06 May 2006

El Gato Diablo

As perhaps you have inferred from the title of this post, cat-owning is not going as smoothly these days. Zissou has become devil-possessed and taken to violently attacking feet between 3 and 5 a.m., specifically Jay's feet (I tend to sleep through these attacks. Or at least the cat part of the attacks. I'm usually awakened by Jay yelling and cursing the cat).

Jay tried sleeping with his feet outside of the covers because when body parts go under the covers they become unidentifiable prey for the cat. This phenomenon also works in reverse. when the cat goes under the covers everything that moves is a fair target for pouncing/clawing/hunting.

As you might imagine the cat just started attacking the parts of his legs that remained covered. Shin bites are just as, if not more painful than the foot variety.

Next we tried sleeping with a double layer of blankets. That way even if he bit us we wouldn't feel it. If we didn't feel it then we wouldn't react and he would eventually stop the behavior when he didn't get his desired result. That was my reasoning anyway. It works with two's so why not cats?

Turns out that if biting feet doesn't work the cat is willing to attack hands and will even resort to pouncing on stomachs to get his point across. Plus Jay gets really cranky when his feet get too hot.

So in the end, the cat got himself locked out of the bedroom at night.

The fatal flaw in this solution is the meowing at the door. The loud, persistent, and annoying meowing at the door which is impossible to sleep through.

Does anyone have any recommendations or advice? I know that cats aren't known for their trainability but if I can teach 2-year-olds to put caps on markers then this is definitely doable.

Hopefully.


4 Comments:

At May 07, 2006 10:49 PM, Blogger Randy said...

I came across a few web pages that offer some advice:

http://articles.pointshop.com/pets/12558.php
http://www.fanciers.com/cat-faqs/behavior.shtml (scroll down to the Early AM Wakeups section)

The most creative suggestion that's mentioned is putting a vacuum cleaner within arms reach of the bed. Then just reach over and flip it on whenever El Gato Diablo makes his unwelcome appearance.

 
At May 09, 2006 5:49 PM, Blogger Jill said...

The vacuum cleaner seems rather harsh and way too complicated. I mean not only do you have to wire an extension cord but you have to make really loud annoying noises.

We have tried some of the suggestions like making sure he's fed and playing with him right before we go to bed.

 
At May 13, 2006 11:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The joys of owning a CAT!!

Guess who?? (MOM)

 
At May 14, 2006 1:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have no real suggestions but I have to tell you that I'm laughing so hard that I'm crying and I'm worried about my weak bladder.

One thing you could try is to keep a spray bottle of water by the bed and squirting him when he attacks.

Cats are pure joy huh?

 

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