I'm Going to Go Insane with this beast

I can't sleep and I'm very angry and I don't know what to do. I am not
getting along with my girlfriends cat at all. This all JUST happened
recently. Every night for the past 2 months he has been waking me up
at anywhere between 4 and 6am. Last night I slept for 4 hrs max. It
makes me very irritable. Also I am a type 1 diabetic and when my sleep
is ruined for a consecutive length of time like this, it affects my
blood sugar. It's like having a baby - with no reward, because he
gives nothing to me, no comfort and no affection and no interest. He
is not a kitten, so I don't think he will 'grow out of it'. He is a 5
year old, 25 lb. monster the size of a small dog. He does not play as
much as we try to play with him. He will not sit on your lap. He shows
zero affection. He runs away from mice. He rubs his ass on the sheets
after going to the bathroom and there are **** stains on the sheets
and the rug. His only interest is food. But even when I leave him
plenty of food overnight he is insufferable. He demands that I wake up
- and that is the end goal - not to play, not to feed, not to do
anything. Before he used to knock things over, especially glasses of
water off the nightstand. Then he stopped. Then he started opening the
curtains to let the sun in, and walk all over me. Now he is still
opening the curtains but also eating plastic, trying to make noise,
etc. etc. Leaving food out has caused a bug problem in our house -
yet, a roach will crawl a millimeter away from him and he will do
nothing. De facto he has actually increased the roaches. Every night
for the past 6 weeks minimum I have been getting up in the middle of
the night - every night - and I feel like hell. Locking the door to
the bedroom only makes it worse - then he gets really loud and will
NOT shut up. If I get up to feed to him - he will nibble for a second
and that's it. Sometimes I get up and the bowl is full. He just wants
me awake. I never did anything to him. I tried to be friendly. We
treat him well. We give him treats and toys. He does not care for the
toys though. He has a scratching post, yet the records and other
scratchables are 1/2way destroyed. I am ****ed. I don't want to live
like this. He is turning into a giant pain-in-the-ass, and I hate
myself for saying this but I am starting to hate him and I don't want
to but how can I make him act more decent for crying out loud??? HELP
ME!!!

John Doe wrote in m on 09
Feb 2004:

I can't sleep and I'm very angry and I don't know what to do. I am not
getting along with my girlfriends cat at all.

I know you're frustrated, but the more I read your post, the more I
giggled.

This all JUST happened
recently. Every night for the past 2 months he has been waking me up
at anywhere between 4 and 6am. Last night I slept for 4 hrs max. It
makes me very irritable. Also I am a type 1 diabetic and when my sleep
is ruined for a consecutive length of time like this, it affects my
blood sugar.

Anything that has changed in the last 2 months, or was that when your GF
got him? Have you guys put him on a diet and he is hungry at night?

It's like having a baby - with no reward, because he
gives nothing to me, no comfort and no affection and no interest. He
is not a kitten, so I don't think he will 'grow out of it'. He is a 5
year old, 25 lb. monster the size of a small dog. He does not play as
much as we try to play with him. He will not sit on your lap. He shows
zero affection. He runs away from mice.

If you are going to stay in good graces of your Gf, you are going to need
to win over this cat. What kinds of toys have you tried? I have a
very large overweight cat who doesn't like to play much but I've found
recently that he LOVES playing with Da Bird interactive toy. His eyes get
big and he will waddle after it, forgetting that he's afraid of the other
cats for a while.

He rubs his ass on the sheets
after going to the bathroom and there are **** stains on the sheets
and the rug.

Yup yup.. this is a sign of an overweight cat that can't clean himself;
Shadow does this, too. I have to get his butt shaved at the vet to keep
poop from sticking to him. It stops the butt dragging for a while. You
have to keep up with it, though.

His only interest is food. But even when I leave him
plenty of food overnight he is insufferable.

This is why he will never lose weight. He *will* get used to regular
meals. I feed mine (fit and fat alike) 2 meals per day. You might have to
close your bedroom door in order to get some sleep but it is do-able.

He demands that I wake up
- and that is the end goal - not to play, not to feed, not to do
anything. Before he used to knock things over, especially glasses of
water off the nightstand. Then he stopped. Then he started opening the
curtains to let the sun in, and walk all over me. Now he is still
opening the curtains but also eating plastic, trying to make noise,
etc. etc.

Yes, mine *did* do this too. You need to find a way to tire him out at
night before you go to sleep, do you have any cat trees? If he's sedintary
it might take a little work to get him active, but if you get him a LITTLE
active at night, it will help to tire him out. Does he have a playmate?

Leaving food out has caused a bug problem in our house -

Another reason to get him used to regular meal time. Feed, preferably
canned food if he likes it, leave for 30 minutes and refrigerate the
leftovers. Eventually he will learn that food is not left 24/7. This
doesn't mean make him starve if he doesn't eat (not only is this cruel for
a cat used to food 24/7 and it might have to be done gradually, but it can
cause horrendous health problems for an overweight cat -- hepatic
lipidosis)

yet, a roach will crawl a millimeter away from him and he will do
nothing. De facto he has actually increased the roaches. Every night
for the past 6 weeks minimum I have been getting up in the middle of
the night - every night - and I feel like hell. Locking the door to
the bedroom only makes it worse - then he gets really loud and will
NOT shut up.

Is there a room he can be in during the adjustment period? You will need a
room where you won't care about carpet scratched up at the door jam.

If I get up to feed to him - he will nibble for a second
and that's it. Sometimes I get up and the bowl is full. He just wants
me awake.

He is bored.

I never did anything to him. I tried to be friendly. We
treat him well. We give him treats and toys. He does not care for the
toys though. He has a scratching post, yet the records and other
scratchables are 1/2way destroyed. I am ****ed. I don't want to live
like this. He is turning into a giant pain-in-the-ass, and I hate
myself for saying this but I am starting to hate him and I don't want
to but how can I make him act more decent for crying out loud??? HELP
ME!!!

I think he is sensing that he is bringing about this emotion. Changes need
to happen and they CAN happen. Ask us questions. Try some suggestions.
For every negative you have for each suggestion, we can offer counters.
This can be resolved! There are way worse cats out there, trust me!!!
There are many of here who will walk you through any obstacle you
encounter, and we'll tell you what you're doing wrong. Up for it? )


--
Cheryl

Trapped like rats. In a chia-pet.
MIB II

John Doe wrote in m on 09
Feb 2004:

I can't sleep and I'm very angry and I don't know what to do. I am not
getting along with my girlfriends cat at all.

I know you're frustrated, but the more I read your post, the more I
giggled.

This all JUST happened
recently. Every night for the past 2 months he has been waking me up
at anywhere between 4 and 6am. Last night I slept for 4 hrs max. It
makes me very irritable. Also I am a type 1 diabetic and when my sleep
is ruined for a consecutive length of time like this, it affects my
blood sugar.

Anything that has changed in the last 2 months, or was that when your GF
got him? Have you guys put him on a diet and he is hungry at night?

It's like having a baby - with no reward, because he
gives nothing to me, no comfort and no affection and no interest. He
is not a kitten, so I don't think he will 'grow out of it'. He is a 5
year old, 25 lb. monster the size of a small dog. He does not play as
much as we try to play with him. He will not sit on your lap. He shows
zero affection. He runs away from mice.

If you are going to stay in good graces of your Gf, you are going to need
to win over this cat. What kinds of toys have you tried? I have a
very large overweight cat who doesn't like to play much but I've found
recently that he LOVES playing with Da Bird interactive toy. His eyes get
big and he will waddle after it, forgetting that he's afraid of the other
cats for a while.

He rubs his ass on the sheets
after going to the bathroom and there are **** stains on the sheets
and the rug.

Yup yup.. this is a sign of an overweight cat that can't clean himself;
Shadow does this, too. I have to get his butt shaved at the vet to keep
poop from sticking to him. It stops the butt dragging for a while. You
have to keep up with it, though.

His only interest is food. But even when I leave him
plenty of food overnight he is insufferable.

This is why he will never lose weight. He *will* get used to regular
meals. I feed mine (fit and fat alike) 2 meals per day. You might have to
close your bedroom door in order to get some sleep but it is do-able.

He demands that I wake up
- and that is the end goal - not to play, not to feed, not to do
anything. Before he used to knock things over, especially glasses of
water off the nightstand. Then he stopped. Then he started opening the
curtains to let the sun in, and walk all over me. Now he is still
opening the curtains but also eating plastic, trying to make noise,
etc. etc.

Yes, mine *did* do this too. You need to find a way to tire him out at
night before you go to sleep, do you have any cat trees? If he's sedintary
it might take a little work to get him active, but if you get him a LITTLE
active at night, it will help to tire him out. Does he have a playmate?

Leaving food out has caused a bug problem in our house -

Another reason to get him used to regular meal time. Feed, preferably
canned food if he likes it, leave for 30 minutes and refrigerate the
leftovers. Eventually he will learn that food is not left 24/7. This
doesn't mean make him starve if he doesn't eat (not only is this cruel for
a cat used to food 24/7 and it might have to be done gradually, but it can
cause horrendous health problems for an overweight cat -- hepatic
lipidosis)

yet, a roach will crawl a millimeter away from him and he will do
nothing. De facto he has actually increased the roaches. Every night
for the past 6 weeks minimum I have been getting up in the middle of
the night - every night - and I feel like hell. Locking the door to
the bedroom only makes it worse - then he gets really loud and will
NOT shut up.

Is there a room he can be in during the adjustment period? You will need a
room where you won't care about carpet scratched up at the door jam.

If I get up to feed to him - he will nibble for a second
and that's it. Sometimes I get up and the bowl is full. He just wants
me awake.

He is bored.

I never did anything to him. I tried to be friendly. We
treat him well. We give him treats and toys. He does not care for the
toys though. He has a scratching post, yet the records and other
scratchables are 1/2way destroyed. I am ****ed. I don't want to live
like this. He is turning into a giant pain-in-the-ass, and I hate
myself for saying this but I am starting to hate him and I don't want
to but how can I make him act more decent for crying out loud??? HELP
ME!!!

I think he is sensing that he is bringing about this emotion. Changes need
to happen and they CAN happen. Ask us questions. Try some suggestions.
For every negative you have for each suggestion, we can offer counters.
This can be resolved! There are way worse cats out there, trust me!!!
There are many of here who will walk you through any obstacle you
encounter, and we'll tell you what you're doing wrong. Up for it? )


--
Cheryl

Trapped like rats. In a chia-pet.
MIB II

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
John Doe wrote in m on
09
Feb 2004:

I can't sleep and I'm very angry and I don't know what to do. I am not
getting along with my girlfriends cat at all.

a lot snipped, throughout

If you are going to stay in good graces of your Gf, you are going to need
to win over this cat. What kinds of toys have you tried? I have a
very large overweight cat who doesn't like to play much but I've found
recently that he LOVES playing with Da Bird interactive toy.

Seconding the recommendation of Da Bird. Sold through Drs. Foster & Smith,
for one place. My cats have all loved Da Bird. Thank goodness replacement
feathers are available - they've gone through several of them.

He rubs his ass on the sheets
after going to the bathroom and there are **** stains on the sheets
and the rug.

Yup yup.. this is a sign of an overweight cat that can't clean himself;
Shadow does this, too. I have to get his butt shaved at the vet to keep
poop from sticking to him. It stops the butt dragging for a while. You
have to keep up with it, though.

The OP might also want to get his gf's cat's anal glands checked (at the
vet), in case that's what's leaking, besides just leftover poop. If the
anal glands need expressing, they could be leaving brown stains on the
sheets, or wherever the cat's sitting.

He demands that I wake up
- and that is the end goal - not to play, not to feed, not to do
anything. Before he used to knock things over, especially glasses of
water off the nightstand. Then he stopped. Then he started opening the
curtains to let the sun in, and walk all over me. Now he is still
opening the curtains but also eating plastic, trying to make noise,
etc. etc.

My first cat used to put a paw under the bedroom closet's door & rattle it
back & forth in the door jamb. Another cat used to tip the wastepaper
basket over just a little - enough for it to rock back & forth on the
floor - cla-clunk, cla-clunk... Another one used to repeatedly tap me on
the face w/ her paw. Presently, neither one is performing wake-up calls,
though; thank goodness. ;-)

I never did anything to him. I tried to be friendly. We
treat him well. We give him treats and toys. He does not care for the
toys though.

You could try really simple stuff like small pieces of crumpled up paper or
tissue paper for him to bat around, empty cardboard boxes, & empty paper
bags (no handles, though - cats' heads can get caught in carrier handles).
He may actually like stuff like that better than 'real' toys.

Cathy

--
"Staccato signals of constant information..."
("The Boy in the Bubble") Paul Simon

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
John Doe wrote in m on
09
Feb 2004:

I can't sleep and I'm very angry and I don't know what to do. I am not
getting along with my girlfriends cat at all.

a lot snipped, throughout

If you are going to stay in good graces of your Gf, you are going to need
to win over this cat. What kinds of toys have you tried? I have a
very large overweight cat who doesn't like to play much but I've found
recently that he LOVES playing with Da Bird interactive toy.

Seconding the recommendation of Da Bird. Sold through Drs. Foster & Smith,
for one place. My cats have all loved Da Bird. Thank goodness replacement
feathers are available - they've gone through several of them.

He rubs his ass on the sheets
after going to the bathroom and there are **** stains on the sheets
and the rug.

Yup yup.. this is a sign of an overweight cat that can't clean himself;
Shadow does this, too. I have to get his butt shaved at the vet to keep
poop from sticking to him. It stops the butt dragging for a while. You
have to keep up with it, though.

The OP might also want to get his gf's cat's anal glands checked (at the
vet), in case that's what's leaking, besides just leftover poop. If the
anal glands need expressing, they could be leaving brown stains on the
sheets, or wherever the cat's sitting.

He demands that I wake up
- and that is the end goal - not to play, not to feed, not to do
anything. Before he used to knock things over, especially glasses of
water off the nightstand. Then he stopped. Then he started opening the
curtains to let the sun in, and walk all over me. Now he is still
opening the curtains but also eating plastic, trying to make noise,
etc. etc.

My first cat used to put a paw under the bedroom closet's door & rattle it
back & forth in the door jamb. Another cat used to tip the wastepaper
basket over just a little - enough for it to rock back & forth on the
floor - cla-clunk, cla-clunk... Another one used to repeatedly tap me on
the face w/ her paw. Presently, neither one is performing wake-up calls,
though; thank goodness. ;-)

I never did anything to him. I tried to be friendly. We
treat him well. We give him treats and toys. He does not care for the
toys though.

You could try really simple stuff like small pieces of crumpled up paper or
tissue paper for him to bat around, empty cardboard boxes, & empty paper
bags (no handles, though - cats' heads can get caught in carrier handles).
He may actually like stuff like that better than 'real' toys.

Cathy

--
"Staccato signals of constant information..."
("The Boy in the Bubble") Paul Simon

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
Cathy Friedmann wrote in
on 09 Feb 2004:

You could try really simple stuff like small pieces of crumpled up
paper or tissue paper for him to bat around, empty cardboard boxes, &
empty paper bags (no handles, though - cats' heads can get caught in
carrier handles). He may actually like stuff like that better than
'real' toys.

I have a good feeling about this. When you have an impossible cat and
start to make a difference, or start to make friends and they pick up on
that and behavior starts to change, an impossible bond forms and I bet
these two will become friends.

I hope so - for all 3 involved.


Cathy

--
"Staccato signals of constant information..."
("The Boy in the Bubble") Paul Simon

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
Cathy Friedmann wrote in
on 09 Feb 2004:

You could try really simple stuff like small pieces of crumpled up
paper or tissue paper for him to bat around, empty cardboard boxes, &
empty paper bags (no handles, though - cats' heads can get caught in
carrier handles). He may actually like stuff like that better than
'real' toys.

I have a good feeling about this. When you have an impossible cat and
start to make a difference, or start to make friends and they pick up on
that and behavior starts to change, an impossible bond forms and I bet
these two will become friends.

I hope so - for all 3 involved.


Cathy

--
"Staccato signals of constant information..."
("The Boy in the Bubble") Paul Simon

Cathy Friedmann wrote in
on 09 Feb 2004:

You could try really simple stuff like small pieces of crumpled up
paper or tissue paper for him to bat around, empty cardboard boxes, &
empty paper bags (no handles, though - cats' heads can get caught in
carrier handles). He may actually like stuff like that better than
'real' toys.

I have a good feeling about this. When you have an impossible cat and
start to make a difference, or start to make friends and they pick up on
that and behavior starts to change, an impossible bond forms and I bet
these two will become friends.

--
Cheryl

Trapped like rats. In a chia-pet.
MIB II

Cathy Friedmann wrote in
on 09 Feb 2004:

You could try really simple stuff like small pieces of crumpled up
paper or tissue paper for him to bat around, empty cardboard boxes, &
empty paper bags (no handles, though - cats' heads can get caught in
carrier handles). He may actually like stuff like that better than
'real' toys.

I have a good feeling about this. When you have an impossible cat and
start to make a difference, or start to make friends and they pick up on
that and behavior starts to change, an impossible bond forms and I bet
these two will become friends.

--
Cheryl

Trapped like rats. In a chia-pet.
MIB II

"John Doe" wrote in message
m...
| I can't sleep and I'm very angry and I don't know what to do. I
am not
| getting along with my girlfriends cat at all. This all JUST
happened
| recently. Every night for the past 2 months he has been waking
me up
| at anywhere between 4 and 6am. Last night I slept for 4 hrs
max. It
| makes me very irritable. Also I am a type 1 diabetic and when
my sleep
| is ruined for a consecutive length of time like this, it
affects my

Here are some suggestions:

7. Yes, for your own health you must finesse this problem which
can be quite dangerous for a Type 1 diabetic to not get proper
sleep and then perhaps sleep too much, yes?

6. How old are you and how old is the cat, may I ask?

5. It's good that you are asking. Is the cat healthy? When was
the last time the cat was seen by a vet? Is the cat obese? Does
he waddle? 25 pounds is obese unless a huge Main coon cat or some
such.

4. You are getting stressed out. What you are experiencing is
typical and a major problem for cats, that is, "behavior"
problems because people don't do a little reading on what to do
with cats. The cat is probably getting freaked out by something
and there are some good suggestions here. Most cats are sent to
shelters because of problems just like this.

3. "Clicker" training or a book on how to teach a cat tricks.
This is crucial for the both of you. It will exercise his feline
brain and yours and improve the quality of life. Right now, this
cat is a high school drop-out, he needs some education. If you
can train the cat, maybe 1 trick a month, then, THEN, you are
learning how to communicate with the cat, which must be by
"trickery" for you cannot punish a cat. They don't get
punishment. You have to out-smart the little bugger. I am amazed
that my cat still does the tricks I taught her. It's there for
the future. She'll come on command and allow leash and harness. I
am getting lazy but she still allows me to harness her up if
needs be.

2. A laser light to see if he will chase the light for some real
exercise. They are cheap now. Best Buy has one for $13 which uses
AAA and is much better than the button battery type which wear
out fast. Not dangerous but don't shine in the eyes.

1. If the cat is obese, it can get diabetes, just like people, so
a little more discipline and reading about cat feeding. As the
cat gets sicker or more prone to disease, like urinary tract
infections if obese and dry cat food all the time, then your life
will be triple hell.