Author Topic: Baffled by Beanie yet again  (Read 5527 times)

Offline Sue P (Paddysmum)

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Re: Baffled by Beanie yet again
« Reply #5 on: July 02, 2018, 09:20:56 AM »



I was thinking much the same as Jezebel.  Cats aren't into "punishing" their people, whatever we may think.  They're trying to get a message to us, in the only ways they know how. 

He missed you both, and he wanted some quality playtime. 

He'd probably ramped himself up during the day wondering when you were coming back, and then it pressed all his buttons at once when you did come home 

Sometimes we're not as alert to our cat's messages as they're very subtle, so then they have to make them unsubtle, cos us hoomans is a bit a slow.....  ;)

Am wondering if a cat wheel might help him to burn off some energy, if you have space in your home for one. 

Otherwise, I suspect the wand toys or interactive cats toys will be the best way to go, too.  He sounds gorgeous.  Would love to see a piccie too.   :shy:



Offline jezebel

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Re: Baffled by Beanie yet again
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2018, 08:23:36 AM »
Sounds like he gets frustrated at not being able to go into the garden when he wants, and then got a bit over-excited when you came home a bit later than usual. I doubt he was "punishing" you for being late - cats can be divas but not brats!

He obviously has tons of energy - hence the running full speed up the garden (my two used to do this when they were younger - and when we had a big garden). Living with seven cats probably meant he was kept on his toes all day, and now he's alone all that energy has nowhere to go.

You said he has toys - does he play with them? Do you play with him? Cats like this usually love pole and line toys they can chase.

Does he have a cat tree or at least a scratching post indoors? Having his own "space" will take a way some of the frustration at not being able to come and go as he pleases.

As Misa said, he seems to be a normal cat. Every cat I've known has tried to trip me up - it's a standard cat thing and no-one seems to know why they do it.

And please post a photo - I'd love to see the naughty terror.
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Offline Hikari92

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Re: Baffled by Beanie yet again
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2018, 23:51:03 PM »
Only that he was with 7 other cats in his previous home, the shelter didn't really tell us much. He was 2 kilos underweight when we got him and for a month would only eat once he was sure no one was going to take it away from him and hoovered it up in seconds. Eventually he grew out of that.

The thing is for him this isn't normal. Sure he can sometimes be a bit naughty and plays up occasionally but the hissing and acting defensive when we've done nothing to provoke it worries me. The bite was after he came over rubbing all over my hand then randomly bit which he never does.

We've tried getting him in a harness but he absolutely hates it. He is allowed in the garden with supervision and tonight was the first time he's ever tried to get out. I live on a very quiet street with many other cat owners so everyone is aware that there maybe cats about and drives very slowly. There is nothing other than houses on my road with no access to anything else so I am happy for him to be in the garden and he has a green reflective collar with ID and a microchip in case he runs off.

All his behaviour seems way more than normal thats why I was concerned because other than a little whiney when we go out and last year when I had to look after my grandmother every day so was out he had some little box issues but as soon as normality resumed he stopped that straight away.

Offline Misa

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Re: Baffled by Beanie yet again
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2018, 23:43:43 PM »
I THINK HE IS JUST BEING A NORMAL CAT AND SOUNDS A LOT LIKE MY LUPIN WHO IS ONLY ALLOWED OUT IN A WALKING JACKET AND LEAD.

IN THE HOUSE HE WILL LIBERATELY LIE ACROSS INFRONT OF MY WHEELCHAIR SO I CANT GET TO MY FOOD, HE DOESNT SEEM TO WANT ANYTHING AS HE IS NOT VERY AFFECTIONATE EXCEPT ON HIS TERMS AND WILL BITE OR NIP IF I TRY TO STROKE HIM AND HE DOESNT WANT IT.

TODAY I DIDNT SLEEP AT ALL LAST NIGHT BUT SORTA WOKE COS HE WAS PADDLING AWAY ON MY SHOULDER AND THINK HE TRIED TO CURL UP BUT NOT ENOUGH ROOM, I FELL ASLEEP AGAIN.

DO YOU KNOW THE HISTORY OF BEANIE

Offline Hikari92

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Baffled by Beanie yet again
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2018, 22:48:18 PM »
Luckily it has been a long time since I've had any real issues with Beanie. We've had him a little over a year now and we had him sort of figured out although why he feels the need to run at full speed up the garden I will never know.

The last couple of days we have been out all day but still home by his dinner time. This at the most happens a couple of times a month if that and he is used to having someone around for the majority of the day. Due to my fiancé's health issues, he's had more than one person at home for a while now and Steve is a bit soft with him so he gets away with a lot more than he used to when it was just me at home. We have seen in the past that on days where we have been out all day he can be a little more difficult than usual the following day. we put it down to he was just bored and attention seeking now we were back.

Tonight was so much worse than any other time. We left the house early this morning to get over to a war memorial park for armed forces day and didn't get back till nearly 7pm. Whenever we have to go out for the day, we make sure his litter trays are clean, he has plenty of food and has a few of his ping pong balls and some toys to destroy so he has something to do. We've recently switched to a cat fountain so he has plenty of fresh water as well. We also top up the dry food in his treat tower (catit one looks a bit like an upside down beehive) which almost always has some dry food available and in doing this he has gotten so much better with his dry food, only eating a little when he feels like it rather than emptying a bowl in about 5 minutes. He always has wet food for his meals before someone complains that he shouldn't only eat dry food.

Despite all of this, when we got in he was quite happy rubbing his head over anything he could find like he normally does coming over for head bumps and instead of a nice greeting he bit me. not hard enough to draw blood but still not the point. I say ow and make it clear im not happy with him biting but he rarely pays attention to that. Then as I was walking back into the house from sitting in the garden he runs at full speed behind me goes under my legs meaning I had to break my fall against the door frame. For this he was told no and as I just wanted to spend some time sitting down after a long day, I left him in the house and he started whining against the window. Eventually I had enough of the whining and relented and let him out and he settled down long enough for us to have dinner. Steve went in the house for something and asked him why he was whining in a normal tone and straight away Beanie hissed at him which he never does unless it involves a flea treatment. After dinner I wanted to go and sort out some bits in my car and left him in the garden. In the year we've had him he's never left the garden unless we're there and as the driveway is at the back anyway I would see if he got out. As I was sat in the car I watched him squeeze under the gap of the gate and start to run off. He's a Maine coon mix and not a small cat so I don't even know how he got under it. Steve opened the other car door and confused him long enough for me to open the gate and order him back in the house. He went back in luckily. To top it off when we came in to give him his dinner, we have a routine which we started to stop him being so impatient with his food (issue from before we got him due to being underfed and competition for meals) and also so he doesn't run into the cupboard we keep his food in. He does this normally with me but pushes his luck with Steve and this evening he seemed to not want to listen to either of us.

Honestly I am totally baffled. We've had issues of separation anxiety before which we dealt with but making sure he had plenty around to do and a plug in relaxation thing which helped and we're used to him attention seeking after we've been out for a while but this was almost like he was having a toddler temper tantrum because we had the audacity to go out. The problem is we can't be here 24/7 for the remainder of his life just because he acts like this when we go out, we don't go out a lot but I would rather not have to deal with this problem every single time.

If anyone has a clue why he's acting this way, other than being a brat because we weren't home I would love to know your thoughts and what others who have separation anxiety cats have tried to help. Worst case we can go to a behaviourist and I would rather fix this issue than just deal with the fallout because I can't stay in the house all day everyday just to entertain him.

 


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