First off lets dive right into it. Our cats love following us around, especially if we have to go to the bathroom. I know of horror stories of cats in the bathroom. Have you ever blown your nose on the toilet with a cat right there, well if you have you know the pain that follows.
It hasn't happened to me, but cats don't like loud noises, and if you happened to blow your noise while on the can, I feel sorry for you. See you are a sitting duck there, and your cat knows that, lets see how you can avoid a vicious swipe.
Well I happened to experiment with our Vernon. Lately he has been following me everywhere including the bathroom, and I am not one to do my business with someone watching. So as soon as he comes in, I close the door behind him.
Cats don't like closed doors, especially our Vernon, so as soon as I do that, he looks back at the door. The next thing I do is open it back up, and he goes on his way. It is that easy, this is not a guarantee, but worth a try if you are dealing with the same issue.
Next I have few tricks/tips on feeding your feline family member. Again I used Vernon as my test subject. Also this goes for wet food only, as we have a continuous blow of dry food in our home
So in our home we mix the wet food with some warm water. Both cats like that, an in fact Vernon loves his wet food so much that he always finishes it. Our girl Topsy not so much, but she does love the gravy.
I have gotten use to the fact that Vernon finishes the wet food so much, that on the rare occasion he doesn't, and he lets it dry up, it comes to me as a surprise. So when that happens I add warm water, and sometimes that is all he needs to finish.
Most of the time, however, I add a little fresh food before adding the warm water, and mixing it all. More often than not that works. On the rare occasion it doesn't, the thing that has yet to fail is a treat.
So I grab a treat have him sniff it, and then throw it in the bowl with the wet food. That works every time. End result is an empty bowl all the time. If you are dealing with these same issues I offer these solutions they may or may not work, but worth the try.
Vernon is a counter cat, and when he first came to us, he would jump on the counter at feeding time. Over time he learned that he would only eat, when he got off the counter, this takes discipline and patience on your part.
One last tip, and it may not be the norm, but it has worked thus far. As you probably know already, cats don't respond well to punishment. Well it has always been my go to, as it is how I was raised, and at least this method I have used has worked so far.
So Vernon lately has been bothering our girl Topsy the last few days. My fiance says it is because we are now at the 3 month mark with Vernon, and experts say that is when a cat feels the most at home.
It actually took a while for the two cats to start to accept each other, as I have documented it on this website. Before this week Vernon would still bother Topsy on occasion, but nothing like what has happened in the past few days.
Until this week I couldn't remember the last time Topsy screamed, but this week it has been multiple times a day. Finally last night I had enough, and put Vernon in the foster room, which was his first residence in this home.
The first few weeks he was let out, I used the foster room as a punishment tool, I put him in there every time he acted up. However I don't see it as a punishment, but more as a place for him to take 5 or some cases an hour. So far it has worked.
Today he attacked Topsy 3 times while I was in the bathroom. When I got out, it was straight to the foster room for an hour for him. When he got out, he was calm, even with Topsy right at the door to greet him.
So as you can see, there other ways to get your cat to do things you want them to do. Without using a reward system and clickers as most experts write about. I hope this article can help you with your feline family member as it has with mine.
