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Cat obsessed with knocking things over.
Lucid
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, my girlfriends cat can be somewhat annoying to us on occasion. What he does is this; we usually hang around in the living room where there's seating and a coffee table. This is where we watch movies/games/misc computer stuff. It's just that if we bring out stuff to put on the table to eat or drink he becomes obsessed with knocking them off the table. Even in the bedroom on the nightstand we can't leave drinks on. It's either shut him out of the room or get up during the night if you get thirsty. It's mostly drinks that he does this with too. He'll put his paw in them then pull/push it around until it spills or falls over. It's not fun to have to keep bitching at him to get off of the table every so often, especially during movies or other fun activities. That or no leaving drinks on the table, which honestly seems unfair. With non drinks he'll push them to the floor then almost immediately not care about them.
He's about a year old, so that's why I thought maybe it's not too late to teach him somehow. We've tried using a water gun to shoot him, but sometimes he'll just sit there and take it(even in the face) before he goes away. It gets stuff wet too.
She says he doesn't do this that much when I'm not around. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with me being there? It's like he's not submissive at all, he bites a lot(not just me). I have my own cat as well, who is around 7 years old and I somehow made him realize not to mess around over the years, but part of that may be that he is an outdoor cat(in the spring/summer) while hers is an indoor cat. Her cat has plenty of toys as well, but ..yeah.
I appreciate any advice/help.
He's about a year old, so that's why I thought maybe it's not too late to teach him somehow. We've tried using a water gun to shoot him, but sometimes he'll just sit there and take it(even in the face) before he goes away. It gets stuff wet too.
She says he doesn't do this that much when I'm not around. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with me being there? It's like he's not submissive at all, he bites a lot(not just me). I have my own cat as well, who is around 7 years old and I somehow made him realize not to mess around over the years, but part of that may be that he is an outdoor cat(in the spring/summer) while hers is an indoor cat. Her cat has plenty of toys as well, but ..yeah.
I appreciate any advice/help.
Lucid on
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It's also possible that she just hasn't done a very good job of disciplining him. The resistance to the squirt bottle is actually common amongst males (it doesn't bother my orange tabby nearly as much as my calico), but she could also try using canned air. My cats really don't like that, and I don't even have to be near them when the spray goes off for them to get their act together.
Finally, if you don't already, you should try to play with him whenever you go over there. Bring him treats or little toys (I suggest plastic bottle-caps or O-rings from soda bottles) whenever you visit. As long as he knows that you're not there to usurp him, he may warm up to you and stop acting up.
Kitty just feels left out. Buy it a new toy, give it a treat or two, just let it know you know he's there every once in a while and he should stop. He might be curious- just let him sniff the stuff in the glass or whatever and let them figure out it's not something they want to eat or drink. Afterwards, the cat should leave it alone.
I can has cheezburger, yes?
He's basically trained you to react to him. He wants attention. You could try interacting with him more (petting, etc), or as I said, don't react to him when he does this. My mom has a cat that used to knock things over all the time, and when people stopped reacting to it, the cat stopped doing it.
Anyway...while it's annoying you just have to keep any eye on your glasses. Don't leave glasses unattended, and shoo the cat away from them if he messes with them in front of you.
As for having a drink around at night....I have a rubbermaid drink bottle thing that has a flip top. Since the top is sealed she pretty much leaves it alone, and don't think she realizes it is a cup. And if she did knock it over, it wouldn't spill.
Same here....Our cats get tons of attention, and they still (try to) pull this sort of stuff all the time - cups, figurines, screwdrivers, hairbrushes, pens, coins, etc. etc.
My wife has learned not to leave glasses unattended anymore after our boy just couldn't resist the urge to tip a water glass on her keyboard (twice)
I'm also convinced they have some sort of telepathy for coordinating attempts to steal meat off my dinner plates, but that's for another thread sometime.
Could always try squirting him with water when he begins to play with a cup. Stopped my cat doing some more naughty things.
Depends on the cat, but I think it would be a really bad idea to discipline a cat for jumping on your lap. He's likely to get antisocial if you spray him in the face with water when he just wants some cuddles. Just put him down if he jumps on you at an inopportune time, or deal with the awful ordeal of having a cute widdle kitten on your lap.
my cat is evil. if i do somthing he dosent like he goes over an tips over my drink on perpouse. and teh little git wakes me up at 4 am.
basicly from help on here and books. a cat wants attention and it dosnt matter what attention it gets as long as its getting a reaction. the more "naughty" it acts teh bigger the reaction it gets from you.
i started spraying him when he jumped up at food. then hed go and tip somthing over as revenge.
then he lernd to not react when i sprayed him with water.
to stop him wakeing me up . i locked him out of my room and put door mats so he could scratch. i ignored his scraching for 3 days. then he started making noises like a crying baby to try to get my girlfiend to get up. there was nothing wrong he just lerned things to do that get the bigest reaction.
so i think its likly that your cat has lerned that spilling a drink get a pretty huge reaction out of you guys.
i think a likly best option would be to try to not react. and mybe put your drinks in bottles with lids so if he tips them they dont spill. likly after time he'll find somthing else to try to get a reaction from you.
get a lazer pointer and make him chase it for 10 mins that userly wares mine out before i want to watch a film, he get tired then comes and stits on the sofa with me. feed the thing up to that makes them sleepy.
a big reaction is all he wants from you. remeber cats dont think like we do
thast what cats do the want to sit on your lap for a warm snooze. id get used to it.
if you dot let it and it feels neglected it will start doing somthing like tipping drinks over to get attcetion
My cat has a habit of drinking out of cups, even when we, her owner's, are actively using them. The issue generally got solved when I began covering my water cup at night.
We went through the "why won't you play with me at 3AM?" routine, as well. By ignoring the screaming and scratching it was over and done within a few days. Give the cat some attention, pick him up and pet him or play around with some of his toys. Let him nuzzle up to you and allow the cat to lead you around when he wants to show you something.
The most success I've had with cat behavior is, as everyone has said, to simply ignore the furball. Give attention when appropriate, and ignore actions which cause him to get a "rise" out of you. If the cat knocks over another glass just grab him and put him in another room, alone, for awhile before cleaning up. Don't scold the cat or try to change the behavior by showing attention, change the cat's behavior by managing the kitty's expectations of consequences.
If you give him attention for doing something, they'll keep doing it. Try the ignore routine and you'll find they stop doing it all together.