The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Kitten VS Plant
Clint Eastwood
My baby's in there someplaceShe crawled right inRegistered User regular
My baby's in there someplaceShe crawled right inRegistered User regular
Our new bundle of joy has taken a liken to one of our big ol' potted plants, to the point where she hops up into the bed of it and digs, causing soil to get all over the off-white carpet. She also enjoys pissing and shitting in there. I discourage this with a squirt bottle during the day and she has pretty much learned that lesson during the daytime, but inevitably every morning since we adopted her I wake up to find soil, piss, and shit. Help?
Clint Eastwood on
0
Posts
Cats HATE the smell/taste of rosemary, and the solution you buy is undetectable to your nose.
Just spray some on the plant, in the soil, and on the box/pot itself.
It's chemical-free, so it won't hurt the plant (just rosemary oil and water).
Worked like a charm for our cats.
If the cat is stubborn through the rosemary, try this:
Get a roll of packing tape (NOT DUCT TAPE) and tear long strips off - leave them face up on the plant bed.
When the cat jumps up in there, it gets ultra-tangled in the tape.
Believe me, the cat will not do this more than two times.
Also works like a charm for keeping cats off kitchen counters - just leave 24" strips of tape face-up around the perimeter of the countertop.
Squirt guns aren't the best means of cat discipline - they associate YOU with the sqirt gun, which is a bad thing.
You want them to associate punishment with an object or negative stimulus, NOT you - as they can get rebellious/stand-offish with you, and act even worse in protest.
Instead, provide a scratching post and make sure the cat knows where it is.
Spray some of the rosemary oil (mentioned above) on the floor in front of the couch.
The cat won't want to scratch there, since it "stinks".
If the cat inists on scratching there, find a way to make a big-ass noise to scare the cat when it scratches.
Don't yell, you need a noise that isn't directly associated with you.
I solved this very very quickly by leaving my sterero on, max volume, muted, paused.
When the cat scratched where it wasn't supposed to, I just calmly grabbed the remote, un-paused and un-muted.
Very very loud noise (old megadeth cd worked well, hehe) that the cat had no idea was related to me.
Took about 3 days, and 6-7 scratch attempts - the cat never scratched anything other than his post again.
Yeah, as far as I know he has a scratching post up in their room. I'm just annoyed because I spent a lot of money on new couches and part of the deal with them being allowed to have a cat in the house was it not fucking up my things. I'll look into giving the rosemary thing a try I guess.
All that's happening is that she associates the texture of the dirt in that plant with a litter box, so she thinks she's supposed to poop there. Which also means that she tries to cover it up. Hence the mess.
I guess i could try to encourage them to buy one for the living room.
FTFY. If it exists, it's a chemical. If it contained no chemicals, the bottle would be empty.
EDIT: @ Gihgehls: Thanks. Hope this makes it easier to read the change I made.
3clipse: The key to any successful marriage is a good mid-game transition.
My cat does this, and I solved it quite easily by putting pebbles on top of the soil. They're big enough that she doesn't like to dig in them, plus they look nice and seem to help keep the soil moist.
I got the little mesh bag of pebbles from a craft store or something, I think (some people use them for candle or flower arrangements) though I'm sure if you could find random 2 inch-ish stones outside they would work just as well and also be free!
The crux of my point was; nothing caustic or synthetic - therefore nothing that will stain your stuff or kill your plants.
As a disclaimer, my wife swears she could smell the rosemary oil the first day - but then it was gone.
Then again, her sense of smell is that of a bloodhound - so your mileage may vary.
Unfortunately, you agreed to have a pet in the household, therefore you do have to take a certain level of responsibility. I'm sure your roommates aren't encouraging the cat to scratch the couches; it's what cats do, and disciplining isn't all that useful with cats. If they could put a scratching post by the couch, that's a reasonable solution; get them to teach you to pick the cat up, and ask them to work on redirecting his scratching to the post.
(Just had to mention: declawing is a terrible idea. Even if you absolutely don't care about the welfare of the cat, the fact that a lot of declawed cats develope litter box issues. I'm guessing you don't want to live with cat pee all over everything even more than you don't want to live with a scratched-up sofa.)
And yes, no declawing. Most countries have it outlawed as animal cruelty. It'd be like somebody cutting off the tips of your fingers. Remind your roommates of the agreement in getting the cat, and make them replace or repair your furniture. That should make them more interested in training the cat.
If you want to actually use your stereo again without deafening yourself, you could fill an aluminum can with marbles, and duct tape the top shut. When the cats misbehave, toss the can right next to them. They won't know it was you, and they definitely won't like the noise.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/