FOILED, AGAIN!

In an effort to keep the cats off of our kitchen counters, and after trying numerous products and a variety of methods, we hit upon one that is a sure-fire success.

Foil! Yes, sheets of aluminum foil.

It’s cheaper, easier, and handier than anything we’ve tried, except maybe for the spray bottle filled with water we keep on the counter. (Though the spray bottle had little effect in keeping them off.)

It is simple. Just place a sheet of foil on top of each counter area you do not want them to walk on. (I covered all of our kitchen counters as I do not appreciate cat hair on a counter where I prepare our food.) Most cats do not like the feel of the foil under their paws and will try anything to avoid stepping on it. So make sure you choose foil that is wide enough to prevent them from walking around the edges of it.

We also discovered that cats do not like the sound of foil being shaken. It bothers their ears and most will run from the sound. Hunter and Calypso ran from the room when I was moving the foil to a different area.

Since it worked so well keeping the cats off of our counters, I decided to put it to the test under our Christmas tree. I wrinkled each piece up a bit and placed it around the tree. The two cats immediately had to come and inspect it. Hunter gingerly put out his paw to check and see what it was. Upon contact, he drew back his paw, turned around, and with tail high in the air, he trotted off. Calypso decided this was not for her and followed after him. Later Hunter tried again to see if he could sneak around and lay down under the tree. No such luck. He finally left in frustration. Now he sleeps nearby, but leaves the tree alone.

It may not be a “pretty “solution, but it works. So if you’re having problems with your cats, --- counters, Christmas tree, or whatever, --- give it a try and see how it “foils” their efforts.

New guest blogger: Special K

Last night, my husband and I were sitting in the living room, watching TV. I happened to look over just in time to see our kitten walking across the living room. (Is ‘walking’ really the right term for what a cat does? It sounds a little too bourgeois, somehow…)

Anyway, our little girl calmly strutted over to where the dog was lounging on the sofa (his head lolled over the side of the cushion, looking too much like a lower-life-form for her taste, apparently), sidled up as if she was going to rub along the edge of said sofa, then pounced straight into the air, launching a two-second, crazy-paw attack on the poor guy’s face. As our 60-pound black lab sat up, bewilderment etched all over his still-sleepy features, our 5-pound kitten pranced away, trailing smugness like a royal robe.

“Mission accomplished.”

Actually, this was one of Patches’ more focused efforts of the night. Usually it doesn’t seem like her insanity has any goal whatsoever.

About five minutes after the “dog incident”, there she came again, sauntering across the living room. My husband watched until she got right in front of him, then stuck his foot out with a sharp hisssss. If you’re wondering, this occurs nightly… hubby vs. the cat. The cat always acts like it’s the first time he’s pulled this trick; hubby always laughs like he’s never seen her reaction. Sigh…

Come to think of it, he has a lot of fun giving that cat grief. Our sofa and loveseat are set at right angles to each other, with plenty of room to walk between. Patches used to love getting herself all wound up, and then go racing around in circles—jump up on the loveseat, run across the back, jump off the arm, land on the arm of the other, go racing across the back of the sofa, onto the ground, beeline for the loveseat, repeat.

One night, my husband was sitting in his usual spot—right in the corner by the arm that Patches lands on—when she started going into her frenzied one-kitten routine. She made one round, then came around for lap number two. Racing across the back of the loveseat in a blur of fur, she sprang across the gap between the sofas… and ran headfirst into what my husband tells me is termed a “stiff-arm”. My husband had put up his hand at the exact right moment, exact right height, and she slammed into it like a fly hitting a windshield. I’m surprised dear hubby didn’t pop something, he was laughing so hard. Her look of utter disdain and then apparent lack of concern as she started preening herself were pretty funny though.

It happened the next night too. After that, much to hubby’s chagrin, Patches now refuses to jump over that gap, no matter how much someone coaxes or bribes. She just looks at you like “what do you think I am, stupid?” and goes via floor instead.
Of course, don’t get me wrong: hubby and that cat have something special going on. (Don’t let him know I told you though, he’s got this whole “I’m a dog-lover” thing he wants John Q. Public to see.) But guess whose lap little kitty curls up in when she’s done batting at the dogs or chasing... whatever it is that only she can see on the floor? Guess who loves to rub her until she’s purring louder than an outboard motor? Those two were made for each other.

Speaking of love, guess who else kitty curls up with, when hubby’s lap isn’t available? It’s amazing that huge dog never crushes her! Maybe last night she was just annoyed that he was sleeping when she wanted to play.

To Claw or Declaw?

With all of the controversy brewing across the country concerning this issue, I felt the need to put in my two cents. Should you declaw your cat? Is it cruel to do so?

I’ve shared my life over the years with many animals, including a variety of cats. We’ve had housecats and barn cats, and even fostered several cats. Each have come with their own personality and quarks, and most have been “clawed cats,” while a few were “declawed cats.”

Sharing life with these wonderful creatures has taught me many things, amongst them is that there are certain times when certain cats may possibly need declawing.

In discussing this with pet owners, one of the reasons that they felt they should have their cat declawed was to stop them from tearing up furniture, rugs, or wallpaper. They had tried many other ways to avoid having to do this procedure, but found that none of them had solved the problem. I believe that owners should try all the methods they can before declawing their pet.

In researching this further, I found that some cats were eventually declawed for the safety of others. This was for the safety of not only the humans they lived with, but also for the other pets in the home that the cat had badly clawed. Some had finally chosen to declaw their cats, while others had to give them up to new homes, or even to the animal shelters.

Let me give you an example of one owners’ story:
An older woman who adopted two kittens, siblings, both of whom she loves very much, had been dealing with a problem for the past two years. As the kittens grew, one sister was very loving and purred around everyone she met for attention. Her sister, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with anyone, including the owner. This woman had learned to respect this cat’s wishes, but hoped the cat would come around as time went by. The woman had them both spayed, but this didn’t help the disposition of this second sister. This cat took every opportunity to severely scratch anyone that came with in a few feet of her, especially the older woman. Even if the woman was doing something as simple as changing the sheets on her bed, the cat would attack her from beneath it and claw up her legs until they bled profusely. This became so bad that the woman had to go to the emergency room for stitches. She had tried talking to her veterinarian, pet store employees, on-line help, anything that might help her with this cat, but nothing worked. In a desperate move, the woman eventually took her veterinarian’s advice and had the cat declawed. At first, the cat tried to claw the woman as it had in the past. Over time it gave this up and began to allow the woman to approach and touch her. Now the cat gets along much better with the woman and her sister cat. And can do all the things her sister can do, even without claws.

I would advise and agree with others, when you find you must absolutely declaw a cat; use a reputable veterinarian who uses pain meds and make sure you prepare everything needed for your cat before it comes home from the vet.

Is it cruel to declaw a cat if it becomes absolutely necessary, as in the case of the woman above? I believe it is a much better alternative to giving it away, or even worse, having it put down.

Oranges Peels & Christmas Trees

You’re probably wondering what orange peels have to do with Christmas trees? I wondered this myself when I first heard of it. Orange peels can be used for lots of things. From making sink disposals smell fresh and clean to keeping mosquitoes off by rubbing the peels on your skin or mixing them with water to form a handy spray. You can toss them into a warm bath or dry them to add to a potpourri. But did you know that you can use them to keep your cat away from your Christmas tree and the gifts beneath it? Why, because cats do not like the smell of oranges.

The ever curious Hunter and Calypso love to get into everything. You’ve heard the saying, “Curiosity killed the cat.” It’s a wonder that these two rascals are still alive and kickin’. They believe that the entire content of our home was put there for them to explore and conquer. So when we put our Christmas tree up, they were there to help supervise the project. Everything had to be sniffed over and approved by them before it was put into place. After the tree was up, they went ‘round and ‘round, circling it in an effort to plan their attack. Keeping an eye on them, my sons and I quietly prepared three oranges.

We lightly scraped the peels of two of the oranges with our thumb nails, then pressed several cloves into each orange as a decoration. The third orange we peeled and then tore the peelings into several pieces. We placed one orange on each side of the tree and circled the orange peels in a line around the edges of the tree’s skirt. We stepped back to watch.

The cats, having been chased away for the tenth time, came bounding up to the tree only to come to a screeching halt a few inches from the tree’s skirt. Extending their necks as far as they could, they sniffed at the peels, wrinkled up their noses, and backed away. Calypso held up her nose in the air and wandered off, pretending she could care less. Hunter determinedly circled the tree over and over again in an attempt to find a way through the barrier. It took him several times of this before he finally gave up.

We are happy to report that our Christmas tree stands safe and secure for the paws of prying cats. At least for now. Too bad this doesn’t deter young children!

Cats Can Amaze You…Part Two

Meet Calypso, the other cat in our amusing duo. She sports a sleek, solid dark-grey fur across her entire body with the exception of her tail, which is covered with slightly darker rings running its entire length. She is every bit the female, from the quiet way she pads around the house to the way she sits and daintily preens herself. One might look at her and think “what a sweet little thing,” and they would be right, but that is only one side of her. Hang around long enough and you’ll soon discover her secret life: that of a thief!

You probably think that people “our age” are some what odd to keep stuffed animals around, but we do. There, our secret’s out. Our office is sprinkled with the fuzzy little critters adorning our desks and shelves. They fill the room with joy and just plain fun. But that suddenly changed several weeks ago.

I’d walked into our home office to prepare my notes for the day only to discover my beautiful stuffed moose, a treasure I’d brought back from Sweden, in a mangled heap on the floor, one leg slightly chewed on. Before then, it had been sitting serenely in its place on a shelf across from my desk. A moment later both our cats strolled into the room. When questioned about their involvement in the matter, Hunter purred around my legs as Calypso continued on to her food dish.

From then on it became a daily occurrence to find the poor moose stuffed between bookshelves, hiding behind the trash can, or resting below the desk. There was no where I could put the moose that it wouldn’t be moved. Finally, I retired it to the closet, not once witnessing the offender.

My husband’s stuffed Catbert became the thief’s next target. The same things happened to poor Catbert that had befallen my moose! After a time, Catbert had to be retired to the top drawer of our filing cabinet. Still no thief caught in the act. One by one all the other stuffed animals in the room became targets, each one also chewed on, until only a single black teddy bear with red hearts on its paws remained out. This sat securely snuggled between the filing cabinet and my husband’s computer monitor. Over time, it had been pushed back so far that we’d forgotten it was there, but the “thief” knew and it became its undoing.

One afternoon, not long after my husband had returned from work, he went about checking his e-mail. He was not more than five minutes into this when a dark object streaked into the room, landed on his desk, plunged between filing cabinet and monitor, and just as quickly flew to the floor. My husband and I both turned to see our little thief, Calypso, sitting on the rug, bear in teeth. Setting the bear down on the rug before her, she looked quietly up at us. We questioned her concerning this unladylike behavior, but she just smiled back up at us. This thief wasn’t talking!

Amazing Cats!

I’ve lived with many different cats through out my life, and they’ve done some strange and outstanding things, but nothing quite like the ones we now have. These two are quite a pair, together and individually.

Hunter, our large grey and black striped male, has decided that it is his job to let us know when the phone is ringing, as if we are not aware of this contraption and the noise it makes. When the phone rings, he jumps up to where I keep it in my home office on an old desk next to where I write. He then continues to circle the phone, meowing until I answer it. Job done, he jumps down and goes about his business.

Recently, when I was out of the office, the phone continued to ring and ring and then stopped before I had a chance to return. When I came back, I found that Hunter had not only jumped up to where the phone was madly ringing, but he had decided to answer it for me as well. There sat the receiver off the hook lying next to the phone. (I keep a corded phone in my office as it works much better near my computer.) This has happened several times since, to the point where I’ve had to place the phone in the top drawer of the old desk to keep it from his “helping paws”. So far he has left it alone, at least until he figures out how to open drawers that is.