That cat is weird

[Krislady]

Newsflash, huh?

After we brought The Jar home, the Kitty decided to drink the hater-ade and remove herself to the basement where there were no dogs. Fine. Whatever.

She's evidently perfectly comfortable there - she's got a little kitty door that she can use whenever she wants to come back to civilization, and I put a rug down so she's not stuck on the cold cement floor. She's also got plenty of toys, a cozy bed, several random boxes, and I leave a light on for her all the time.

So she's got this cozy bed, with this nifty pad that's supposed to trap and reflect her body heat back to her, and, while she slept in it all last winter, she hasn't, as far as I can tell, wanted anything to do with it this year. After we got about a foot of snow last night (and it's still coming down!) I went downstairs to find her curled up on the floor in front of the door - two feet from her warm, cozy bed.

So I took the fuzzy mat out, vacuumed the CRAP out of it (maybe it's stale-smelling?) and put it back.

She ignored it.

THEN, I remembered K9's advice about putting dog treats in Jar's bed (now he LOVES his bed and still checks it every day for random treats or bits of kibble!), I tossed a couple of treats in her bed for her.

I checked back, and the treats are gone, and she's curled up on the floor in front of the door next to the bed again.

Now I'm going to have to make it a POINT to get her to use her bed. Think it'll work?

[Connie Lea]

That is so funny. Cats usually like something warm. Sounds like you've provided a kitty palace for her. I can't imagine why she isn't sleeping on the mat. Maybe somebody else will have some advice.

[Connie Lea]

Sorry - duplicate post.

[K9 Owned]

Stubborn kitty!
Yes I think it will work. All animals (and humans) can be conditioned but I have no clue what the time frame may be for a cat. Ornery creatures

Is it possible that she is too warm on the bed? I know that with dogs they will move to a tile floor or the hearth if they are feeling the heat.

[Saralaya]

K9 Owned wrote:
Stubborn kitty!
Yes I think it will work. All animals (and humans) can be conditioned but I have no clue what the time frame may be for a cat. Ornery creatures

Is it possible that she is too warm on the bed? I know that with dogs they will move to a tile floor or the hearth if they are feeling the heat.

That is a definite possibility...while cats do love to curl up and be warm, if they're too warm they will move some place cooler for awhile.

One question Kris...did this start around the same time she started throwing up her dry food? If so, I really think a vet visit is in order. That's a lot of changes. Cats are experts in hiding pain and illness...it serves them well in the wild, not so much when living with humans who care about them. One of the ways to tell if something may be wrong medically is when you notice significant changes in behavior from their usual.

[Krislady]

Well, the bed thing doesn't seem to be related to the barfing thing - she just sort of moved away from the bed last spring when the weather got warmer and never really got back into it - I dunno, maybe she is warm in there. It gets awfully sunny right there where she's curled up, so maybe she's perfectly comfortable thank-you-very-much.

Other than that - and I truly think it's more orneriness than anything, she's acting perfectly normal. Normal for her, that is.

She even came into the living room and frolicked a bit - WHILE THE DOG WAS RIGHT THERE.

Granted, he was sound asleep, even snoring, but still.

She did her tip-toeing into the room thing, saw him, then froze.

He didn't move, so she moved a little farther.

Still nothing from him, so she crouched down and watched him. She just sat there for the longest time just watching him. She might have been trying to glare holes in him for all I know. I watched to make sure I didn't see any wisps of smoke coming from his fur.

Then she just sort of pranced across the room, over to the couch were I was sitting, watching the whole thing.

[Chattes]

I have a pad that I think is like yours for one of our older cats.. Last winter, she always slept on it. She loved it. This winter, she hasn't slept on it once. I think cats change where they sleep. Of course, they would all love to sleep with us but that ended when they were waking us up too early to eat. My husband didn't like waking up to someone licking his chin or nose because they wanted to eat at dark-o- thirty!

[Krislady]

Heh, Minerva used to get up in my husband's face and purr. Really really loud. When that didn't work, she'd just pat his face until he woke up to feed her.

Now, of course, she doesn't sleep with us because the bedroom is infested with . . . dog.

[Saralaya]

Krislady wrote:
Heh, Minerva used to get up in my husband's face and purr. Really really loud. When that didn't work, she'd just pat his face until he woke up to feed her.

Now, of course, she doesn't sleep with us because the bedroom is infested with . . . dog.

Stella (who at the time was not sleeping on the bed) used to jump up on the bed at 5:00 AM and begin to MEOW in my face....."Garcon! Garcon! Breakfast... NOW!" I briefly debated actually getting UP at 5:00 AM but that was a very brief debate since, at the time, I was getting up at 6 anyway. So I used to say "not time yet" and nudge her aside....or off the bed.....she was persistent and I would hover between being asleep and being awake until 6. THEN I got up and put food down. Eventually (emphasis on eventually....) she waited until my alarm went off and if I hit the "snooze" button I would find that my "snooze button" came with a protesting MROW...LOL....So I got up pretty much when I should. Once this started it was good until the first Saturday.... when I did not have to get up at 6.... Slowly but surely she learned to expect breakfast when I get up and does not feel the need to wake me up any more.

[Krislady]

I think Minerva has learned that the coffee maker means it's time to get up - we've got it set to start brewing before our alarm goes off (which is, um, 3:45) (my husband leaves for work at 4:30) - when the coffee starts, she needs to eat RIGHT THIS MINUTE.

We actually tried NOT setting the coffee maker one weekend - it worked twice, then she was hip to it and didn't let us get away with THAT stunt again.

Though if the dog sleeps downstairs (which he does when he's had a rough day and doesn't want to climb the stairs) (like if we have 2 feet of snow and he's been out bounding around in it like the young pup he evidently thinks he still is) she's less likely to sneak past him. Kind of reminds me of when I was little and my grandmother would sleep on the couch on Christmas Eve - I always thought she was guarding the Christmas tree. . . only Jar's guarding us.

[Saralaya]

Smart kitty, Miss Minerva!

[Krislady]

Okay, so my husband mentioned that that, since we started the treat thing with her bed, Minerva spent the better part of yesterday curled up in there.

Ha. I wonder how she likes the fact that we can train her . . . just like the dog!

[K9 Owned]

You can clicker train chickens so why not a cat? I'm told that they have a larger brain.
Ok, before the troops show up....

[Saralaya]

Krislady wrote:
Okay, so my husband mentioned that that, since we started the treat thing with her bed, Minerva spent the better part of yesterday curled up in there.

Ha. I wonder how she likes the fact that we can train her . . . just like the dog!

Shhhhhhhhhhh ... don't let her know.... she thinks she has YOU guys trained to deliver treats!

[Saralaya]

K9 Owned wrote:
You can clicker train chickens so why not a cat? I'm told that they have a larger brain.
Ok, before the troops show up....

There are all sorts of resources for clicker training cats! These are just a couple. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm seriously thinking about it.

http://www.clickertraining.com/cattraining

http://www.catster.com/cat-behavior/clicker-training-for-cats