bite habit. So if you have a guest who thinks it would be funny to do a little tail pulling, nip it in the bud. You are now kitty's claws when a message needs to be sent.

Congrats on the furkid! (and yes, cats often do better in pairs)

Purrs,
Elizabeth

I think after the second night of his going into the tub and seeing him stop and "hide" on the stairs was when I realized what he was doing.

I've been trying to add playtime whenever I can, especially in the evenings. When drying dishes, he'll often be in the kitchen batting his stuffed mouse or a paper wad around. I'll go over around where he is and knock it around with my foot. Either that or between dishes I'll get the laser pointer for him to chase. He's already figured out that the noise of the button of the laser pointer clicking means that crazy little red light will be on the floor and will come running to where I am and start searching the floor.

And, yes, I keep his toys around for him to attack. When I'm getting around for bed or getting around for work, I keep one or two in the hallway upstairs (which is also where his little jungle gym is located) to try to keep him occupied. Sometimes that'll work. Sometimes it won't.

About three weeks ago, I got him two toys he loves, and I love how they keep him in one spot where I can keep an eye on him. One is a plastic circular tube with a plastic ball in it for him to chase. The other is a mouse that spins around on an arm inside a circular enclosure with openings for him to reach into. The first night I got those, I couldn't get him away from them.

What's funny is how after I posted my message, he hasn't attacked anything in the tub. He still goes in, but he either just walks around or curls up in there on the cool surface. And he's also getting to be a bit quicker at getting down off tables and stuff when I tell him no or down as well as not getting on things as much. It's almost like he's playing with my mind and trying to be all innocent now.
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Chessie in his favorite spot while I work in the kitchen.

Seems like he's getting your point. I adopted a part Maine Coon kitten last year and until he was about 10 months old he LOVED attacking anything in and around the tub, including the shower curtain liner. Since I usually replace my shower curtain liner every couple of months, it was not a big deal that he put holes in it, however, I didn't want the act to continue. If he became overly aggressive to attack and play, he got locked out of the bathroom. He still likes to "hide" between the lienr and urtain, but no longer attacks and bites hols in it.

Your kitty probably needs to release all his pent up energy being kenneled all day and sometimes we have to treat them like 2 year olds, take things away or put them where they can't be gotten into and corrective measures. I am sure he will calm down. My Maine Coon, Twinkles, is the best kitty of my 5 and is the most confident and loveable. Getting a seond one can help his play time, even out your ability to calm him at night and give another kitty a great home!

P.S. the scat mat works great fro all 5 of mine, including my Bengal, especially around the Xmas tree! Never had any problems with the tree.
Good Luck!