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She is driving me insane.

Helsinki

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I love my cat to bits, obviously. But holy crap is she driving me nuts!!!

My husband gets up super early for work, so he goes to bed at 10. I am never tired at 10 and neither is Zoa, so I bring her to the living room with me to burn off energy. Of course, she doesn't want to play in the living room. She wants to run up and down the hall, which is fine, even though my single 8lb cat sounds like an entire herd of buffalo on the hardwood floors.

But here's the annoying part: she has begun scratching at doors. She will scratch at every closed door, two of which have sleeping people behind them and all of which are incredibly loud when scratched upon. There is absolutely nothing I can do that will deter her. If I ignore it, she'll just do it forever. If I try to reprimand her she just looks at me as if to say "you're funny!" I have to get up and retrieve her from the hallway literally every 5 minutes.

I just want to go to bed, but if I don't wait till she's worn out, she'll just jump on our faces. If I lock her out, she'll scratch at the door.

Bah. I still love her to pieces. Crazy cat.
 

Catzzzmeow

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Crazy Zoa....Just having some fun Mommy! Ever see the scratching pads that you can hang from a doorknob? Maybe if you get one and hang on a door no one is sleeping behind she will go to it. You can spray it with catnip to attract. Just a thought...lol...but you know it will not be that easy, it never is.

Patti
 

andreanar

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Oh Zoa! Maybe do a search to find something you can spray on the doors that deters cats? And put the scratch pad on the door that she can scratch at?
 

nfaerie

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Cover the doors in Sticky Paws or fly paper?? LOL it sounds crazy, :) she is soooo stirring you up!! These little kitties, they have brains and know exactly when they are being naughty lol
 

Helsinki

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I got her a scratch pad and she has never touched it :/ she doesn't like her scratching post either. She just likes doors, walls, and my husband's office chair lol. I think with the walls/doors/bannisters, the goal isn't to satisfy a need for scratching; the goal just seems to be loud and obnoxious. The fly paper/sticky pad idea would be a good idea if the hallway wasn't 40 feet long haha (not including *two* staircases!). She's also immune to catnip as well as air cans. I'm considering getting a squirt gun.

Thanks for all the advice :) right now she's snuggled up against me with her chin resting on my tummy and it's hard to remember what a nut she is...
 
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Helsinki

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Perhaps you are imagining her do all of naughtiness in your dreams...lol. How could that innocent little girl do such things :)

Patti

She told me this is absolutely all my imagination and that she totally didn't get locked out of the bedroom twice last night LOLOL.

Here she is snuggled under the blanket between my tummy and my stuffed elephant Elliott:
image.jpg
 

Helsinki

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Does anyone know of any sort of scratching object that has honeysuckle shavings buried in it or something? Honeysuckle cat toys are something I discovered recently that she is crazy about. I got her a package of 10 stuffed mice with honeysuckle inside and she goes nuts for them and carries them around the house. (It's only honeysuckle berries that are bad for cats; the wood is safe and is a catnip alternative for cats who don't react to catnip).
 

TyrionAndSasha

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Mine sleep right next to me all night. Right before bed, I always play with them for 20-30 mins while watching TV, feed them directly after, and put them next to me in bed on their own blanket and boom, out all night.
When they were new, they were a terror. Now they are on my schedule.
If they are scratching, you might just want to crack the door a little and let them in the rooms, they will get bored if the lights are out and people are sleeping, if they have another room with play stuff. I have a cat tunnel, the ball circle thing, a million foil balls, stuffed animals, and their favorite, paper towel holders (the cardboard thing left when all the paper towels run out) all over the living room.
One more thing might help, another cat to keep him busy!
 

Hairless Blessing

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Can you not find anything when you google honeysuckle shavings? If you are in the country, usually
in the spring and summer there is honeysuckle all over the country roads hanging from fence and trees.
Maybe you could get a bunch of the vines and shave them and save for her.
You can also, raise the honeysuckle vines you might need to purchase one.
 

Yoda mom

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Toby is a ball of feisty! This is week 2 and he he just beginning to shine ! Previous owner said he was a little too active!

I found " Da bird" for $7 bucks and it is the best month spent!
I walk around the house with it and where him out! The. At bed time for 20 minutes on my bed.. It is the new favorite! I had da bird years ago and did not know they still make it!

I hav not found to honey suckle shavings
 

Franksmom

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Ok she is telling you it's bed time, Frank goes crazy at 11 o'clock every night. I usually go to bed around there. He starts by runnng jumping knocking things down. Banging on the lamp, scratching at pictures that hang on the wall. If I don't go to bed by 11:30 he calms down and goes to sleep on the chair in the family room with his blankie. He also does this when it's time to eat. Bob said Frank as a clock inside of him, it's the same times every day. He also use to bang on the doors, but has stopped a while ago. We just have to deal with this and our crazy cats
 

andreanar

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Toby is a ball of feisty! This is week 2 and he he just beginning to shine ! Previous owner said he was a little too active!

I found " Da bird" for $7 bucks and it is the best month spent!
I walk around the house with it and where him out! The. At bed time for 20 minutes on my bed.. It is the new favorite! I had da bird years ago and did not know they still make it!

I hav not found to honey suckle shavings
Yay for Da Bird! That is my kitties favorite, and it's how I keep Archie nice and tired.
 

BluesMummy

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She told me this is absolutely all my imagination and that she totally didn't get locked out of the bedroom twice last night LOLOL.

Here she is snuggled under the blanket between my tummy and my stuffed elephant Elliott:
View attachment 44854
Aww she looks so cute, like butter wouldnt melt in her mouth...its hard to stay cross with them when they look so innocent, shes just pushing her luck hopefully she'll get bored & find something else to entertain herself & stop the door scratching as quickly as she started it, just like children they really do know how to push right buttons haha xxx
 

Helsinki

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Thought I would update this thread :) it's been a few more weeks now and Zoa and I seem to have settled into a routine.

She still scratches at the door occasionally, but now it's just one specific door- the bathroom door. I realized that she does this when she wants me to go to bed, because the bathroom is where I always go right before bedtime. So now my cat tells me when it's bedtime and amazingly I get more sleep these days! Lol!

Zoa's gotten very good at settling right down for bedtime - no more getting up over and over chasing her off tabletops (knock on wood!). Now I just have to figure out how to teach her that stomping on my boobs in the morning isn't awesome hahaha.
 

gaigeschaos

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hahah I'm laughing because that's Lu's favorite way to wake me up in the morning too.. as well as burrowing under the covers and scratching at my lower back...
yep I love him but seriously not a super fantastic way to wake up -.-
 

SarahLovee82

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There's a spray that is a scratch deterrent, maybe you can get some & velcro/tape a piece of fabric on the doors you dont want her scratching at. Just a thought. I know the feeling though. Since its just me (& now Jermaine) the doors are always open so when we have guests & have to actually close the spare bedroom door or the bathroom door they go insane LOL.
 

Xandria

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Does anyone know of any sort of scratching object that has honeysuckle shavings buried in it or something? Honeysuckle cat toys are something I discovered recently that she is crazy about. I got her a package of 10 stuffed mice with honeysuckle inside and she goes nuts for them and carries them around the house. (It's only honeysuckle berries that are bad for cats; the wood is safe and is a catnip alternative for cats who don't react to catnip).

Could you maybe make your own? And that's great to know... I'll be on the lookout for honeysuckle toys and make my own if I can't find! Great idea.
 
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