Advice from cat owners ...

[FergieTCat]

I'm having behaviorial problems with my Diana, who is usually the world's sweetest kitty.

Lately, whenever I don't give her my complete and undivided attention, she wanders around my apartment crying. She has a very annoying meow (for one so short), and it drives me bonkers. I usually have to call her back to the couch and pet her to make her stop. If I stop petting her to do something like pay attention to the news or cross-stitch (heavens forbid!) she goes back to crying.

I have tried to ignore her, tell her she's a very bad cat, and threaten to make her the apartment building's "hallway cat" (complete with a trip to the hallway so she could see how horrible it is) (for a cat), but nothing works.

Any advice?

 

[catsrule]

i don't know, have not had this problem. i am usually the one crying for simba to give me his constant attention.

 

[Rajah]

Sounds to me like she's bored.

How old is she, and have you tried playing with her with any interactive toys?

 

[Chattyaholic]

My female indoor cat started driving me nuts like that too, just wandering around yowling and crying and fussing something awful...I mentioned it to the vet and she said to have her spayed, otherwise the behavior could "last for months!" I immediately had her spayed (she had previously been an outdoor cat, and had had two litters of kittens, so since she was going to be strictly an indoor cat I didn't think I needed to do that) and the yowling and crying stopped the next day when I brought her back home!!!

 

[Nikki_Nikki]

Chardonnay was doing that for a while too. I thought I was going to go nuts! She has been fixed, so that wasn't the problem for her. I hadn't done anything different than I've always done, but now, she's quit belly aching and she's become aggressive. If I'm sitting down, she'll come get in my lap, let me love on her for about 30 minutes, then she'll get off and either lay on my feet or beside me. I thought she was lonely too, but I REFUSE to have another cat! I did go and buy her some new toys. One of them is called a fishing rod. It has a pole with a string and a feather at the end of the string. SHE LOVES THAT TOY!!! Plus it give her tons of excercise. Maybe you can pick one up from PetSmart, they're only like $5. If you don't have time to play with your cat, it also comes with a door hook thing, so she can amuse herself.

 

[FergieTCat]

Diana is 7 years old and spayed.

Hmmm ... maybe she is bored. She does have plenty of toys, but she stops playing with them. When my mother visited, she played with the fishing pole toy, and Diana seemed to like that. On the other hand, I get bored of that toy (lol!!)


Fergie, on the other hand, is perfectly content sleeping and amusing herself. True, sometimes she thinks making Diana cry is amusing, but that's another story.

I swear, this is just as bad as having two mischievous toddlers.

 

[RoqueC]

Wow, alot of people on these boards have cats.

 

[Nikki_Nikki]

lol I get bored with it too... hense the door hanger thing!

 

[helenabear]

My baby Cleo did that for a while too. It was so awful because she was always crying and almost dying for attention. I did get her a few toys that she loved, but the best toy we got her was a kitten But since she has a friend already I'd go for a really cool toy she can play with by herself.

 

[Rajah]

Does she seem to be acting different in any other way? In other words, is there a chance that she's sick? If there's any chance at all, take her to the vet just to be safe.

If she's not sick, then I think most likely she's bored. Go get a new interactive toy of the fishing poll type. When she starts wanting attention like that, see if she'll play with the toy. Try to do a play session for about 15 minutes -- don't just wave the feather around, but make it act like the prey it's supposed to be, and leave some pillows or something in place to assist her in "stalking" her prey. Try to "think like a cat" -- if you were stalking something, what would be the most enticing action for the item to perform? Play with her for about 15-20 minutes, making sure to let her have a few captures. End it with a good capture (or when she says she's done, whichever comes first) then let her have her prize. If you want to make the victory even sweeter, give her a treat when she's had her final capture.

Blaze and Skye let me know when they're done playing by grabbing the toy and tugging it off to enjoy or holding onto it tightly -- at both instances, they're saying MINE, I DON'T WANT TO LET GO. When they want me to continue animating the feather for them, they'll typically drop it after a few moments of biting the feather, then go hide behind a pillow again and watch it. Once I learned to "read" them, it was very obvious when they were done playing and when they wanted the game to continue.

Another thing you can do is pick up all of her current toys and put them away. Leave one or two out for her, but otherwise put the rest away where she can't get them. Then, in a week, introduce one new toy again. To a cat, an old toy re-introduced a week or two after not having access to it is almost as exciting as getting a new toy.

I would advise against the toys that hook over the door, though. It's not uncommon for a cat to be playing with one of those and end up getting tangled in the cord and hanging him/herself.

 

[adamak]

I use cat nip. My younger cat used to cry every night when we goto bed. And it's that horrendous meow that makes you think she's being abused or soemething. Well, we gave her a little cat nip at night, she seems to like it. She calms down a lot with the cat nip mousie. And after a while, she'll only play with the mousie w/o the cat nip. And now the mousie is 7 years old, and it's very disgusting. But we dare not throw it away.

 

[FergieTCat]

adamak -- As much as I love Diana, she's is not the sharpest crayon in the box (and I can say that because I am her cat-parent). She is lucky she's cute, because her brains wouldn't get her too far. I am trying to imagine what she'd be like stoned on catnip. Probably a couch pillow.

As for her being bored ... I wonder if those of us with a creamy center for a brain could actually be bored (again, I am her cat-parent, I'm allowed to be mean). I am convinced that my mother spoiled them when she was here 2 weeks ago. But, then again, my mother played with them alot, too. Maybe I should just ship Diana down to Florida to live with my mom?

She was better last night, but I think that was because Fergie was chasing her around the apartment. Well, at least Fergie had something to do!