Meowing Cat

DrunkMc

I have a question in training a cat. Whenever my roomate is in his bedroom the cat sits by the door and meows. Non-stop. It frustrates my roomate and when I get home and yell No, he just stares at me then goes back to meowing.

I've started picking him up and locking him in my room for 5mins. That quiets him down for a bit, then he goes right back to meowing. It's at the point that he does it, I stand up, and the cat walks into my room and sits down cause he knows that's where he's going anyway.

When I'm not home, he'll just meow, meow, and meow.

I was wondering what I could do to break him of that behavior.

Dunxco

Most of the cats I've had have been really, really quiet ones, and only meow when they actually want something. Are you sure you're leaving the cat with enough food and water? Also, unless you live in a busy city, give it plenty of time to go out and about, otherwise it's going to take the cat a while to understand that the confines of your abode are the limits. Not only will the exercise do the cat a world of good, but it'll also tire it out, making it want to sleep a lot more. Sleeping cat = not meowing cat.

Depending on how long it's been doing this, you might want to take it to the vet for a quick check-up anyway. Then again that's just common sense when it comes to pet-care.

E.Coyote

Get your roomate to provide a negative response. Get an air-zooka and have him crack the door and shoot some air at the cat when it starts meowing. Thats how I trained one of our family pets to keep it from entering my room when another comes and go as it pleases. ~.~

The critter ignored getting sprayed with a bottle of water.

Satsumomo

My cat is the same, it can't stand someone being in a room and that the door to such a room is closed.

It will sit out that room and just meow it's fucking head off until someone opens the door. It will go in, sit in there for 10 seconds and then leave.

Try a water spray, even have your friend use it on your cat until it just learns not to.

Raziel

He just wants attention and doesn't understand boundaries. The problem here is by picking up the cat and paying attention to it when it's being noisy, you're reinforcing the bad behaviour. A zap with some compressed air or a spritz with a water bottle containing a very weak vinegar solution will usually do the trick. When you are home, try playing with the cat a bit more, chasing a laser pointer or some string will tire it out and help it realize that night time = sleepy time.

DrunkMc

These are all great ideas, I will have to give them a try. The cat def. has plenty of water and food. It does seem to be a lack of attention from my room mate who can't stand cats. This meowing is just making it worse. And when I pick it up, it's just to pick it up and put it in my room. There's no cuddling there!

And Raziel it's not just night time, it's whenever my roomate is in his room.

I like hte compressed air idea, because the straw is thin and hopefully it can fit under the door or in a crack so the cat doesn't see my roomate and like you said, re-inforce the bad behavior. Meowing=seeing roomate. Should be Meowing = a burst of air in my face.

I'll see how it goes!

Everywhereasign

Remember that if you invert the compressed air you get super cold liquid spraying out the straw at the unsuspecting cat on the other side of the door.

If he's sniffing at the straw (as cat's tend to) he's going to get hurt.

DrunkMc

Good point. There won't be a way to get the straw (without extensions) under the door without the can upside down. I'll have to tell my room mate from the side of the door. Thanks!

Gilbert0

Instead of compressed air in a can you coudl try something like a nerf gun but with no ammo. It shoots a burst of air that's not cold/chemicals.

Nakatomi2010

Funny, my wife and I have been having this very problem with one of our cats... Handy...

Willeth

I think the Airzooka is an awesome idea. I have the most hilarious visual of a freezeframe of a fluffy cat being hit by a blast of air.

Raziel

Ah, see back when I had cats they were really sensitive to sound. I had a roommate who was all "Arrrrr, ah'm scottesh!" playing bagpipe CDs all the time. They hated those. So the hiss of the compressed air was enough to send them skittering. That is true though - don't fire compressed air at an animal or person within four feet, and don't invert the can. I was thinking more of a pop-out-of-your-room-"No-Kitty-That's-A-Bad-Kitty" thing.

Figgy

I would go with a spray bottle filled with water. That should be enough for most cats.

With compressed air you have a chance to injure the cat, especially if it's late and night and you are in a sleepy stupor.. not thinking and just wanting to get the cat away from the door. Last thing you want is to fire compressed air into the cat's eyes/ears/etc.

mystikspyral

I lived with my best friend for a year. She had a cat I adored. The cat (Rainbow) would sleep with me almost every night. Then I started dating my current boyfriend, who is allergic. I had to train her not to sneak into my room anymore. I got a water bottle and squirted her every time she came in. Eventually she would walk past my door, stare forlornly and then continue walking by.

The compressed air can is a bad idea. I’ve actually had the burn/freeze thing happen to me when a friend sprayed me with one of those upside down.

They make air toys that shoot air at relatively high speeds. They won’t harm the cat but it will learn the needed lesson.

Gihgehls

I use a small automatic airsoft gun *UNLOADED.* It makes a RATA-TAT-TAT sound that freaks both of them right the fuck out. I've actually been training my cats to leave my room when I say "let's go." The kitten has it down, but the older cat only leaves about half of the time. When she does, I give her a treat-- when she doesn't, I keep saying "let's go" but I reach for the gun. She leaves right away.

onceling

There's actually a compressed air product that will just operate by sensor when the cat comes near the door:

http://www.animalbehaviorassociates.com/training-ssscat.htm

I have a feeling with your cat, that you're going to end up with him standing out of range of either this automated product, or your friends under-the-door nozzle, and meowing like an annoying jackass still.

Does the cat hate vacuums? Consider putting the vacuum at your friends door and having him flip the switch when the cat starts making noise.

chuck steak

Have your friend try to just bang his door and see if that scares the cat away. That works sometimes with our cat.

Our cat likes to jump onto the tv stand (especially while watching Planet Earth on Blu Ray when there's birds), so I just kept getting up angrily yelling a bit while I grabbed her off of it and gave her a little shove away from the tv stand. Now when she jumps up there if I stand up she stops and stares at me, and as soon as I take a step towards her she jumps off. She usually jumps back up after a few minutes, but at least I don't have to walk all of the way to the tv anymore.

So yeah, just grabbing her and putting her in your room might leave you with similar results.

Figgy

My cat does the same thing chuck, but with every surface she isn't allowed on. She knows she isn't supposed to be there but she won't jump down until she is certain you are actually going to start walking towards her.

I can fake like I'm going and she'll just stare at me until I make a complete step.

Cats are little fuckers.