I have lost a battle of wills with my cat

[Dr Dave]

Every morning, the same thing: At around 6:30 am, Wynton, the shy yellow kitty (not to be confused with his hefty gray gregarious brother Miles) comes scratching at the bedroom door. If no one opens the door, he begins crying. His cry is loud and unpleasant, with a kind of gargling note that I find particularly grating. Most of the time my wife gets up and goes into the kitchen. Wynton jumps on the bed and walks up toward my head. If I don't start petting him (and he wants to be petted JUST SO--on the nose, behind the ears, and on the belly) he cries. If I still don't respond he bats me with claws held in. If I still don't respond, the claws come out, and he may give me a little bite on the arm. By now, I have given in, because I am in fact awake, and I begin petting him in the approved manner.

Closing the door doesn't work. He howls and scratches the door. Earplugs don't work--he's really loud when he wants to be. He's been part of the household for six years, so he's not going anywhere. And it is true that when he is being petted, he makes a very satisfying purr, and closes his eyes in extasy. So it's not like there are no rewards for giving him what he wants.

I don't know what to think about this.

[jesus marion joseph]

Face it, you're pussy whipped. Happens to the best of us.

[Uli]

Originally posted by Dr Dave


I don't know what to think about this.

Of course I don't know either Mr Dave. But then any suggestion mite help: Howz about changin the name form Wynton to Papa Joe?

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Leave the bedroom door open.

I've got three cats myself and they insist on being in whatever room I happen to be in. Eventually they wander off during the night so it's not like I'm surrounded by them 24-7. If you lead the door open it may break up the ritual Wynton's established.

[Jon Abbey]

hmm, my suggestion would be to leave dry food out overnight, usually when cats bug you in the wee hours, it's because they want food. but if he doesn't follow your wife into the kitchen, it probably ain't that, so never mind.

more importantly, your cats are really named Miles and Wynton? is the younger one a pale imitation of the older one?

[Brian Olewnick]

Get the cat drunk with all the wine you've been stealing.

[Dr Dave]

Originally posted by Brian Olewnick
Get the cat drunk with all the wine you've been stealing.

They're Muslims. Forget it. Wynton does love him some catnip.

Darryl: There is a political problem here, in that if the door stays open, the cats pile up on the wife, who is their Alpha. Then she can't sleep.

[jesus marion joseph]

Wow, you really *are* pussy whipped!

[jesus marion joseph]

Hey, how come when I post a smiley-thingamajig at the end of a post, it appears at the beginning of the post???

[tippy]

I would leave the door open too. My female cat does pretty much exactly what you describe each morning too because she is hungry--although she doesn't retract her claws. She presses her claw on my upper arm over and over and over. I don't have a solution for you though, because I am able to sleep through it--although my morning dreams are filled with cats. I ignore her for 3 hours and she's relentless for the same amount of time. This has been going on for years. I don't free feed them anymore because the female had two UTIs within 10 months of eachother a couple years ago and I read that it was better for their digestion not to have food out all the time. Plus, she is hungry in the morning and the male is not because he makes sure he gets his food plus some of hers at all their feedings. She's not underweight though so I'm not too worried about this. They both get plenty of love. (This is the first time I've been part of a "pride." This comes with some reponsibility as it involves a lot of being layed on when I would rather not be in contact with cat at all the times they choose, but it's sort of cool too.)

I think the dry food suggestion, if you approve, might be your solution.

[jesus marion joseph]

Have you tried ripping their voice boxes out? I've heard it can be pretty effective.

[GregM]

When I had cats, I put them in the garage for the night. Of course I lived in San Diego at the time, so it never got cold. That strategy wouldn't work in Boston. Plus I had two cats and they could snuggle up when it did get a little nippy. They would claw at the garage door sometimes and whine. But hey, so does Chris A, and the cats were much more polite than him.

Hey Finch, what a coincidence. My sons name is Wynton! We must be brothers seperated at birth!

[tippy]

If putting the critters in the garage is too painful to bear, maybe Dr. & Mrs. Dave could sleep in the garage.

hee hee, just kidding!!!!

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Doc,

That's your wife's problem then, but it ends YOUR problem.

Darryl G. Thomas
Licensed Marraige Conselor

[Enforcer]

Cats. You can't live with 'em...

Providing comedy by omission,
Larry

[jesus marion joseph]

Dr. Dave doesn't have a garage, just a couple of parking spaces. (Shoulda' stayed in Chatham, Dave!)

[Tom Storer]

It's amazing the extent to which cat owners are mere slaves to the whims of their animals.

We're lucky - our current cat simply sleeps at the bottom of the bed and doesn't bother us. Well, sometimes she chooses to sleep where my wife would prefer to put her feet, but she just gives the cat a vigorous kick through the covers and the cat moves off, grumbling.

A previous cat - also named Miles, incidentally - was much worse. He would do the early morning whining and pawing, but starting at around 5:00 AM, and we weren't having any of that, so we closed the door. Loud, insistent scratching and howling. We gave it several days, no change. So we put him in the living room overnight. He would attack the door to the living room, hurling himself at it from several feet with a large BOOM. Impossible to sleep through. He'd keep it up for hours.

So we moved the sofa over in front of the door. The living room had two doors into it, so we could leave through the other door after preparing the first. This way Miles couldn't try to batter the door down (for some reason the other door didn't get the battering-ram treatment). However, he'd go onto the back of the couch and be right at the door handle, which he would bat at with his paw, making a loud, insistent rattling noise, also impossible to sleep through.

So here was how we finally worked it out: we would take the ironing board and place it, folded, in front of the door, hiding the door handle. Then we would put the sofa against that. Then we would move the food and water dishes and the litter box in for the night. Then we would grab the cat, fling him into the center of the room, and rush out closing the second door behind us. But he found that if he leapt straight up and let his weight pull down the door handle on the way down, the door would open. So, finally, we would wedge a cloth kitchen towel between the door and the door frame while closing the door, so it would be tightly closed and the cat couldn't get it open.

This worked. The cat resigned himself to his fate and sulked during the night, while we slept soundly. We did this for years.

Unbelievable.

[Chris D]

These are some great arguments for dogs.

[bobetterblues]

Dave,

When your cat starting biting and clawing, smack him. That should do the trick and contrary to popular belief that isn't mean. Its nature's way baby!

My cat Benny is well behaved. He used to bite and claw as a youngster and I always tapped his nose fairly hard when he did it. Now he doesn't do it, but is still very affectionate. Pavlov was a genuis!

Benny is sitting on my lap as a type, purring away........

[Dr Dave]

The cats have food and water available all the time, and it's just the one cat that's the problem. Jeez, what would Alan Watts do?

[Enforcer]

Originally posted by Jon Abbey
more importantly, your cats are really named Miles and Wynton? is the younger one a pale imitation of the older one?

I forgot to tip my hat to Mr. Abbey on this.

Letting the horse go,
Larry

[Chris D]

What happened to Henry's great poem?

[tippy]

HenryMc, I couldn't view the picture for some reason but I dig the poem!

Tom, what a great story.

Dogs are wonderful pets but they get so lonely and you have to be able to take them outside. Cat proofing the house becomes second nature after awhile. No strings on the floor, no glass to knock over, no plants (which kind of sucks I will admit) or flowers, no clothing on the floor (a good habit)...I'm sure I'm forgetting a thing or five. The worst part about pets though is that they often expire before their owners. Human-animal relationships slay me. I got these two on a whim when I was passing the SPCA cages where I worked in Embarcadero 3, San Francisco, CA. Damn SPCA and their little locked up kittens!!!!

[HenryMc]

The fellow in the photo here
leaves me alone if im drinking beer
though when a games in on TV
He'll come and sit and watch with me
but it's in the mornings when he's at his best
and puts the family to a test
he wont eat stuff from a can
unless its for Humans can you dig it man
no, Whiskas, Kit E Kat or Gourmet fare
will cause him just to sit and stare
at his bowl and me-ow me-ow
making us feel guilty somehow
until someone gets him steak
and prime fillet is all he'll take
and only two days in a row
cause then it's fresh lamb, dontcha know
Occasionally he'll stoop to eat
something else beside red meat
sometimes he'll eat fish if it's salmon
I think he thinks he is matt damon!

The vet says give him biscuits for his teeth
something different from all that beef
so we buy the box for one ninety nine
and find he wont eat that kind
NO! he only eats the more expensive brand
the five buck box is his command

Then we wouldn't swap him for any other
not even when he's a surly mother
he is part of the family
and sometimes even pretends he digs me!!

[HenryMc]

Sorry Guys

I had trouble with the pic so I deleted it and posted again

Glad you dig the doggeral (or is it caterwail??)

[bobetterblues]

Man, I gotta say I love cats. Working from home, Benny is my sole companion and he really is great. He's always there within a few feet, on my desk, in my lap. Meowing, purring, playing..... Its pretty damn cool that we can have these little domesticated furry beings to hang with.

[stonemonkts]

Originally posted by HenryMc
Sorry Guys

I had trouble with the pic so I deleted it and posted again

Glad you dig the doggeral (or is it caterwail??)

That's a great pic, HenryMc.

I love cats (dogs too). At this moment I can glance to my right and see one half of Bubs' body (my little black velvetty cat...coat like a mink's), the other half of him is snuggled deep into my Golden Retreiver's shag rug coat.

But I can still hear his motor going!

Bubs wakes me up every morning at dawn to be let out. Comes back like clockwork at noon, out again at 1, back at 5 pm. Same routine day after day.

By the way, I heartily recommend Science Diet dry food. It's worth the extra bucks, IMO.

[tippy]

Wellness diet food is our brand. And petguard wet...wet food is a pain but the female isn't supposed to eat dry anymore, so now it's just a treat. My friends laugh at me for giving the critters bottled water--but why would I give them something I won't drink myself? I'm glad for this thread--I thought I was the only cat owner to make perverse allowances. What a relief to be out of the closet.

[Enforcer]

Originally posted by tippy
My friends laugh at me for giving the critters bottled water--but why would I give them something I won't drink myself?

You mean you'd eat the cat food?

Holding his breath,
Larry