Cat driving us mad.
GrannyGruntbuck
Posts: 3,638 Forum Member
✭✭✭
I need suggestions on how to deal with one of my cats.
We have three. Two are as good as gold, one is absolutely food mad!
He will scratch at the bedroom door at all hours of the morning trying to get one of us up to feed him.
He has ruined the carpet next to the door.
It doesn't bother me because I am hard of hearing so don't hear him scratching away very often. Ruining the carpet does bother me!
My wife is having to eventually give in to him for the sake of some sleep and the carpet.
We have tried squirting water at him, making a lot of noise by suddenly opening the door and banging around with a coat hanger, throwing cushions or something soft at him. He will always come back.
We put a lot of pepper on the carpet outside the bedroom door but it does nothing.
We are trying to avoid actually hurting him, but I think that may be a necessary evil in this case.
My wife has early starts for work, so is suffering with loss of sleep and struggles at work.
The cat is an absolute glutton. He has no medical problems and has been checked regularly by the vet. This cat is absolutely obsessed with food.
Does anyone have any ideas?
At the moment, I have visions of a loaded shotgun in my head!
We have three. Two are as good as gold, one is absolutely food mad!
He will scratch at the bedroom door at all hours of the morning trying to get one of us up to feed him.
He has ruined the carpet next to the door.
It doesn't bother me because I am hard of hearing so don't hear him scratching away very often. Ruining the carpet does bother me!
My wife is having to eventually give in to him for the sake of some sleep and the carpet.
We have tried squirting water at him, making a lot of noise by suddenly opening the door and banging around with a coat hanger, throwing cushions or something soft at him. He will always come back.
We put a lot of pepper on the carpet outside the bedroom door but it does nothing.
We are trying to avoid actually hurting him, but I think that may be a necessary evil in this case.
My wife has early starts for work, so is suffering with loss of sleep and struggles at work.
The cat is an absolute glutton. He has no medical problems and has been checked regularly by the vet. This cat is absolutely obsessed with food.
Does anyone have any ideas?
At the moment, I have visions of a loaded shotgun in my head!
0
Comments
or
Shut him downstairs
If we feed him before we go to bed he will still want more.
I am not happy with leaving biscuits out all night as he will become very obese as opposed to just being podgy as he is now.
Perhaps leaving a full bowl of biscuits out all night is the only solution though, even if it means he puts weight on and has weight related issues.
Sadly, there is no way to shut him downstairs.
My mums two latest kittens went today one of them is a little monster so she is hoping it calms him down as he has so far wrecked 2 pairs of net curtains terrorised the poor dogs and turned the house upside down she is glad that in a few weeks once they are over the op they can go outside:D
I have just had an idea which may work.
Change when we feed them, so that a feed can be put out before we go to bed.
It is worth a try as I don't have a licence for a shotgun!
Is there a way to confine to him to a room with access to catflap/cat litter?
Only way he would have access to a cat flap would also mean he has access to upstairs.
automatic pet feeder is the thing you need, we have the round ones that turn round for 4 meals but this one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Catmate-Automatic-Feeder-C20-Meal/dp/B0002YHUPC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393877329&sr=8-1&keywords=automatic+pet+feeder
is all you need for your purposes, set it before you go to bed for whatever time he tends to start up and he will get his feed whilst you sleep
Two might work though if we fill the bowls up.
They only open one at a time if you programme them that way (or in the case of that particular one you can have them both open at the same time), the rotating ones open one bowl at a time, so buy 3.
rehome him as soon as you can, he deserves better.
Stressed cats are often obese and greedy and it sounds like he is desperate to get your attention. Does he eat with the other cats? Or does he wait until they are gone?
A trickle feeder that's out all day and night won't make him fatter, he may go at it for a few days like there's no tomorrow, but he'll soon self regulate and won't over eat.
Three toms in a house is a lot, and likely the cause of the issue, some manage fine but others can't cope, so perhaps considering rehoming as a serious option.
The automatic feeders sound like a good idea, the only problem I can see is (if you don't separate them), greedy guts will probably scoff the lot.
I have a cat like that and I feed him separately from my two other neutered tom cats. It's hard work keeping an eye on him, but he's worth it.
I work from home so I am able to keep an eye on him at all times.
Good luck, I really hope you find a solution.:)
Watching her eat over a couple of days uncovered the problem. Despite being an only cat, she wolfs her food down like she's never been fed & was clearly burning it all off by 4am. So now we split her evening feed - half at the usual time & half right as we're going to bed.
She hasn't noticed she's getting less food per feed & she hasn't disturbed us before 6am since.
Moron!
They all get on fine. They all sleep together out of choice.
The two older cats (Him being one) are brothers and have always been together.
The third one was introduced a couple of years ago and gets on well with them and in particular with the one that is food mad. These two are seldom apart. They go most places together.
Completely agree as long as it's just thinking and threats I see nothing wrong, how many times I have chased our pup threatening death and destruction upon her head I wouldn't like to count, by the time I have caught her we are all laughing and cuddles despite the destruction in her wake.
I am just expressing my desperation with a little humour.
Our cats are well looked after and see the vet regularly and when there are signs of illness or injury.
In fact, Greedy was the last cat to see the vet because he was throwing up all the time. We all came to the conclusion that he was finding access to somebody's bin and scoffing the contents. The vet found nothing physically wrong.
I have advised my wife to change the feed times and amounts and see what happens.
When they are fed, feeding time is policed because if one cat moves away from a non empty bowl, this greedy cat will be in like a rocket and scoff the lot before moving back to it's own bowl.
twit.
Put him in one of these every time he scratches at the door early in the morning as a punishment.
Leave him in there until you get up and about, then put his food out.
He'll soon learn to leave you alone and wait.
Love the humour and do sympathise! My cat lives to be fed, lick off the jelly and immediately yowl for more - drives me mad. Fortunately I can shut him downstairs at night - otherwise he yells hysterically at my bedroom door all night.
I agree that shutting him in a cat box all night is extreme. Would a dog crate be a possibility - if you can't shut him in anywhere downstairs?