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Cat problems on Coconut Drive
Sunday, November 8, 2009

Okay, so here's a problem we did not anticipate with our newly emptied nest: Cat From Hell.

The very-expressive Mitchell, who usually slept all night with our daughter, has taken to roaming the house in the early mornings, meowing loudly and waking us up. This starts anytime after 5 a.m.!

At first, we started waking up and letting him outside to shut him up. But then ... DUH! ... the cause-and-effect thing? He learned that by waking us up he could get exactly what he wanted, WHENEVER he wanted it. So ... I've changed tactics. Instead of letting him have his way, I scoop him up and put him in the small half-bath adjacent to the library. Hopefully, he'd get the message: Wake the Master of the house, and I get thrown into this little dark room with a cold tile floor. hmmm.... Guess I'll be quiet.

Problem: The little bastard reaches beneath the door with his paws and, as if they were hands, starts ratttling the door to see if he can get it open. Again and again and again and again . . . . My wife woke the other morning, thinking someone was trying to break into the house.

It's just like having a newborn again. Parents: Remember how you had to force yourself NOT to run to your baby's side every time she cried? And then the crying eventually stopped because baby knew it didn't work?

But I'm running out of patience. I'm thinking of another tactic: Dimetap or Benadryl in the kitty food.

2 Comments:

Anonymous said...: NO No...say it isn't so Ad. No drugs in the water/catfood!. ...lol...my sympathies to you guys. Especially Carol...she's the one who has to get up and go to work and CAN'T nap later like you can. Try not to fight the instincts of the cat and just let 'em out. I love Rudy like mad, but let her go when she wants because I have a sane life that way. BTW, I taught her to climb a ladder onto the roof (so she'll feel safe) and to climb back down when the day starts heating up...then she comes back inside. If you're interested I'll tell you how I taught her. And any cat at any age can be taught to do it.
Linda (LU); November 9, 2009 11:10 AM
tam502003 said...: Ha. When our cats get nocturnal, if one of us is home during the day that person is on duty to wake any sleeping cats. Works great if you can find them ;)

Tammy Kaup

P.S. The Facebook teaser about the dog cage PULLED me over to your blog. I couldn't resist seeing what that was all about.; November 16, 2009 2:23 PM