I don't want to declaw her, so what should I do?

[Jessie]

I'm ready to kill Stevie.  Every single morning, between six and seven, when I'm just trying to get a few more minutes of sleep, she climbs my bedroom curtains.

She climbs everything in sight, and has destroyed basically all the curtains in the house.  They're just cheap curtains so it's not a big deal except that it's really, really annoying.  She's broken all the curtain rods.

Screaming at her, knocking her down, spraying her with water...none of these things deter her.  She might run off for a few minutes, but she'll come back and do it all over again.  I had to rehang the bedroom curtains three times this morning.

I'm at my wits end.  Advice?

[eo000]

[Jessie]

wow that even looks like her.

[dazie]

http://www.softpaws.com/

[Beefy]

Electric curtains.

[Jessie]

http://www.softpaws.com/

Effective AND attractive!

[Alice]

wow that even looks like her.

No, that cat looks with two eyes.

[Jessie]

wow that even looks like her.

No, that cat looks with two eyes.

Bitch.

[Bennyhana]

There are two things you can do:

1. Clip her claws.  You can do this with regular human nail clippers, or you can go to the pet store and get special kitty ones.  I do this with Delia regularly.  If you're worried about hurting her, look instructions up on the internet.  It's really not hard.

2. Next time she does that, grab her and put her out in the car until you are done sleeping/getting ready for work, etc.  A couple times, and she'll get it. 

[Jessie]

Yeah, I'm thinking I need to clip her claws.  I'm going to try that tonight, I think.

I just wish there was a way that I could train her to not be so psycho.  She really is just kind of crazy.  My dad has a cat the same age, and he's totally laid back and mellow. 

I love her so much but my god, that cat frustrates me.

[DownSouth]

Hog tie.

[Alice]

I just wish there was a way that I could train her to not be so psycho.  She really is just kind of crazy.  My dad has a cat the same age, and he's totally laid back and mellow. 

I love her so much but my god, that cat frustrates me.

She is a feral cat, so she may always be a little crazy.

I love Bruce to death too, but there are times I just want to give him to someone for a day or two.  I think that's the way it's going to go with any being that's living with you.

[Jessie]

I just wish there was a way that I could train her to not be so psycho.  She really is just kind of crazy.  My dad has a cat the same age, and he's totally laid back and mellow. 

I love her so much but my god, that cat frustrates me.

She is a feral cat, so she may always be a little crazy.

I love Bruce to death too, but there are times I just want to give him to someone for a day or two.  I think that's the way it's going to go with any being that's living with you.

I feel that way about Timothy.

[DownSouth]

Midnight is at my parents right now because the water heater soaked my carpet yesterday.  I miss her.

[Gamplayerx]

A couple of things:

1.  Since she has so much energy, you need to exercise her - tire her out.  Pong is a psycho cat.  We play fetch with him until he's just too pooped to move.  Helps a lot - even though we have a whole house for him to roam, it's still not enough for him to get enough exercise.  He also has a couple of different toys that make him run and climb and jump. 

2.  Clip her nails.  As Benny said, you can use regular human nail clippers (make sure they're new and sharp) or the ones made for cats.  I tried the cat ones, and had problems because it's difficult to see the quick (the fleshy bit inside the talon), but the regular nail clippers work like a dream. 

A tip about clipping nails - how it goes depends on how tolerant your cat is, so keep in mind her personality and adjust accordingly. Ping is a whore for any kind of attention at all, so she'll just sit there all day and let me clip clip clip.  Pong, as I've said, is very high strung and full of pent-up energy.  Also, he doesn't like to be restrained.  For him, I scoop him up, flip him on his back, and just do 1 or 2 paws at a time and immediately let him loose.  We tried having Grumpus hold him, but it just makes him more insane and worked up - the quick, sneak attack with no restraint works best.

[Jessie]

A couple of things:

1.  Since she has so much energy, you need to exercise her - tire her out.  Pong is a psycho cat.  We play fetch with him until he's just too pooped to move.  Helps a lot - even though we have a whole house for him to roam, it's still not enough for him to get enough exercise.  He also has a couple of different toys that make him run and climb and jump. 

2.  Clip her nails.  As Benny said, you can use regular human nail clippers (make sure they're new and sharp) or the ones made for cats.  I tried the cat ones, and had problems because it's difficult to see the quick (the fleshy bit inside the talon), but the regular nail clippers work like a dream. 

A tip about clipping nails - how it goes depends on how tolerant your cat is, so keep in mind her personality and adjust accordingly. Ping is a whore for any kind of attention at all, so she'll just sit there all day and let me clip clip clip.  Pong, as I've said, is very high strung and full of pent-up energy.  Also, he doesn't like to be restrained.  For him, I scoop him up, flip him on his back, and just do 1 or 2 paws at a time and immediately let him loose.  We tried having Grumpus hold him, but it just makes him more insane and worked up - the quick, sneak attack with no restraint works best.

I try to keep plenty of toys around for her, and she plays with butters like crazy, but yeah, she still has tons of energy.  I don't know what else to do with her.

She'll definitely be more like Pong with the clipping.  Taking her spay stitches out was interesting.

[Alice]

Can you put her in the dryer for a few spins to calm her down?

[Jessie]

Can you put her in the dryer for a few spins to calm her down?

Did I ever tell you all that my childhood cat (the one that died last year) had been through two full dryer cycles?

[Gamplayerx]

You have to play with her.  If she won't fetch, will she jump up at stuff?  I know she's visually impaired, but could she see a laser pointer (I remember you posting something about a laser pointer).  Jumping is tiring.  

[DownSouth]

Bong hits.

[Alice]

Can you put her in the dryer for a few spins to calm her down?

Did I ever tell you all that my childhood cat (the one that died last year) had been through two full dryer cycles?

Yeah, that's an amazing cat.

My friend had a cat when he was little that he decided to name "Adventure Kitty".  His parents thought it was cute until they realized that it was because he'd put the cat in the dryer or drop it off the stairs, but only when he'd tied a red pillowcase around his neck as a cape. 

[Jessie]

You have to play with her.  If she won't fetch, will she jump up at stuff?  I know she's visually impaired, but could she see a laser pointer (I remember you posting something about a laser pointer).  Jumping is tiring. 

She gets played with quite a bit, but maybe not enough for her psycho ass. 

[Alice]

She gets played with quite a bit, but maybe not enough for her psycho ass. 

Buy a dog.  Tape Beggin' Strips to the sides of Stevie.

[DownSouth]

She gets played with quite a bit, but maybe not enough for her psycho ass. 

Buy a dog.  Tape Beggin' Strips to the sides of Stevie.

Mutly ate a brand new bag of those when I was at work the other day.

[Alice]

She gets played with quite a bit, but maybe not enough for her psycho ass. 

Buy a dog.  Tape Beggin' Strips to the sides of Stevie.

Mutly ate a brand new bag of those when I was at work the other day.

Bruce ate an entire box of Scooby Snacks once.  His butt soup was multicolored in places.