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Old September 16th 03, 08:38 PM
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First of all, stop being so mean to your cat. Yelling at him, chasing
him and squirting him will not work (as you seem to have figured out)
and it's abusive.

This poor cat has, until recently, spent his whole life sleeping with
you and cuddling, and it stands to reason that having that suddenly
taken away is upsetting to him. Punishing him so severely and cruelly
for what is an appropriate reaction is unfair and wrong. If this were a
child I would hope you would approach this with KINDNESS and
UNDERSTANDING, and work with him in a way that eases his anxieties about
the change and use positive measures to make the change easier.
I would suggest that you make the hour before bedtime a special time for
you and your cat. Play with him, snuggle him and give him lots of
attention. Give him that to look forward to as an alternative to
sleeping with you at night. You should also, for now, put a tall
scratching post next to your door. Once you go to bed, don't respond to
his scratching the door AT ALL. No getting out of bed and chasing him,
no yelling, no squirting. Wear earplugs if you must, but stop getting up
and negatively reacting to him. Just like children, cats will sometimes
settle for negative attention rather than nothing at all.
It may take a few days or more, but if your cat doesn't get a response
to his scratching behavior he will stop the scratching and settle down
for the night. Just remember that the key to getting a cat to do what
you want is to BE KIND.

Megan



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