# Cats do things they shouldn't when I leave the room



## MourningPalace (Nov 16, 2013)

Hey,

First time cat owner here: I've got two kittens, both with very different personalities. One's really outgoing and loves to sit on you, lick your nose, run after a laser pointer. The other is very cautious about everything, he won't sit on me and won't play with the laser pointer. They're about 7/8 months old.

Anyway, I'm getting a bit frustrated because they can't be trusted in a room by themselves - As an example, if I'm in the kitchen they might try once to jump on the work top. I'll pick them up and put them on the floor and they won't bother again.

If I leave the room however, the moment I go back in the kitchen they're on the worktops! I can understand that, however, they then see me and _jump off as quick as they can_! So they clearly know that they're doing something they shouldn't be!!!!

It's got to the stage where the kitchen door remains shut when no one's in there and they have to sleep in the hallway at night because otherwise they jump on every surface my room and knock everything down. What is a big house which I thought they'd be able to run around has become very limiting for them.

I do feel sorry for them because it must be quiet lonely in the hall and the lively one will happily sleep on my bed with me but the other wakes me up at stupid times knocking things down! In the end I have to take them both out.

Can anyone give me any suggestions what I could do? If they know they shouldn't be doing it why are they still doing it?! How can I stop this?

Thanks!


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## lymorelynn (Oct 4, 2008)

Welcome to the world of cat slavery - lesson one, you don't own a cat 
Your kittens are doing what comes naturally to them, investigating and exploring and even when they know it's not really allowed they just can't resist the opportunity. If you don't want them on the work surfaces the only way to stop them is to shut them out.
It won't do them any harm to sleep in the hall, assuming they have the run of the house in the daytime. You will find that they will settle down in time - are they neutered yet? A good session of play and a meal at bedtime may help them to settle at night.


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## gskinner123 (Mar 10, 2010)

Unless you want to make life really miserable and frustrating for yourself (and your cats) I think the best option is remove anything breakable that they can knock down, etc, and just get into the habit of wiping down/disinfecting your worktops before you use them. You'll drive yourself nuts otherwise.

And they don't *really* know they're doing wrong just because they jump down when you walk into the kitchen - they've just come to associate you with "off the worktop".


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## dougal22 (Jun 18, 2010)

MourningPalace said:


> Hey,
> 
> First time cat owner here: I've got two kittens, both with very different personalities. One's really outgoing and loves to sit on you, lick your nose, run after a laser pointer. The other is very cautious about everything, he won't sit on me and won't play with the laser pointer. They're about 7/8 months old.
> 
> ...


Welcome to the joys of cat slavery.

In a nutshell, by denying them access to places will just give you a headache. Your best option is to clear clutter/breakables away, resign yourself to having a minimalist home and let the cats just go where they please.

It will make them happier and your life will be a lot less stressful


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## MourningPalace (Nov 16, 2013)

Thank you all for getting back to me!

They're not neutered yet - Hopefully in the next month or so.

They do get to go around the house providing we're in and going in the same rooms! If we're at work they don't unfortunately as we don't know what they're going to do. We used to wake up to find tea spoons in their food bowls and kitchen sponges hidden in mysterious places before we made the decision to keep them out of the kitchen at night. I thought "Nah they'll be fine" earlier and left the kitchen open. After an hour I wondering why they hadn't found me yet (they're not pretty clingy) and I went to check up on them to find things all over the floor, that's what drove me to join this forum!

I hadn't really thought about it as though they had associated me with getting off the worktop - I thought they had put it together that they shouldn't be on the worktop at all in the first place!

Unfortunately I don't think it's really possible to make the home too minimalist as it's a rented house with 4 of us so I can't tell everyone to put everything away! guess I'm just going to have to be even more patient. Do you think neutering them would help?

Here's a picture of them both


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## gskinner123 (Mar 10, 2010)

I fondly remember the days of ornaments, house plants, being able to leave a sandwich alone for two minutes, clothes that stayed on the airer for two seconds...


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## dougal22 (Jun 18, 2010)

MourningPalace said:


> Thank you all for getting back to me!
> 
> They're not neutered yet - Hopefully in the next month or so.
> 
> ...


Neutering may help to calm them down, it may not. However at 7/8 months they need to be booked in ASAP to curb any further issues occuring.

Are they same or different sex? If they're opposite, the female needs to be done first as boys can remain fertile post op for a period. Please get them neutered soon.


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

gskinner123 said:


> I fondly remember the days of ornaments, house plants, being able to leave a sandwich alone for two minutes, clothes that stayed on the airer for two seconds...


Oh those were the days ,I still have a "near naked" Welsh Dresser 3 years after Meeko started to use it as a cat tree  and anything breakable of any value is still safely stored behind a cupboard door 
I actually quite like having Meeko up on the units etc that way I know where he is and it saves me tripping over him


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## gskinner123 (Mar 10, 2010)

buffie said:


> Oh those were the days ,I still have a "near naked" Welsh Dresser 3 years after Meeko started to use it as a cat tree  and anything breakable of any value is still safely stored behind a cupboard door
> I actually quite like having Meeko up on the units etc that way I know where he is and it saves me tripping over him


Sometimes they never grow up do they? 

Every once in a while I glance round my lounge and think why does it look so uninviting and uninspired in here? Then I remember. It looks like someone has packed everything away, bar the big stuff, ready to move out.


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## gskinner123 (Mar 10, 2010)

Come to think of it, how do some cat owners manage to have a home that's adorned with at least a few decorative 'bits and pieces' ? I know they do, because I've seen the evidence in photos! Anything and everything is fair game here - if it's not accidentally knocked off then it's obligatory to push it off. And then trash it.


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## dougal22 (Jun 18, 2010)

gskinner123 said:


> Come to think of it, *how do some cat owners manage to have a home that's adorned with at least a few decorative 'bits and pieces' ? * I know they do, because I've seen the evidence in photos! Anything and everything is fair game here - if it's not accidentally knocked off then it's obligatory to push it off. And then trash it.


I have no idea! My cats are total hooligans. So many of my 'treasures' have been broken. One of mine, the little brown monster who I call 'the dark destroyer' even chewed all of my earrings that were hanging on a lovely vintage looking earring holder (he broke the holder as well).

Neutering didn't help him calm down. He's naughtier than ever


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## Jonescat (Feb 5, 2012)

Or you could try the Rococo approach (sort of opposite to minimalism). Load every surface with things that either wobble when walked on (eg piles of books) or are spiky and uncomfortable (we have kept Lego dragons on top of some of our cupboards for years, and for a while had eggboxes on the top of the speakers). Choose an old house with wonky walls so that pictures never look straight anyway. Treat space and flat surfaces as the enemy


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## Wiz201 (Jun 13, 2012)

My mum has a cat like that who loves to knock everything off, I'm sure he does it on purpose


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

gskinner123 said:


> Come to think of it, how do some cat owners manage to have a home that's adorned with at least a few decorative 'bits and pieces' ? I know they do, because I've seen the evidence in photos! Anything and everything is fair game here *- if it's not accidentally knocked off then it's obligatory to push it off*. And then trash it.


Meeko's favourite is the "mum are you watching me" yell as he gently and deliberately,slides his chosen treasure right up to the edge of a surface and then as soon as I walk in the room off it goes on to the floor,watched by a very happy boy :001_rolleyes: It probably doesn't help that I find it funny  :lol: :lol:


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## korrok (Sep 4, 2013)

My house is pretty much exactly as it was before the cats came to live here, and when I lived at home with cats we had stuff everywhere on surfaces too. No problem! I guess you all have vandal cats.  They do knock over some little things on my desk like pens etc when they are walking over to me but that's just me having a cluttered desk.

However, when they are KITTENS you'll want to put away anything breakable till they're a little older. The most important thing to think about is safety. Don't worry about the worktops, worry whether you have knives or sharp utensils on the worktop, or anything else unsafe - keep those cleared out the way when you're not around. If you can move furniture to stop them jumping on high things you really don't want them to be on top of, do so - it can be as simple as moving a chair a few inches. 

Don't worry about locking them in the hallway at night as long as they have their bed, water and can get comfortable. Instead, establish a bedtime routine so that they know that nighttime is sleep time. A good vigorous interactive play session (e.g. with Da Bird or the Flying Frenzy toys - they are amazing!), a feed, then down to bed. Soon they'll learn that's time to sleep through and being in the hall won't matter a jot.


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## spotty cats (Jul 24, 2012)

gskinner123 said:


> Come to think of it, how do some cat owners manage to have a home that's adorned with at least a few decorative 'bits and pieces' ?


Blu-tak. It holds down everything on my mantle, the cats climb and walk up there and nothing moves 

Someone posted this in another thread recently
Quakehold! 88111 Museum Putty Neutral - Amazon.com


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

Actually it does sound like these two cats are bored. They need a lot of interactive play from their humans at that age (at any age really) and they need it on a routine basis, because cats do best with routine.

Play with them before you leave for work. Play with them when you get home from work. Play with them before you go to bed.

Feed them a healthy canned diet, no dry food. Learn to read labels and avoid foods with lots of artificial things, any sugar any corn, any dyes. Diet plays a very large role in behavior.

And yes, please do get them neutered. I'm surprised you aren't smelling their pee yet, at that age. Nothing worse than the smell of tom cat pee. Hope they are both males, because if you have an intact male and an intact female both over six months old, you are looking at kittens in the making.


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## Satori (Apr 7, 2013)

gskinner123 said:


> Come to think of it, how do some cat owners manage to have a home that's adorned with at least a few decorative 'bits and pieces' ? I know they do, because I've seen the evidence in photos! Anything and everything is fair game here - if it's not accidentally knocked off then it's obligatory to push it off. And then trash it.


:lol::lol::lol: the only unbroken ornaments we have left are glued down with unibond 'no more nails' after the kittens laughed at blu-tack and they still try to push off the, now immovable, objects. Pushing things off shelves is just the most fun they seem to have and if I put the objects back they immediately shove them off again. I guess from their point of view they have trained me to play fetch.


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## cava14 una (Oct 21, 2008)

gskinner123 said:


> I fondly remember the days of ornaments, house plants, being able to leave a sandwich alone for two minutes, clothes that stayed on the airer for two seconds...


Oh me too My boys are nearly 17 months and can be total hooligans.

I bought them a nice water fountain and had to give it away because they took it to bits and flooded the floor:

They take the drain covers out of plug holes and use them as curling stones on the tiled floor:001_rolleyes:

If I leave a magazine or newspaper lying it's shredded in seconds. I still have ornaments which are stuck down with blutac.

They clawed the phone wire and cut my phone off twice!!!

Here are the little dears


Don't be fooled by them 2 mins later they were battering seven bells out of each other:biggrin:


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## Cookieandme (Dec 29, 2011)

As mentioned you need to stop worrying, If I out April on the floor every time she got on the worktop I wouldn't get anything done. This was a few weeks ago.



And this happens every time I make their food.



I know some will be horrified at this but I live on my own and haven't been ill, good wipe down regularly

April likes to sit on the microwave and last night I heard something being knocked off, I went in later to find a large book on the counter, she obviously wanted more space


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## Dave the Brave (May 27, 2013)

I love your barrier of cans between the food and the cats 

Baby Dave is always up on the counters in the kitchen. 

It's motivated me to do the washing-up far more regularly.

I just let him get on with it and a quick wipe-down with bleach before I prepare human food. We're all still alive and healthy ^_^


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## Cookieandme (Dec 29, 2011)

Dave the Brave said:


> I love your barrier of cans between the food and the cats
> ^_^




If only a few tins would stop her 

This is the result of opening a cupboard this morning


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

Dave the Brave said:


> I love your barrier of cans between the food and the cats
> 
> Baby Dave is always up on the counters in the kitchen.
> 
> ...


I'm sure you are aware but just incase some one reading this isn't,be very careful using bleach it is toxic to cats .


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## Dave the Brave (May 27, 2013)

No .. I wasn't aware.

I thought that plain diluted bleach/water was safe!


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## sarahecp (Aug 22, 2011)

I have cat/kitten proofed the house, nothing is left out that is breakable or a danger to them, all wires and cables are housed in cupboards, charging cables are always put away. As the saying goes, prevention is better than a cure 

I'm a bit of an OCD clean freak but do allow the boys to go on the worktops, I always give them a good clean down when they get off and before preparing food. The thing is cats will do what they want to do, not what we want them to do 



gskinner123 said:


> I fondly remember the days of ornaments, house plants, being able to leave a sandwich alone for two minutes, clothes that stayed on the airer for two seconds...


I remember them too 

About 4 years ago I left a cooked joint of beef cooling on the worktop under one of those little nets that look like tents, Frank could always be trusted not to touch anything if it was covered, went for a shower came downstairs and the beef was gone, the strange thing was there was no sign of any meat or juices on the worktop or floor and it was cooked to medium rare  I think the culprit was Frank's little friend he used to invite in to eat his dinner


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

Dave the Brave said:


> No .. I wasn't aware.
> 
> I thought that plain diluted bleach/water was safe!


If you use a weak solution and make certain that the surfaces are dry before cats walk on them then they should be okay,I just prefer not to risk using it at all,Meeko goes loopy with the smell of bleach


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## ljs85 (Jun 2, 2012)

I tried the whole - off the worktops - idea.... unfortunately nobody got the message:





Give in


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

Dave the Brave said:


> No .. I wasn't aware.
> 
> I thought that plain diluted bleach/water was safe!


Use white vinegar instead. Just as effective, and safe. I am a raw feeder also and I use white vinegar.


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## Cloudygirl (Jan 9, 2011)

Welcome to the world of cats I had a vase in the window when I first had my boys they managed to knock it across the room and get water in my convector heater and nearly set fire to my house.

They also smashed my cake stand, tea pot and opened my kitchen cupboard and got their treats out


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## moggiemum (Mar 28, 2013)

hi, im not sure how big your kitchen is but you could maybe have a perch for them to sit on and watch you doing things in there , its surprising how quick they learn, my boy loves to sit on the tall pedal bin and watch me cookng, i have to wait till he gets off before i can put anything in there, lol,

also in the front room , its helps if have their own shelves up high just for them , and extra tall trees too

i know its rented property so not a lot you can change


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## welshjet (Mar 31, 2011)

This is Lilly when I turned my back one day










This is also her favourite thing as well 










The more you try and stop them the more mischievous they are


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## kryten22uk (Dec 9, 2012)

Do you guys have to shut the cats out of kitchen while preparing and eating food? Our cat used to respect our presence and only go on countertops when we were out of the kitchen, but would always scarper before or when we returned. She never wanted to sit on the worktops (she has plenty of fave high vantage points) she purely does it to scour for food. 

But now she will jump up on worktops whilst we're preparing food or onto the table while eating dinner. Its very annoying. I dont like having to shut her out as its sad, bit there's becoming to be no choice. I dont know what to do to teach her boundaries other than to shut her away. She's never been fed from the table, nor the worktops, but she obviously knows that there is food there, and she wants it!


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Sounds as though she is often hungry if she has changed her behaviour that much.

I'd say feed her before you start preparing food and eating a meal, and then she won't be interested in your food.


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## Jannor (Oct 26, 2013)

Mine will jump off worktops when I appear too. I can live with them doing it when I'm not around - at least I know hobs aren't on then. When cooking, they're shut out. 

Yesterday I had people round so I put cats in run until 2 which tired them out, brought them in and fed them and they slept in bedroom until 9 pm so everything went smoothly


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## kryten22uk (Dec 9, 2012)

chillminx said:


> Sounds as though she is often hungry if she has changed her behaviour that much.
> 
> I'd say feed her before you start preparing food and eating a meal, and then she won't be interested in your food.


I would say that rather than her behaviour changing, its just "developed" as she's grown up. Shes only 18mths old, and shes just more confident in her actions since 12mths.

She seems to have a food/weight problem though. She's always been fed an appropriate amount (as agreed by vet), 200g per day of NaturesMenu wet food, which is way lower than the guide on the side of the packet. But slowly shes just getting fatter, and is never full up. Shes now 5.5kgs (BSH).


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

An 18 mth old BSH is still growing and as long as she is growing she is going to have a bigger appetite. 200 grams a day doesn't sound a lot to me for a growing cat. I would have thought 250 grams at least. 

But then again, if you are worried she is getting overweight I understand you don't want to feed her more. Is it just Natures Menu she eats? No dry food or dry treats? No cat milk etc? No table scraps? Cos, sometimes it is the "extras" that cause a weight problem rather than the basic diet. 

Nature's Menu is about average amongst the better quality wet foods for its fat content, so it may not be the NM that is to blame. But if it were me I would want to be trying her on some different wet foods, (as well as the NM) to see whether a more varied diet might help. e.g. Catz Fine Food, Grau or Animonda Carny from Zooplus, or Macs or OmNomNom from The Happy Kitty Co. 

Also, if she is an indoor cat, is she getting plenty of exercise every day? Do you get her running around using up calories, and does she have several tall cat trees to climb etc? I used to have 2 BSH (RIP) and the female did have a tendency to become a little overweight in the winter, but both cats were so active in the summer, on the go, outdoors a lot, that the weight just fell off come Spring.


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## kryten22uk (Dec 9, 2012)

She used to be on 270g, but the vet told me some time ago to reduce to 200g. She doesnt get anything extra but doea get the usual scraps. But not enough to constitute a meal size.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

I find some vets seem obsessed with weight, but in fact these days the experts say it's "body condition" that's more important than actual weight.

Pro Plan

One of my cats is quite tubby, but there is no way I would cut back his rations, as he loves his food and gets upset if he feels hungry.


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## Jannor (Oct 26, 2013)

Post pics - the BSH experts will give you advice on weight.

Vaguely remember someone else with a BSH posting in the last month about weight - vet said it needed to lose weight. BSH breeders on here said it was fine. Vets don't know every single breed and what they should be like!


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

Overweight cats have the same risk of certain diseases as over weight people. 

Diabetes and heart disease, to name two. 

And higher risk for feline hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease) if they should get sick and not eat. They are also more prone to urinary tract disorders. And don't forget about arthritis, extra weight puts unusual stress on their joints and spine.


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

kryten22uk said:


> She used to be on 270g, but the vet told me some time ago to reduce to 200g. She doesnt get anything extra but doea get the usual scraps. But not enough to constitute a meal size.


"the usual scraps" can contain huge amounts of calories. What are the "usual scraps" your cat gets?


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## kryten22uk (Dec 9, 2012)

Jannor said:


> Vets don't know every single breed and what they should be like!


You'd expect them to know about the popular/common breeds such as BSH though?


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## kryten22uk (Dec 9, 2012)

OrientalSlave said:


> "the usual scraps" can contain huge amounts of calories. What are the "usual scraps" your cat gets?


Hmm. Its actually difficult to calculate given how spurious it is. But its generally limited to the odd bit of chicken or ham leftover on a plate, and occasionally a thumb size piece of toast. Nothing that I'd traditionally associate with fatty excess, and its not every day. I'll keep a note to help me understand.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

kryten22uk said:


> Hmm. Its actually difficult to calculate given how spurious it is. But its generally limited to the odd bit of chicken or ham leftover on a plate, and occasionally a thumb size piece of toast. Nothing that I'd traditionally associate with fatty excess, and its not every day. I'll keep a note to help me understand.


When you say "spurious" I assume you mean as it's not food designed to be fed to cats you can't calculate how many calories it contains. A rule of thumb is that any carbs or fat (such as toast spread with butter) are fattening to a cat if eaten quite frequently. Especially if the cat is bordering on being overweight anyway.

Chicken cooked for human consumption has probably been seasoned with salt etc, and ham certainly contains salt, and salt is bad for their kidneys.

If you want to give treats to your cat it really is safest to stick to giving a crumbled Thrive or a Cosma Snackie as they are dried protein, nothing more.


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## kryten22uk (Dec 9, 2012)

chillminx said:


> When you say "spurious" I assume you mean as it's not food designed to be fed to cats you can't calculate how many calories it contains.


Ah, I meant spurious as in not routine, and certainly not every meal, or even every day.


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## Citrineblue (Sep 28, 2012)

chillminx said:


> I find some vets seem obsessed with weight, but in fact these days the experts say it's "body condition" that's more important than actual weight.
> 
> Pro Plan
> 
> One of my cats is quite tubby, but there is no way I would cut back his rations, as he loves his food and gets upset if he feels hungry.


I have to say we are so lucky with our vet, i took Monty for a year check and i fully expected a discussion on his weight but she said he was perfect. Perfect condition and size being a Selkirk who leans towards the BSH side. She is also of the younger generation happy to say keep going with what we are doing without fully contradicting the two full older partners regarding Raw.


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## auspiciousmind (Sep 2, 2012)

kryten22uk said:


> You'd expect them to know about the popular/common breeds such as BSH though?


You'd be surprised...
One vet says Romeo is "Overweight and we need to be careful" another says "He's a big cat.. he's not overweight at all"

One vet says Button is "Underweight" and another says "She's just a tiny female"

Same practice!

In regards to cats doing things they shouldn't when you leave the room.. I'm pretty sure that is a cats motto lol.

Romeo even takes it as far as to do it right in front of your face while watching you for a reaction.

I tried SOOO many things to stop him from getting on to the worktops... I even collected 2l bottles of lemonade/coke etc took the labels off and filled them with water and lined them up on my kitchen worktop!! :lol: My grandad was a bird breeder at one point and he used this method to 'discourage' neighbors cats!

I've tried lining my worktops with foil, spraying with water... Everything. Now I just try to keep the cats out of the kitchen when I'm cooking or just insure I wipe down the sides before preparing food every time. If a cat has a worktop habit I don't think it ever goes away! lol.


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