Neurotic Pets??

Hiya,

I have had cats for some time now and have come across some really interesting personalities so far. Currently I have 2 cats - One is almost 15/male/half Maine Coon/tabby. He's a typical Coon cat...whiny, overly humanized, overly social, bundle of Coon luv with an endless appetite.

Well last year my last two senior cats died within a few months of each other (I was doing palliative care for unwanted senior kitties).

Colton (the Coon) was soooo lonely he wander around crying and yowling all night long. Lost his appetite, wouldn't follow me around the house like usual and was in general not himself at all.

I had sworn I would NOT get any more cats...we suffered nearly three months of yowling and refusing to eat and lethargy until I finally broke down and requested a foster cat (yeah right "foster"...most of my foster's found new homes but inevitably...)

So I called the rescuers and asked if they needed placement for a male, neutered cat....NO KITTENS. Immediately I was told they had a younger male desperately needing a home. His health was perfect, all shots, no nuts, and supposedly 2 years old. (supposedly!?)

Honestly I didn't even ask what "kind" of cat he was. His background was interesting, and I should have known better...

He was spotted running with the feral cats out in Langley BC...it took them SIX attempts to trap him, and once trapped he was housed with other ferals and was nearly tagged (ear clipped) de-nutted and released back into the "wild". He seemed a friendly boy so they opted to home him after his surgery.

So here I am anxiously awaiting the new family member...and out pops this god awful Red Menace of a cat. He was perfectly at home and set about immediately to finding what might a) break b) tear c) scream d) be edible...

In the first two days he broke several things. 1 vase, 2 cups, 1 lamp and shredded 2 rolls of toilet paper.

(the toilet paper must be put in a box now as he figured out how to pull them out of the bag! and he'd sit and work at the cupboard door for hours till he got it open...)

KITTEN ALERT!!! CRAZY RED CAT ALERT!!!

He terrorizes Colton...plays wayyyyy to rough, I can't leave the bunnies to run around as he'll headlock and kick them to smithereens!!

There is NO way this is a 2 year old cat (or was).

So we've Gus proofed the house. NO plants, nothing hanging anywhere near the floor (table cloths are a BIG nono), secured the rabbits (which they are quite pissed about) and constantly monitor his play with Colton (who is full of scabs from being beaten on by Gus)

He's calmed down a little bit in the year we've had him...but he has a few disconcerting "issues"...
1) he does not realize that his tail is actually part of him - he will be laying quietly watching the tip twitch (endlessly) and he'll start to growl..then he'll bite it so damn hard he draws blood, jumps straight up in the air with a big yowl and runs and hides...at least 3 or four times a month he'll do this and has many scars and scabs on his tippy tail.

2) He has ADHD. He is all over the map, rarely sits quietly for more than an hour (not at all like any cat I've seen!) Sleeps in spurts rather than all day lounging...and will drag every jesus loving toy from his toy box out and deposit them in front of the bedroom door where he play all night long. (no cats allowed in the bedroom as I am allergic). He loses track of what he's doing in the middle of everything...cleaning, eating, washing...it's wild to watch...

He is the Anti-Christ of the cat world...The Red Menace as we call him.

Naturally he's part of the weird family so we're just working with him and hoping he doesn't break anything else or shred the plant I stupidly brought into the house a few weeks ago (so far so good and thank goodness he hates the spray bottle!!)

Anyone else have a neurotic family pet?

We have a huge half-wild grey tabby, Apollo, who hugs us, putting his arms around our necks, and loves to sit with his forehead against mine, (I suspect he's reading my mind.) He's learned to meow a clear hello, and he keeps trying to teach me how to be a good cat. Today he was so frustrated because I wouldn't roll on my back in the dust with him. He made it obvious he found me dumber than a drowned kitten. His favourite sleeping place is down the front of my dress, innocently resting his cheek on one of his pillows, winking occasionally.

Apollo thinks he's human, so he will only eat at a table, picking up food daintily, using his claws as fingers. He'll drink running water from the tap, or organic milk out of a small cup.

He's extremely loving, and playful as a kitten still despite being nearly 10 years old. The trouble is his claws are huge and razor sharp, like his teeth, and when he plays he doesn't realise what damage he's doing. But we would never clip his claws because he almost flies. He runs up tree trunks and leaps so fast and far from branch to branch, often too high up to see him clearly.

He defends our house like a guard dog, and doggy style always knows when someone is due home, and waits out the front for them.

Occasionally he gets a bout of depression, and hides in a cupboard until we find him. He'll be really sad for days until we have him reassured again that he's really loved.

Originally Apollo was a gift for a son with Aspergers. Now we all adore him, and he carefully divides his sleeping time at night so he can spend some time on each of our beds. Oh, he also has very particular musical tastes. He loves old fashioned jazz and Ave Maria. If I'm playing stuff he likes at the computer, he'll nudge the headphones until I let him wear them, and I'm sure his resonant purring is his way of singing along.

WOW! I'll never complain about my cats again.
Won't say how many I have, or the crazy cat lady jokes will come into play here.
My cats have their own quirks but not any really bad behavior except jumping up on the counter. My eldest female started it, and now the others follow suit.
It burns my butt. I have resorted to spraying their furry little behinds with a water bottle when I catch them.
I have one young female, Cloe, who will put both her front paws in the food dish while she eats, and then fall asleep like that when done eating. She has done that ever since she was little. When it comes to drinking water, she dips her paw in and licks the water off.
Weird..but cute.
The worst thing any of them ever did, was just last week.
My son's cat, a 2 year old male, is very curious, and is always the one getting into stuff. Well, my son came home from work, at about 10pm, opened a can of Chunky soup, heated it up and went off to his bedroom to eat it, leaving the can on the counter.
Of course...Punkin' ...Mr. Curiosity, wants to inspect what was left behind.
I get woken up an hour later, by my other son, who just came home from work...
"Mom..I need your help..Punkin's got his head stuck in a soup can".
I kid you not. The silly thing was stuck good. I had to pull his little ears out one by one, and then we carefully but forcefully got his head out and you could hear the sound of the suction giving way as we did so.
Only thing hurt was his pride, and he sulked off to a corner.
Funny, I don't think he's been on the counter since then.