Cat Won't Stop Pawing Doors

Sorry to clarify...I have had my cat for 1 year. He's estimated to be
18 months now. I got him as a stray recovery from the humane society.
When I got him, he was already neutered and declawed. They didn't have
any paperwork on him; just that he was apparently a pet someone
abandoned...

Its more than 1 door that he's messing with. If it was just the one
door, I'd just let him in there to find out what it is. He does this
in whatever room I'm in. I've tried moving out to the couch to sleep
out there, but he does it with the main entry way door and the hall
closet door too....This was only a problem as of 4 days ago. He's been
fairly happy and well adjusted after the first week I had him (he was a
little shy/skittish when I first brought him home).

"Jill" wrote in message
oups.com...
Sorry to clarify...I have had my cat for 1 year. He's estimated to be
18 months now. I got him as a stray recovery from the humane society.
When I got him, he was already neutered and declawed. They didn't have
any paperwork on him; just that he was apparently a pet someone
abandoned...

Bless you for taking him. I am sorry he is not friendlier. He may grow
warmer in time.

Its more than 1 door that he's messing with. If it was just the one
door, I'd just let him in there to find out what it is. He does this
in whatever room I'm in. I've tried moving out to the couch to sleep
out there, but he does it with the main entry way door and the hall
closet door too....This was only a problem as of 4 days ago. He's been
fairly happy and well adjusted after the first week I had him (he was a
little shy/skittish when I first brought him home).


What is the down side to opening all the doors?

on Tue, 02 Jan 2007 19:42:59 GMT, "Jill" wrote:

Sorry to clarify...I have had my cat for 1 year. He's estimated to be
18 months now. I got him as a stray recovery from the humane society.
When I got him, he was already neutered and declawed. They didn't have
any paperwork on him; just that he was apparently a pet someone
abandoned...

He's very lucky to have you.

Its more than 1 door that he's messing with. If it was just the one
door, I'd just let him in there to find out what it is. He does this
in whatever room I'm in. I've tried moving out to the couch to sleep
out there, but he does it with the main entry way door and the hall
closet door too....This was only a problem as of 4 days ago. He's been
fairly happy and well adjusted after the first week I had him (he was a
little shy/skittish when I first brought him home).

I had a similar problem with my older cat, but it was just one door he
wanted in, a closet with double doors that didn't latch. He figured out
how to just pop them open and go in. So I tied the handles together, but
he kept trying. And trying... and always in the middle of the night. So
what I did, when he would start going at it, was to pick him up and put him
out of my room and shut the door. Next night, the same. Rinse, repeat.
Eventually he stopped trying and now I don't even have to tie the handles
together. He didn't want to be put out of my room, so he stopped. He
stays in my room all night, quietly.

I would suggest you do something similar. Wait until the offending
behavior starts, and then put him in a room where you can't hear him. Keep
doing that until he understands. It probably won't take him long. If you
can't put him far enough away to where you can't hear him, try a little
sound machine with white noise next to your bed. They are inexpensive and
very effective at masking the sounds of wild kitties in the night.

Good luck!

--
Lynne

http://picasaweb.google.com/what.the.hell.is.it/

Bookie DID YOU BOTHER TO ASK IF THEY DECLAWED HIM? You jumped the gun

I have done shelter and rescue work just like a lot of us out here have. Do
know how many furballs are brought in declawed. The shelter adopted them
out just like the other rescues.

Yes declawing is a sick process and totally barbaric unless medical
necessary but you can't believe how many people don't know what is involved
in it. IMO it should be outlawed everywhere but you can assume everyone
that has a declawed cat DID it to the cat.


"bookie" wrote in message
ups.com...

Jill wrote:
Hello, I have had my cat from over a year now. He's been declawed and
neutered since I've owned him.

why on earth did you declaw him? that is unnatural and he is probably
showing some sort of bizarre behaviour as a result of that. cats need
to scratch in order mark their territory otherwise they get very
unhappy, stressed and insecure, and obviously start to show odd
behaviour in order to work out their frustrations. I hope he pees all
over your house to get you back for it.

god, when will you yanks outlaw this barbaric behaviour? it is
disgusting, cruel and highly unnecessary. Shall i come round and pull
out all your teeth and nails for you in return? or maybe cutting your
hands off will go some way to making you people realise what it means
to be declawed.

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHH! (that's my frustration at people
stil continuing with this nasty practise just to protect their crappy
cheap furniture which is of no value at all compared to the health and
happiness of a beautiful cat)

bookie

Jill there are several ways to deal with this.

1 let the furball in or out of the carrier

2 as some one else pointed out it could be a behavioral by product of the
declawing depending on how long ago it was. but this I doubt from what I
have read so far

3 you can get them more toys to keep furball occupied

4 IMO sounds like the furball is training you for the attention that it
wants. It paws you open door and pay attention to it.

5 There are several ways to stop them from doing this take a coffee can
full of marbles when furball does it rattle that can like no tomorrow or
you can take a hair dryer and set it up by the door with an extension corded
the furball paws than plug in hair dryer pussy cat in both incidents runs
like the sky is falling most stop after second or third time If not than it
becomes death from above ( water )

6 Try setting up a scratching post maybe the door feels good to him
stretching his paws

7 Also try give him more attention some how some way earlier in the evening
cats are nocturnal sleeping up to 18 hours a day.

8 If this just started is there anything that has changed in the household
cats can pick up on stressful situation and act on it in our terms peculiar
ways. Example new furniture new boyfriend girlfriend new daily routine


Me I gave up along time ago and let them in the room and put up with the
wake up calls. If they get too bad I use the OH MY GOD VOICE and they
scatter not coming back for awhile. But like most cat slaves most of us have
become tolerant of our masters needs

Ohh pss all cats our independent dogs have masters cats have slaves


"Jill" wrote in message
ps.com...
Hello, I have had my cat from over a year now. He's been declawed and
neutered since I've owned him. He's never been affectionate towards me
expect when I first come home from work (and thats for about 5 mins).

Over the last 4 days, he's taken on a bad and very frustrating/annoying
behavior. Every late night/early morning (I'm talking about 3 or 4
am), he starts pawing on the closet door until he wakes me up then he
runs and hides. If he had claws it would be like he's sharpening his
claws in turbo mode.

The first time, he ran out into the kitchen where his bowl was and I
saw he was low on food and water so I topped his bowl off, thinking
that was his way of saying I'm hungry, then laid back down. About 20
mins later, he started it again. I sat up, he ran and hid. This will
continue until I'm up for the day; every 10 to 15 mins he's pawing a
door to wake me back up.

If it was just the one closet door, I'd think there was something in
there he wanted. However, I moved his carrier in front of the door, so
he then moved to the 2nd closet door. If I shut him out of the
bedroom, he paws the bedroom door until I wake up and let him in. If I
move out to try and sleep on my living room couch, he paws the front
door or the entry way coat closet door.

I've tried everything from giving him a light swat on the butt and
telling him no TO tossing a shoe at the wall near him (NOT at him, to
try and scare him away from the door; he runs, but comes back a few
mins later) TO putting him in his carrier (which he just paws at the
carrier door which is more annoying)....

I don't know what else to try, but I'm EXHAUSTED after being woken up
constantly...He doesn't like to play during waking hours and again he's
not an affectionate cat (very independent).

Can anyone suggest another idea? I'd love to get some sleep tonight.

Jill wrote:
Bookie, he was already declawed when I got him from the humane society.
I asked for help, not a nasty response about declawing....So RUDE!

like i said to you personally, your message implied that he had been
declawed whilst in your care and therefore it would appear to myself,
and many others reading, that you had been responsible for this
declawing, so what the hell do you expect me to say? be clearer in your
posting in future especially when referring to declawing or you will
get a sharp response from myself and a fair few other people on the
matter (am I the only person here who can actually read English?)

I am not apologising for someone else's inability to communicate
correctly

on Wed, 03 Jan 2007 00:00:05 GMT, Cheryl
wrote:

These Usenet groups have been through the declaw battle for ages,
and likely for ages to come. Our uncivilized (to animals) country
(USA) still has many people who believe that indoor cats *must* be
declawed, and some vets actually promote declawing as a service
they provide along with neutering. Two for one. Some people
honestly don't realize what the barbaric procedure entails because
vets don't tell them. It comes across as a permanent manicure.

It is much more effective for groups like this to educate rather
than berate, no matter how hard it is to hold back the emotion that
comes out when hearing that another cat was declawed. When I first
found these groups I didn't know these things. It only took a
picture of the cut-off claws for me to be mortified that I would
have ever considered having one of my beautiful cats declawed. I
feel very lucky to have been educated here.

Very well said, Cheryl. Quoting in full here because it bears repeating.

Thank you.

--
Lynne

http://picasaweb.google.com/what.the.hell.is.it/

On Tue 02 Jan 2007 07:04:11p, Lynne wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav
.97.142:

Very well said, Cheryl. Quoting in full here because it bears
repeating.

Thank you.


And, thank you. This wasn't a message to Jill because I read that
her cat was already declawed when she adopted him. That's another
thing that I hope people learn, that if they really feel they need
to have a declawed cat, there are plenty in the shelters to adopt.
The problem then is that they will learn *why* they are in the
shelters. Too many behavioral issues that come along post-surgery.
And many times, *years* post-surgery. I hope that people can learn
that cats need to be able to stretch, and they do it by hooking
their claws into something. When they have something that is
totally theirs, they learn quickly (the cat; not us stoopid hoomins
LOL) that it is theirs and continue to exercise this way. Ugh,
don't get me started. LOL

--
Cheryl

cybercat wrote:

Besides opening all the doors, you could confine him to the room farthest
away from the one where you sleep while you are sleeping. If your place is
small (or even if not), get a large HEPA filter, floor model, and put it by
your bed. The sound will drown him out. (My declawed cat did this
to magazines and windows, anything smooth. I have no idea why. I
guess I lucked out because she did not do it at night.)

Hi, remember cats have scent glands in between their toes or
therbouts...
so they are also marking

I imagine dc cats need to beat the **** out of something
@$#%$#%^#^#%$$#%$#

raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh rrrrrrrrrr

"Cat Psychologist" wrote in

Hi, remember cats have scent glands in between their toes or
therbouts...
so they are also marking

Yes. This pawing thing declawed cats do is weird, it is a
frenzied kind of thing Snidely liked to do on smooth surfaces.
Maybe trying to make her paws feel like her paws again.


I imagine dc cats need to beat the **** out of something
@$#%$#%^#^#%$$#%$#

raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh rrrrrrrrrr


Well, she used me for that. She got me with her teeth and her back
claws.