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Help fixing jerk cat. Cat problems off the chart.
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It has been 3 weeks since the OP. That is not a reasonable timeframe to get a kitten to stop doing a thing. If you haven't capped the claws and such and your solution is to put it outside without a breakaway collar you may not actually want a cat.
Not to be a downer but there's a reason for breakaway collars and cats take a bit of effort. I know people think differently but in my opinion if you let it roam the neighborhood its not really a pet it's a pest.
I am hoping it'll grow up and out of this shitty behaviour, it's just I don't remember my cats ever being this comprehensively awful, yknow?
I got through it by giving him as many safe targets for play as I could. It helped with his aggression towards my other cat and feet/hands/curtains/literally everything. One of those things was a battery powered mouse on a stick that went in circles under a little blanket. Push the button and it spins and such for 5-10 minutes. He eventually figured out he could just sit on the whole thing, but it still distracted him right up until he chewed it apart. You could try something like that, where when you get up to go to somewhere, you just push the button on the top of the toy and wait until he comes over to investigate before you go on with whatever you were doing. He'll eventually expect the toy when you get up instead of operation sever tibial artery and slay ankles.
Serious answer, have you tried a 4 point harness? they have a patch of fabric between the legs as it loops shoulders. lot harder for cats to get out of.
Is also called a Figure 8 harness.
edit: on the training front, cats are VERY hard to train via negative reinforcement, is why cats take so long to train.
You can't punish a cat when it's bad, it just makes them defensive and they don't learn to not do it, they just learn to hide it.
Instead you have to praise/reward positive behaviour, and they slowly will start to learn certain behaviours DON'T get them a reward, and they cut back.
Just to make this clear in case anyone who reads this is unaware, cats can literally hang themselves if they are wearing non-breakaway collars and left unattended outside. We have never witnessed it first-hand but have heard stories of cats attempting to jump/climb fences, get the collar caught on the top point of one of the fence boards, and die very quickly by hanging themselves, having no way to free themselves from the collar or get traction to climb/jump over the fence the rest of the way. Please don't ever put a non-breakaway collar on a cat and let it outside.
Childhood friend of mine had a one year old cat get stuck on a chain link fence when it got outside and decided to just climb things. It did not die, but did lose an ear because in wrestling to get itself free it sheered it off.
Is there a big ol cat thread to ask some random cat related questions? Food, nail clipping, toys, litter, etc.?
The Snugglehug Thread and The Pet Thread are both pretty full of knowledgeable pet owners/rescue workers
Not directed at me, but honestly if they're roaming the neighborhood the collar isn't doing any good anyway. You are basically letting them loose and hoping they come back. It's not a dog that someone might see and check the tags on... the best you can do is get it chipped and hope.
If you absolutely, positively must let the cat go outside unattended, then put a breakaway collar on it. If it slips out of its collar, then that's unfortunate. Make sure it has a microchip -- every animal should have one regardless of whether they wear a collar or not, whether they're an indoor or outdoor animal.
This depends on where you live. There are plenty of place in the world where cats are primarily outdoor cats and community animals, both in the US and abroad.
The health stuff does apply though. If your cat is going to be indoor outdoor you should be checking it at the vet seasonally.
I've lived those places. They're regarded as pests that are regularly poisoned and shot by people who don't want some jerk cat around. If you're on a ranch and need a mouser, fine. If you have any neighbors your cat is a pest.