water bottle? Does it work & how long?

[Fancy'smomma]

I am loosing sleep because this 1 year old cat we have developed a bad habit... scratching at the door.

Does the water bottle work & how long did it take for your cat to stop the bad habit???

I am so

[happylabs]

What door is she scratching at?

[Fancy'smomma]

we are watching her right now temporarily & we keep her in the bathroom. The door is closed but she goes to the damn door & the outside rim of the door & just scratches til someone comes in

[Karen]

It varies cat to cat whether the water bottle works at all. It is worth a try, but you could also just tack a piece of carpet over the spot so she doesn't damage the door, and the scratching noise is more muffled, and you can better ignore it! How long will you be watching her?

[happylabs]

Poor kitty. Does she have to be locked in the bathroom. I am sure she is lonely and confused.

[Freedom]

Yup, I'd think being locked in the one room is her issue, not water. She must have a water bowl in there, right? Mammals need access to water 24/ 7.

[Malibu's Mom]

Try to look at it from your cat's POV for a second. You're locked in this tiny room. You don't know that it's temporary. You don't know why you're in there, but you do know there's a big house to explore right outside the door. You're alone and extremely bored.

Do you just sit there doing nothing, or complain until someone comes along and gives you attention? I'm guessing the latter. You can try a few different things - I would use Feliway spray in the entire room, including on the door, and I would also use a Feliway diffuser. You might try introducing a calming supplement into her diet - there are many on the market.

Make sure she has everything she needs in there - plenty of fresh water, food, a litter box, and LOTS of things to enrich her. When I have to keep a cat in a room, I make sure they have a scratching post, a nice big cozy bed to hide in, a box or a cube to play in, dozens of toys, access to a window to look out of, a radio to keep them company, etc. If they walk well on a leash, I'll take them for a decent walk every day.

Please don't punish her with a squirt bottle or be mad at her. She's just doing what comes naturally.

[Fancy'smomma]

Try to look at it from your cat's POV for a second. You're locked in this tiny room. You don't know that it's temporary. You don't know why you're in there, but you do know there's a big house to explore right outside the door. You're alone and extremely bored.

Do you just sit there doing nothing, or complain until someone comes along and gives you attention? I'm guessing the latter. You can try a few different things - I would use Feliway spray in the entire room, including on the door, and I would also use a Feliway diffuser. You might try introducing a calming supplement into her diet - there are many on the market.

Make sure she has everything she needs in there - plenty of fresh water, food, a litter box, and LOTS of things to enrich her. When I have to keep a cat in a room, I make sure they have a scratching post, a nice big cozy bed to hide in, a box or a cube to play in, dozens of toys, access to a window to look out of, a radio to keep them company, etc. If they walk well on a leash, I'll take them for a decent walk every day.

Please don't punish her with a squirt bottle or be mad at her. She's just doing what comes naturally.

Forgive me I did not explain everything. We are watching this cat & we have another cat at home. The times that this new cat has been out, the two cats always have fought. I don't know when my friends are coming back but until then, these two cats can't get along.

Please forgive me from the sounds of it, its just that I put a cat in a room. That certainly is not it at all. I take her out and play with her in my bedroom for most of the day anyway.

[Malibu's Mom]

Forgive me I did not explain everything. We are watching this cat & we have another cat at home. The times that this new cat has been out, the two cats always have fought. I don't know when my friends are coming back but until then, these two cats can't get along.

Please forgive me from the sounds of it, its just that I put a cat in a room. That certainly is not it at all. I take her out and play with her in my bedroom for most of the day anyway.

That's alright! I did see that you were watching the cat and that it was temporary. I figured there was a reason why you had to keep her in there, too. There's nothing really wrong with keeping a cat in the bathroom. It isn't ideal, but we can't always keep cats in the most ideal environment. I have a cat in the bathroom right now, actually, but she has kittens so she's pretty busy.

I've actually kept cats in that sort of situation, so I know how frustrating it is to keep them both separated and happy. If it's possible, maybe you could section off part of the house for the new kitty with baby gates? I cover the baby gates so they can't see each other. Some cats jump over them, some respect them. It's about 50/50. Anything is worth a try to save your sanity!

Feliway can help a lot with fighting kitties, too, by the way. Here's an article I always recommend to help people with this issue - here it is. It has some training techniques that help get cats used to each other.

I really hope you can solve one of the issues. And I also hope your friend will come back soon to pick her up so you can get back to your normal life!

[Fancy'smomma]

Thank you. It helped