Bad kitten
Data jumps on faces. Jumps on other cats. Bites hands.
Is in the process of destroying a lily I’ve had since April 2006. It was just in the process of getting healthy again, was starting to produce three blooms. And he sat in the middle of the plant and broke several leaves and one of the flowers. I finally had to move the plant to somewhere the other cats could get at but he couldn’t: the counter.
Data has trouble jumping still, and Ziggy and Merlin use that to their advantage.
It’s funny to watch. He tries to climb up vertical surfaces using his claws and teeth. Try doing that to a wooden cabinet door. Yet he almost makes it.
Sometimes he mews at my feet at the bathroom counter, where I keep extra water. I have to pick him up and put him up there. One morning, I heard a big thud and looked and saw he had made it by himself.
But the next time, he couldn’t do it. I’ve seen Merlin jump up there twice to get away from him.
At first, I thought Merlin might be showing him how to do stuff. Like when he jumped into the bathtub. But now I think Merlin is just trying to get away from this kitten that makes his formerly hyperactive self look like a slug.
Data is fascinated by the shower and bathtub and pokes his nose in past the shower curtain at least twice every shower. He can get his paws up on the edge, of course, but he hasn’t figured out how to jump up on it yet, because he can’t use his teeth to do it.
Data likes to jump on me when I’m sleeping. He likes to jump on cats who are minding their own business.
I think he’s going to wreck everything in this house, though he’s finally figured out how to jump up the cat tree, using his teeth and claws. Between Merlin and me, we’ve taught him to use the scratching posts on the cat tree, but he also likes my book boxes.
He’s discovered Merlin’s trick on the stairs, where he jumps up from the bottom and squeezes up through as you’re trying to walk up, so you almost step on him. Great for guilt.
This kitten is smart, but he’s got me at wits end. I vaguely remember Ziggy and Merlin being bad kittens, but Data is clearly the winner in the evil department.
I think he’s really just being a kitten when he picks on the other cats. But they’ve forgotten wrestling for fun. And I forgot, over five years, what a pain in the ass kittens could be.
Entertaining, frustrating, bad.
You’ll survive. Maybe none of our stuff will, but you’re the cat lady, and will hit your stride with the kitten sooner or later.
Our experience with our new puppy has been much the same. Like human babies, it’s easy to forget how much work they are!
E.g., we have to be very careful what toys or shoes we leave lying around on the floor, or Saffron will end up chewing them up. We also made the mistake of putting her on a leash in the kitchen while we went out, one day. The leash was too long and she could just reach the edge of the living room carpet…which she promptly chewed to shreds, along with the wood on the corner of the baseboard at the doorway.
Our poor, old cat lives the life of a prisoner in her own home, now. Spends lots of time under the bed or high up on the back of a chair.
Partly this is her own fault though. She is afraid of the dog for no good reason. The dog sometimes chases her playfully, but mostly leaves her alone; yet the cat is always on edge, growling, hissing, and generally running and hiding at the first sign that the dog is interested in playing. I try to make up for the horrendous injustice of bringing a puppy into the cat’s home at this stage in her life by giving her extra attention, not to mention food treats. But it’s hard to do when she stays hidden much of the time. Also hard to do when the dog is jealous of any attention bestowed upon the cat.
We’ve definitely had to readjust to the kitten. And now he’s readjusting. Today, I saw him jump up on the bathtub. But he still sometimes misses the bathroom counter. I saw him eyeing Ziggy on top of a refuge and thought it was only a matter of time.
Matt, I feel sorry for your cat. She may be in a prison of her own making, but she’s too old and grumpy to change.
Glad you give her extra attention and food when you can.
I wish I could get inside the heads of my cats to see exactly how much they hate me for disrupting their lives with Data.
Two things strike me:
1) How much the destruction caused by a kitten pales in comparison to having a toddler (who, fortunately, can’t jump like a cat but has learned to scale the front of our big TV by climbing on to the 1/2 inch ledge just below the screen and holding on with his toes as he reaches for videos, DVDs, CDs with one hand while holding on with the other).
2) How much I really would like a kitten but will not be getting one until Lucy is a couple years old.