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Why do cats always stare at people?

My cats are ruining my life!

  • I can't take it anymore. My cats are plotting my death. Please help me keep my sanity, my cats, and my apartment. I've had my two cats, since they were kittens, for the last two years. They are the friendliest and best behaved cats as far as people-cats interactions go. What they both fail at is furniture-cats and life-cats interaction. They are both indoor cats, and they are suffocating me. They have pretty much taken over the living room, I am afraid to be in it, because I start losing my mind every time I see another kitty-made fluffy dust bunny. 1. They shed. They shed no matter how much I brush them. They shed everywhere, on everything. What can I do? Anything at all? 2. They are not vertically challenged. They have no fear and they jump on every cabinet, on every counter top, on top of the oven, on top of whatever they please. My kitchen and livingroom are one and the same. I don't want to think about how much cat hair I must've ingested. Lately, one of the cats thinks it's awesome to jump on top of the fridge and stare at me while I'm washing the dishes. Is there anything I can do to keep them from jumping on top of every surface? 3. One of them cries for me every night. I don't let him in the bedroom because he sheds. And he lays down in front of the closed door and cries, and cries, and cries. He's been to the vet, there is absolutely nothing wrong with him except he's needy, spoiled, and doesn't want me to get any sleep. When they were kittens I used to spray them with water and that seemed to work well as far as disciplining them. But that requires me to be there when they do something "bad" and they will just try doing whatever it is later, when I am not around. Plus, I feel pretty silly chasing them around with a spray bottle and trying to say "No!" without laughing at the same time. Please help me, I really don't want to have to choose between my sanity and my cats.

  • Answer:

    This is exactly why I don't choose to have a cat right now - although I've had them most of my life. That being said - regular vacuuming will keep the cat hair at bay - I mean every couple of days vacuuming - trust me, you'll feel a lot better. If you don't have time to vacuum, you might get a maid service in once a week for a very quick "dusting and floors" only cleaning. My favorite solution to the cat outside the door issue was given here on the green a while ago - it was basically putting a vacuum cleaner outside your bedroom door. You run the cord into your bedroom and plug it into a power strip next to your bed. Turn the vacuum on and the power strip off. When the cat starts its shenanigans, you just reach over and hit the switch on the power strip for a second. I don't think it will take long for a cat to get the message with this method. You'll only be able to keep them off of horizontal surfaces that you guard continuously. It's not worth it - just keep the breakables off of the mantel and some good kitchen wipes handy for the counters. Good luck...remember...you love kitties!

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My cats will destroy the Roomba! How? By staring at it from the top of the fridge? Maybe you meant your post to sound silly for fun, but, really, your post sounds silly. Did you get two cats without having any idea that they shed and jump and climb? Get a Roomba, so you don't have to think about vacuuming. Enjoy the fact that your cats are agile creatures instead of fat eating machines. Play with them. Build something for them to climb on. Stop being so melodramatic.

oneirodynia

[squares shoulders, clears throat] Um, I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but these are the facts of life. Dogs have masters. Cats have staff. You think the cats live with you. They think you live in their apartment. You complain that they shed. Yeah, cats do that. You observe that they are not vertically challenged. You're correct. You complain they want to sleep with you. Isn't that cute, and affectionate of them? You want to "discipline" them. As if they will bend to your will. You think they do bad things. They are just being cats. Such being the cat facts of life, I think you would be better off with a dog. One that doesn't shed much. One that will worship you as his master, will want to please you, and can be trained to do as you want.

exphysicist345

I hate to say it, because it may not be what you want to hear, but you simply may not be a cat person. I, too, had a couple of cats, and I loved them to pieces while I had them. Now that I don't have them, I couldn't possibly imagine having cats again, and dealing with all that hair and the furniture clawing and the litterbox, etc... Why? I loved my cats, but I'm really just not a cat person. The things that drive me up the wall are things that a cat person barely notices. Similarly, a cat staring at you from on top of the fridge would, to a cat person, be considered cute. I think you just don't have the cat owner temperament, especially if you'd rather have your cat howling at your door all night than sleeping in the room with you.

shmegegge

My cats will destroy the Roomba! Cats have been attacking Roombas since the dawn of time. (What, you don't base years off of the creation of the Roomba? I've been doing it since 2 A.R.) The Roombas survive. For that matter, at this point I'm pretty sure iRobot treats "Must be able to survive moderate pet attack" as a basic design requirement. And hey, maybe they'll just treat it as their http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ-jv8g1YVI

Tomorrowful

Shedding- another vote for the Furminator, lots of sticky lint rollers, and a hand held vac with a revolving brush.

kimdog

A friend of mine swears by putting things on the edges of surfaces her cats jump up on. Things that will fall down or be knocked into the floor when the cat jumps up, but won't damage the floor or the cat. Like a plastic jar filled with beans - something like that. Cats don't like sudden, loud noises. They learn that when they jump up to a specific spot, it makes an unpleasant sound, and they eventually stop. They will jump up other places, though. Key is to let them be cats by giving them places they can jump or climb up to, whilst giving yourself enough space to be able to cook dinner safely. You have to decide what space you're willing to hand over to them. Oh, and the hair - vacuum with a HEPA filter, daily if necessary, and keep brushing them. Cat hair is just a fact of life, particularly if you have two cats.

Grrlscout

get a roomba?

Another vote for the FURminator and a handheld vacuum with a rotating brush. If you have wood floors, running a swiffer over them every couple days is easy and takes care of a lot of the cat hair.

TrialByMedia

When my dog's shedding seemed out of control, our vet recommended http://www.3vcaps.com/, which have nice omega-3's and fish oil and other goodies for dry skin. This seemed to help reduce the Fur Tumbleweeds around the house from almost-sentient life forms to more manageable dust bunnies. Ask your vet about this product, or other dietary supplements/changes. Do you bathe them regularly? I know some cats hate baths, but one of mine sorta likes baths, and that helps get loose fur off too. However, if you're bathing too much, or with shampoos that may be too harsh, you may be exacerbating the problem. Rubber gloves are great for wiping loose hairs off upholstered surfaces. The type of brooms they use in hair salons (example http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000RFDAQE/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/, but I got mine at Target) are excellent for pet hair also.

SuperSquirrel

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