He wants attention and he wants it now!

Liam is our youngest cat. He will be 2 years old this summer. He has an attention problem. He wants Mommy and Daddy's attention and he wants it NOW! When we are trying to sleep, Liam will often stand or sit next to us and paw at the blanket as if he wants to get under the covers. If he does not succeed in getting a response from us the first time, he will resort to using his claws. He will paw at our arms and legs with his claws, leaving scratches. He also does this if he wants kisses and to be petted. I have a squirt bottle I use but he keeps coming back.

Does anyone have any idea how we can stop this behavior?

Get a dog instead?

Sorry, I can't actually provide anything productive.

Already have one of those and he is just as if not more annoying than the cat. :P

I had that issue with a 2 year old cat I adopted 5 years ago. I would wake up with his drool and scratches all over my chest because he would come lay next to me and "massage" me in my sleep trying to get attention. After getting his front paws declawed, which yes I realize most people think is cruel, I no longer had this issue. He stopped fighting so hard for attention, but didn't stop entirely. And of course no more having to deal with cat scratches all over my body just because he was trying to get some loving. I also had the same results with a kitten I adopted last year.
Others may have some other suggestions, but for me that is what worked with both of the cats I have when they got a little too pushy and started causing more anger than joy.

play with your cat before bedtime. It may take 20, 30, even 45 minutes of straight play to tire them out. Give them toys they can interact with themselves.

I have a cat that NEEDS attention. After about 2 years he has figured out the routine and now ASKS for attention and can be given attention but is reprimanded when he jumps on people without asking (he has all of his claws and weighs 18 pounds so its not pleasant) we either say NO in a brisk, loud tone, shake the coin can (loud noise stops him) or push him off physically (not hard or anything) and hes gotten the idea. He was hand raised so he has issues associated with that but he has grown leaps and bounds since we first got him.

The night time play time thing is really good for wearing them out and letting them sleep through the night and then not bother you.

I flat out refuse to get any of my cats declawed. It is inhumane and unnecessary.

I will try out playing with him for a good bit of time before bed time. He is a VERY energetic kitty. I love him to pieces but he's just got sooooo much energy. And he's a definite cuddle-bug, only he wants to be right up against you, under the blanket. We call him our blanket baby.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

I flat out refuse to get any of my cats declawed. It is inhumane and unnecessary.

I will try out playing with him for a good bit of time before bed time. He is a VERY energetic kitty. I love him to pieces but he's just got sooooo much energy. And he's a definite cuddle-bug, only he wants to be right up against you, under the blanket. We call him our blanket baby.

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my other cat actually sleeps next to me, touching me 6 out of 7 nights of the week. Sometimes he wants to sleep on the couch or the cat tree. Train him to do that.

With fat cat (his real name is Dexter but he is BIG) we would remove him from the bed if he bothered us. One of the first nights we had him home he took a full speed run at one of my kidneys because he was playing with the other cat and just doesn't realize how big he is. omg OUCH. And now he sleeps at my feet or behind my knees and that is his place. He gets jealous if the other cat, ollie sleeps there. He learned pretty quickly that if he wanted to sleep near "mommy and daddy" he needed to behave. It took a few sleepless nights and cats to various body parts and organs but he did eventually work it out. he is very attention seeking.

Oh we also do not let them sleep within 4 hours of us going to bed. We wake them up and play or cuddle or they'll play with each other. Everyone goes to bed at the same time.

Him and his brother are VERY needy when it comes to attention. Ramman, the second youngest, was spoiled by Mommy when he was a kitten. Little did I know he would become a fairly large adult and he still likes to sleep on my face. I've gotten him to at least let me have PART of the pillow. Now he will sleep "like a human" with his head on the pillow (has to be touching my head at all times) and his paws touching my neck or shoulders. Liam will sleep anywhere but he has to be under the blanket and up against someone. Does it help that I'm allergic to cats and I have 4 of them, ALL of whom love to sleep in the bed.

My cat is half tabby and half turkish angora. The angora'a are known to be very dog like. Not only does he play fetch but he is an attention hog as well. He will sit outside the bedroom door and howl like a dying animal if he is locked out. He holds grudges against those who dont give him what he wants when he wants it. He will selectively choose that persons socks and drag them through the house, hide them and chew them up. He will dig through clothes baskets until he finds the ones he wants. He sits on the back of the couch and swats you or bites at you as you walk by if you dont pet him.

I have found no way of fixing any of these crazy issues with him. He went for his yearly shots last week and I swear they put something a little extra in those shots. His behaviour has gotten even more strange and more intense.

I have no advice for you. Cats are nuts. Plain & simple.

Haha, yes they are! Ramman will hold a grudge. If I shove him off me because my allergies have gotten too bad or I'm too tired to play, he will sit a few feet away from me, facing away, and not even twitch an ear or turn his head if I call him. Then as soon as his Daddy calls his name, he perks up and goes right over to him. It is crazy.

Liam still acts like a kitten. He's fast, hyper, and needy. I've been using a squirt bottle these past few nights, but he seems to jump off the bed, lick himself for a few minutes then come back to terrorize me more. :taz:

Mom has a cat that will nudge at her to get attention all the time. I seen her almost wear her coffee cause of the cat trying to get attention.

WOW I'm having a similar problem now , my fiancee bought a cat about 4 months back well adopted from the spca, it is a cute cat and I'm not a cat person but if she can deal with 7 snakes I can put up with the cat. All she does when we are around is meow and meow and meow. When we sleep she meows when we eat dinner she meows when I'm on the toilet she meows u get the idea. I also keep a spray bottle next to my bed. Now we give her a lot of love but I'm not down for giving MY CAT love at 3 in the morning. So I feel I am in the same boat here

Sorry! I thought that this was a Big Guns thread. :O

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Originally Posted by dsirkle

Sorry! I thought that this was a Big Guns thread. :O

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:8: :rofl:

:rofl::rofl::rofl::8::8::8:

the coin can is my only saving grace.

1. get can (beer can, cola can, any aluminum can).
2. empty can.
3. rinse can.
4. put 15-20 pennies inside can
5. turn tab backwards so pennies stay in can
6. shake when cat does bad thing.

-now, ONLY do this away from the cat. The noise it makes is exceptionally loud and if its done to close to their ears it can hurt them.
-STOP immediately after cat stops doing bad thing.

My cats know the coin can. They know it well. All i have to do is let them see it when they're doing something bad and they usually stop. They aren't bothered by water guns or squirt bottles or yelling or anything.

COIN CAN IS WIN. :D

I will try the coin can out and see if it works. :) Thanks for the suggestion.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

I flat out refuse to get any of my cats declawed. It is inhumane and unnecessary.

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My parents declawed our first cat after she destroyed about $1500 worth of 10' tall drapes. Somehow the cat was able to tear up the drapes from top to bottom in a single afternoon, I mean they were SHREDDED from her climbing up and down it.

I'm not saying it's right to do, but there is always a reason.

+1 on noise deterrants. They are far superior to spraying, I've never heard of that ever working.

I'd definitely up the nighttime playtime and tucker the cat out as best you can. Even at two years old, the thing is still pretty kitten-y. Cats in general take frequent short rests, "catnaps" if you will :P This lets them be active at times that are less than desirable for humans.

Sometimes you just have to put up with the fact that the cat will be awake during parts of the night, and if it sleeps in your bedroom then you will likely have your sleep disturbed.

And this is why I do not have $1500 in drapes. We actually don't keep much on the dresser, nightstand, etc either. Nothing that can be harmed if it were knocked over. We don't have expensive furniture. We've had a few cases of the cats clawing the furniture but they are given plenty of scratch posts so it has been a long time since they have done that. Mostly, they just like to claw me. I'd rather them claw me to pieces before I'd ever de-claw them. In my opinion, when you take an animal into your home, you shouldn't get to pick and choose what part of the animal you deal with.

ANYWAY :P I will just try the coin can and keep up with the squirt bottle. Though I do believe I need to get more pictures of these kids, especially of the boys cuddling with me. They are like human kids in the way they cuddle!

Oh and I'm used to disturbed sleep. I don't think I've slept through the night since I first brought Miki home as a kitten 4 years ago. The first night she was home she wanted to play and cuddle ALL...NIGHT....LONG. I got maybe 3 hours of sleep over the course of 2 nights. At one point she put her head on my neck and I stayed up listening to her purr. She hasn't done that in ages though. Once we introduced the boys she's stopped cuddling like she used to.

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Originally Posted by Aleria

I had that issue with a 2 year old cat I adopted 5 years ago. I would wake up with his drool and scratches all over my chest because he would come lay next to me and "massage" me in my sleep trying to get attention. After getting his front paws declawed, which yes I realize most people think is cruel, I no longer had this issue. He stopped fighting so hard for attention, but didn't stop entirely. And of course no more having to deal with cat scratches all over my body just because he was trying to get some loving. I also had the same results with a kitten I adopted last year.
Others may have some other suggestions, but for me that is what worked with both of the cats I have when they got a little too pushy and started causing more anger than joy.

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Well isn't it obvious what happened. The cat now hates your guts.:D Sorry, but it's kinda obvious to BG. :P:D


BG thinks you all should be happy that at least something loves yah.:D

Doesn't anyone have a door on the bedroom nowadays? BG couldn't sleep with all the screaming fans outside without two steel ones on his.:D

Do you peeps with problems only have one cat? If so, borrow a friends cat for a few days and see if it helps. If it does, get another kitty as a friend for your kitty so it's not so lonely.

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He stopped fighting so hard for attention, but didn't stop entirely.

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^ point one that no, the cats do not hate me for declawing them. They still try to get plenty of attention but don't resort to scratching to get it and instead stick with something nicer like headbutting.

I've also tried the whole shutting all animals out of the bedroom thing and it just doesn't work, at least not with my cats. They would sit outside the door screaming until I'd let them in. At that point I preferred the scratches to the horrble sound.

And of course, getting a second cat did nothing in my case considering I got a second cat and as stated above had to do the same thing with her to stop the same exact issue.

I have multiple cats, so in my problems with Liam are not related to him not having friends. (though don't tell my husband that getting a kitten would help. He'd drag me to the SPCA today if I even mentioned getting another kitten.)

Last night Liam only scratched my shoulder once. I think the squirt bottle may be helping though I intend to try the coin can as well.

Be consistent in your reprimands. If you're using the water pistol, use it all the time to reinforce the reprimand & training. He'll eventually learn to behave.

We've got a dog-cat...he comes when called, will lay at your feet, begs for food, will (sometimes) fetch, and generally acts like a dog, who wants attention a lot and will pat & claw your leg to get it. We've started the push and QUIT training to get him to stop the leg-clawing.

I used to let ours lay on the bed all the time, but with 4, it was harder than .... to figure out which one was peeing on the bed, so now (sadly) NONE of them sleep on my feet to keep them warm.

When we lived in the apt, I had the (now) two oldest spend the nights in large cat carriers (like crate training a dog) while I was at work at night. It was either that, or get evicted b/c of the wicked itch in the downstairs apt complained about our living noises. I later had a roommate whose Chihuahua peed on the carpet, and my little queen started doing it too, so they all have learned "time for bed" and spend the night in the carriers with towels for any accidents. 3 are stacked little to big, and they all jump into their own den. Sometimes when one gets tired of getting picked on, I'll find him in his kennel lying down where it's "safe".

Since R and I are both FT students now, we play with them in the afternoons and early evenings; I feed 'em, allowing an hour or two for potty; and then by say, 2030-2145 (sometimes 2200) they go into the "kennels" in the laundry room.