Our Emily is a rescue cat. We bought her from the local shelter. To start with, we were given the wrong cat. The one my b/f and I picked out was a manx mix with almost no tail at all, I'm sure of this because she smelled funny so I was checking for signs that she was sick and lifted her tiny nub of a tail at the adoption event. The following week when we went to pick her up from the vet, we found that the cat we were being given had a 5 inch long tail. She looked nearly identical except for the tail. So, we paid for Missy but got Emily instead (we named her).
Emily is an odd ball but we love her to bits. She's like a child to us both and amazingly smart. One of the smartest cats I've had. The only problem is her behvior half the time. Literally 50% of the time. Half the time she's sweet, cuddly, sometimes distant but generally gentle and affectionate. The other half of the time, she's one the TV stand pawing at my b/f's flat screen (claw marks on that are BAD!) and meowing for attention. She knows she's not allowed up there, if I get up to pick her up she bolts and hides under the bed and won't come out.
The reason she bolts is because when the usually verbal correction didn't work (and it works with most other things if she's in a compliant mood) we started using "time outs" by putting her in the bathroom for a little while. She has food and water in there and I often toss toys in when she's on "time out" but she can't stand to be without us so she hates it in there. Regardless, that doesn't stop her from getting into things such as the TV or jumping on the computer desk to eat whatever she can get her teeth around or trying to eat one of my books.
I've tried playing with her until my arms are so tired I don't feel like I can wave that feather teaser around any more but she'll still go insane by the end of the night and has to be put in "time out" because there's nothing else we can do. She stopped playing fetch for some reason and is only in the mood for fetch when I'm trying to sleep; THEN she brings me a toy, drops it on me and meows. If I throw it, she comes back with it. That's annoying because I'm trying to sleep! LOL I'm done playing for the day.
Otherwise, when I toss a toy for her, she'll run after it but then turn around and walk back meowing and without the toy, so I have to go get it myself and throw it again. She just won't come back with it if I'm not in bed!
As for the feather teaser, sometimes she goes nuts for it, but most of the time, she seems to get bored of it after 2 or 3 minutes. If I put it away, she wanders around meowing because she's bored or wants attention, I'm not sure which because she'll reject playing and won't stand being petted or held so I have no idea what she's after.
By the time I've given up, she's still at it. If I walk to the bathroom, she follows chasing my feet, trying to grab my legs and lately, has been trying to bite me as well. Last night she did this while I was sitting on the bed, something she's not really done before. She ran over, jumped on my knee and bit me hard. I gently picked her up (though I had to be fast because she knows better than to bite) and while scratching her head and talking softly to her, I put on time out.
We've tried everything we can think of and she's getting worse. We've even resorted to shouting out of sheer frustration which we both know doesn't work but it's as though she'd rather have negative attention than positive attention most of the time and we're at wit's end! Nothing holds her attention for more than a few minutes and even when I THINK I've worn her out enough for her to chill with us before bed, she STILL goes bonkers; wandering around crying for attention (that I want something meow), jumping on the TV, climbing on the desk getting into things and generally just trying to get noticed. We've tried putting her on "time out" at the same time every night for a while to get her to learn to calm down at that time of night but to no avail. NONE of the tricks I've used with the many other kittens I've raised/fostered have worked with her.
Last night I tried passive-aggressive restraint with her. Wrap the kitty tightly but gently in a towel (mostly to keep them still but also to keep them from hurting themselves or you) and then sit for a while with the cat laying belly up in the towel in your lap. Gently rub kitty's head, talk to her, soothe her and most cats calm down and give you a great big, relaxed sigh within half an hour. None of my previous cats have ever taken more than half an hour and it's been the best cure for an over anxious cat that I've found in over ten years. Emily just got worse with that method. I held her for n hour and she finally gave in a little but never really calmed down. I got a half-hearted sigh that wasn't quite what I wanted but it had been so long that neither of us needed to deal with the towel thing any longer. She was still in a mood after the towel! I'm lost.
I can't decide if she was feral before being rescued or taken from her mom too soon or neglected or abused or maybe even drugged (with those pet travel pills they use to calm anxious travelers) by the woman who fostered her before we took her home. There's something really not right with her but the vet says she's healthy!
PLEASE HELP! Any advice would be a help. Getting a playmate (which has been the common response from people that I've gotten with this issue) is out of the question right now. For one, at this point, I'm afraid she'd beat up on the new animal whether it's a cat or a dog. Secondly, we just don't have to space or the finances for a second pet right now.
One book I read suggested lightly (very very lightly) tapping her on the nose when she misbehaves as the mother cat would have corrected her in a similar fashion. That just pisses her off worse and she thinks we're trying to play rough and mean like another kitten would. But we don't have fur coats to protect our skin or claws to fight back with (not the mention that we're huge and could really hurt her in a play fight like that! LOL).
I'm out of ideas. Toys don't work, she either ignores them or destroys them in less than a day. Playing with her only calms her down until she catches her breath, then she's back to demon kitty mode. (A side note, during her first month with us, she jumped onto the bed in the middle of the night and bite me on the shin, down to the bone, drawing blood, and through the relatively thick comforter! I let out such a howl that she was scared silly and never did that again but she still gets mean like that.)
I need ideas. I suggested trying to find her a home with someone who can afford to spend hundreds of dollars buying diversion for her every other day but my b/f won't have it. He's attached and can't bear the thought of losing his little psycho baby. Again, she has her sweet moments and she's slowly learning to just cuddle but the psycho moods are escalating.
Emily is an odd ball but we love her to bits. She's like a child to us both and amazingly smart. One of the smartest cats I've had. The only problem is her behvior half the time. Literally 50% of the time. Half the time she's sweet, cuddly, sometimes distant but generally gentle and affectionate. The other half of the time, she's one the TV stand pawing at my b/f's flat screen (claw marks on that are BAD!) and meowing for attention. She knows she's not allowed up there, if I get up to pick her up she bolts and hides under the bed and won't come out.
The reason she bolts is because when the usually verbal correction didn't work (and it works with most other things if she's in a compliant mood) we started using "time outs" by putting her in the bathroom for a little while. She has food and water in there and I often toss toys in when she's on "time out" but she can't stand to be without us so she hates it in there. Regardless, that doesn't stop her from getting into things such as the TV or jumping on the computer desk to eat whatever she can get her teeth around or trying to eat one of my books.
I've tried playing with her until my arms are so tired I don't feel like I can wave that feather teaser around any more but she'll still go insane by the end of the night and has to be put in "time out" because there's nothing else we can do. She stopped playing fetch for some reason and is only in the mood for fetch when I'm trying to sleep; THEN she brings me a toy, drops it on me and meows. If I throw it, she comes back with it. That's annoying because I'm trying to sleep! LOL I'm done playing for the day.
Otherwise, when I toss a toy for her, she'll run after it but then turn around and walk back meowing and without the toy, so I have to go get it myself and throw it again. She just won't come back with it if I'm not in bed!
As for the feather teaser, sometimes she goes nuts for it, but most of the time, she seems to get bored of it after 2 or 3 minutes. If I put it away, she wanders around meowing because she's bored or wants attention, I'm not sure which because she'll reject playing and won't stand being petted or held so I have no idea what she's after.
By the time I've given up, she's still at it. If I walk to the bathroom, she follows chasing my feet, trying to grab my legs and lately, has been trying to bite me as well. Last night she did this while I was sitting on the bed, something she's not really done before. She ran over, jumped on my knee and bit me hard. I gently picked her up (though I had to be fast because she knows better than to bite) and while scratching her head and talking softly to her, I put on time out.
We've tried everything we can think of and she's getting worse. We've even resorted to shouting out of sheer frustration which we both know doesn't work but it's as though she'd rather have negative attention than positive attention most of the time and we're at wit's end! Nothing holds her attention for more than a few minutes and even when I THINK I've worn her out enough for her to chill with us before bed, she STILL goes bonkers; wandering around crying for attention (that I want something meow), jumping on the TV, climbing on the desk getting into things and generally just trying to get noticed. We've tried putting her on "time out" at the same time every night for a while to get her to learn to calm down at that time of night but to no avail. NONE of the tricks I've used with the many other kittens I've raised/fostered have worked with her.
Last night I tried passive-aggressive restraint with her. Wrap the kitty tightly but gently in a towel (mostly to keep them still but also to keep them from hurting themselves or you) and then sit for a while with the cat laying belly up in the towel in your lap. Gently rub kitty's head, talk to her, soothe her and most cats calm down and give you a great big, relaxed sigh within half an hour. None of my previous cats have ever taken more than half an hour and it's been the best cure for an over anxious cat that I've found in over ten years. Emily just got worse with that method. I held her for n hour and she finally gave in a little but never really calmed down. I got a half-hearted sigh that wasn't quite what I wanted but it had been so long that neither of us needed to deal with the towel thing any longer. She was still in a mood after the towel! I'm lost.
I can't decide if she was feral before being rescued or taken from her mom too soon or neglected or abused or maybe even drugged (with those pet travel pills they use to calm anxious travelers) by the woman who fostered her before we took her home. There's something really not right with her but the vet says she's healthy!
PLEASE HELP! Any advice would be a help. Getting a playmate (which has been the common response from people that I've gotten with this issue) is out of the question right now. For one, at this point, I'm afraid she'd beat up on the new animal whether it's a cat or a dog. Secondly, we just don't have to space or the finances for a second pet right now.
One book I read suggested lightly (very very lightly) tapping her on the nose when she misbehaves as the mother cat would have corrected her in a similar fashion. That just pisses her off worse and she thinks we're trying to play rough and mean like another kitten would. But we don't have fur coats to protect our skin or claws to fight back with (not the mention that we're huge and could really hurt her in a play fight like that! LOL).
I'm out of ideas. Toys don't work, she either ignores them or destroys them in less than a day. Playing with her only calms her down until she catches her breath, then she's back to demon kitty mode. (A side note, during her first month with us, she jumped onto the bed in the middle of the night and bite me on the shin, down to the bone, drawing blood, and through the relatively thick comforter! I let out such a howl that she was scared silly and never did that again but she still gets mean like that.)
I need ideas. I suggested trying to find her a home with someone who can afford to spend hundreds of dollars buying diversion for her every other day but my b/f won't have it. He's attached and can't bear the thought of losing his little psycho baby. Again, she has her sweet moments and she's slowly learning to just cuddle but the psycho moods are escalating.
