Why Does My Cat Keep Causing Havoc at Night?

[SOS2008]

That's not a cat; it's a planet with fur.

If you really want to keep a cat off of a surface such as a desk or kitchen counter, just sprinkle cayenne powder around. They can't stand it, and it's fine enough that it doesn't make the place look dirty. I don't know if it would mess up a keyboard or not, but mine is full of ashes and beer, and still works fine. To keep them from chewing on something (Lucy was determined to eat all of my computer cables), you can buy a green-apple liquid to spray on it. It was intended to put on plants, but works on anything chewable.

I also tried sprinkling cayenne in front of my home to prevent dogs "dooing" their business there--it didn't work. You're not wasting precious green apple martini ingredients are you? No, the sisterhood is not coming over to nibble your cords!

I was told to puree jalapeno to apply on my lawn/plants to keep the rabbits from eating everything, but it didn't work. It just pissed them off, and they ravaged everything even worse. I started referring to them as rabids.

I used to keep a spray bottle of water handy, set of fine stream, and could squirt my cat at pretty far distances. It was great for training him to stay of kitchen counters, etc. He would jump in shock and then run for protection from the horrible alien attack.

 

[Danger]

Wouldn't that make you sneeze if inhaled?

You're not supposed to snort it; just spread it around. Although I suppose that snorting it and then sneezing on the cat might have the same effect.

I also tried sprinkling cayenne in front of my home to prevent dogs "dooing" their business there--it didn't work.

I don't know about outdoors or dogs, but it sure kept my previous cat off of things when nothing else worked (including a water pistol).

You're not wasting precious green apple martini ingredients are you?

If you put this stuff in a martini, you have more problems than animals in your yard.

No, the sisterhood is not coming over to nibble your cords!

Rats!

 

[Moonbear]

I also tried sprinkling cayenne in front of my home to prevent dogs "dooing" their business there--it didn't work. You're not wasting precious green apple martini ingredients are you?

I really don't think any of that stuff works. That bitter apple stuff is sold for keeping horses from sucking on fences as well, but they seem to think it tastes just fine. When I used to work with deer, for a bit of extra funding, we did some consulting for a company trying to develop deer repellents (stuff to spray on your plants to keep the deer from eating them). So, we got a bunch of plants and would put them out in the deer pens and sprayed whatever they sent us onto the plants. It was good human repellent, but the deer seemed to consider it a very tasty seasoning. Some of the most vile smelling concoctions seemed to result in the deer eating the plants even faster than the untreated ones!

Though, I hope you realize that squirting your cats with water isn't going to keep them off the counters...it only keeps them off the counters when you're standing there holding the squirt gun! My step sister thought she had trained her cat to stay off the counters using that method, until I was cat-sitting for her and informed her that the moment she walked out the door, the cats hopped right up on the kitchen counter. It was pretty funny, but she wasn't very happy about it. They stayed off the counter if I had the squirt gun on the table next to me, but if I wasn't within reach of it, the little brats were right up there again.

 

[SOS2008]

I really don't think any of that stuff works. That bitter apple stuff is sold for keeping horses from sucking on fences as well, but they seem to think it tastes just fine. When I used to work with deer, for a bit of extra funding, we did some consulting for a company trying to develop deer repellents (stuff to spray on your plants to keep the deer from eating them). So, we got a bunch of plants and would put them out in the deer pens and sprayed whatever they sent us onto the plants. It was good human repellent, but the deer seemed to consider it a very tasty seasoning. Some of the most vile smelling concoctions seemed to result in the deer eating the plants even faster than the untreated ones!

Though, I hope you realize that squirting your cats with water isn't going to keep them off the counters...it only keeps them off the counters when you're standing there holding the squirt gun! My step sister thought she had trained her cat to stay off the counters using that method, until I was cat-sitting for her and informed her that the moment she walked out the door, the cats hopped right up on the kitchen counter. It was pretty funny, but she wasn't very happy about it. They stayed off the counter if I had the squirt gun on the table next to me, but if I wasn't within reach of it, the little brats were right up there again.

Between everyone (and even in the night because of shift work) the poor cat had no idea when it was safe, and he didn't seem to know where the water was coming from. But you may be right--if I could have installed a camera I may well have seen him shedding all over everything and smirking to himself.

I had a neighbor once who decided to pour bleach on her lawn as a deterrence to dogs. It killed her tree, and she was heart broken. Too bad people can't just be more responsible about their dogs.

The home with the rattle snakes, scorpions, etc. was on a preserve, so in addition to the jack rabbits, the havalena (which I called havoclenas) would eat even prickly pear cactus, and by the time I had the home for sale, I had to repair the columns of the back patio from cactus wrens trying to peck holes for nests. It was a zoo--literally! Zoobie brush, no!

Now the birds make a mess eating the olives...meh.

 

[Moonbear]

Between everyone (and even in the night because of shift work) the poor cat had no idea when it was safe, and he didn't seem to know where the water was coming from. But you may be right--if I could have installed a camera I may well have seen him shedding all over everything and smirking to himself.

Well, it might actually work better when you have multiple people in the house all enforcing the rules. With my step-sister's cat, she was the only one squirting it, so it didn't associate the countertop with getting squirted as much as it associated her with getting squirted. Her bratty kids weren't really much help when it came to enforcing rules for the cat (then again, her cat was better behaved than her youngest kid...I haven't talked to her in years, I wonder if the youngest has been to jail yet ).

I had a neighbor once who decided to pour bleach on her lawn as a deterrence to dogs. It killed her tree, and she was heart broken. Too bad people can't just be more responsible about their dogs.

Considering the kittens living under my deck (yep, they're still there, and "talking" now), I wonder the same about cat owners! Then again, the bleach idea really wasn't too bright either. We don't have any laws about cats around here, but if I saw dogs off-leash regularly, I'd be calling the SPCA to come fetch. We have too many children in the neighborhood to risk strays wandering around.

 

[Danger]

if I saw dogs off-leash regularly, I'd be calling the SPCA to come fetch. We have too many children in the neighborhood to risk strays wandering around.

In a perfect world, the SPCA would come fetch the stray kids too.

 

[Mk]

Yeah, I hate stepping in their little surpises on the sidewalk! Not to mention hitting them on the road!

 

[SOS2008]

In a perfect world, the SPCA would come fetch the stray kids too.

Since there is a list of extinct/almost extinct species, maybe we also should have a list of over-populated species, for example:

Dogs, cats
Humans
Mosquitos
etc.

 

[JamesU]

moonbears
yomammas
cronxehs
BT's

 

[Moonbear]

In a perfect world, the SPCA would come fetch the stray kids too.

 

[JamesU]

Where is my cat anyway?

 

[Danger]

Where is my cat anyway?

Goodyear is testing it to see if they can stick a camera on it and float it over the next Superbowl.

 

[JamesU]

My cat would fall faster than anything on the planet and everything would be destroyed.

I got to go to goodyear and save our planet