I have been worried about the idea of rewarding his bad behaviour. The only issue is that when he's in "plant attack" mode, he is *insane* -- literally bouncing off the walls crazy -- and the only thing that's ever really made him knock it off for more than a minute or two is exhaustion. I'll give the bathroom a try, though. Can't hurt to try, at this point!
And I like the noise maker idea. We've been using water, which he hates, but so far has only had the effect of making him cringe while attacking the plant, sneak up on the plant as if I won't notice, and/or trying to protect himself from the oncoming splash of water by putting the plant pot between him and me. Clever little thing, he is.
I sit in awe of your dedication to the continued survival of the plant.
And now another cat story from a different perspective. Some of the other Wind Tunnel Dreams are nice too, but at least a few read in ways that seem to me to have a similar feel to things that you've written that I don't know that you want to read them if that's the sort of thing that disrupts your process.
edited because I forgot to preview and missed a formatting error. grr. Sorry for the extra notification email.
Thanks for the laugh. As a recent stay-at-home writer, I fight the same battles every day. (With me, it's Poppy trying to leap across the Chasm of Doom from one bookcase to another. I've blocked her path with books, but she'll spend *hours* trying to figure out a way around my puny human construction.)
And aren't these battles so much more fun than the day job? *g*
I'm just hoping that Pony never, ever figures out how to climb the bookcases. (The very thought -- *shudder*!) Of course, he's a cat, so I'm sure I hope in vain ...
Sadly, we've been trying this. He hates water, and so cringes and tries to put the big plant pot between me and him, but is overall undeterred. Persistent little thing.
I'm trying to make him not hate his carrier (good luck, though, as we have only been using it to take him to the vet ...), but Jaime suggested locking him in the bathroom for a bit, which sounds worth a try.
We learned to be very limited with the mister bottle. It's fine when the cat is just testing us--gives the message that, no, she's still not allowed on the counter. But when the cat is unable to control herself (as when june bugs are flying into the window screen), misting her just diminishes the future value of the mister as a deterrent.
On the other hand, I do wish we'd been a bit firmer when she was a kitten. She was just so cute climbing up a pantleg when she weighed six pounds. At ten pounds, it's not so cute.
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Have you tried catnip with him yet? Some cats get very mellow. (Maggie was the opposite.)
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I have been worried about the idea of rewarding his bad behaviour. The only issue is that when he's in "plant attack" mode, he is *insane* -- literally bouncing off the walls crazy -- and the only thing that's ever really made him knock it off for more than a minute or two is exhaustion. I'll give the bathroom a try, though. Can't hurt to try, at this point!
And I like the noise maker idea. We've been using water, which he hates, but so far has only had the effect of making him cringe while attacking the plant, sneak up on the plant as if I won't notice, and/or trying to protect himself from the oncoming splash of water by putting the plant pot between him and me. Clever little thing, he is.
I'll let you know how it goes. :)
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I sit in awe of your dedication to the continued survival of the plant.
And now another cat story from a different perspective. Some of the other Wind Tunnel Dreams are nice too, but at least a few read in ways that seem to me to have a similar feel to things that you've written that I don't know that you want to read them if that's the sort of thing that disrupts your process.
edited because I forgot to preview and missed a formatting error. grr. Sorry for the extra notification email.
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And some of the Wind Tunnel Dreams are quite interesting -- and of course I can't help but enjoy the jewellery/writing combo. :) Thanks for the link!
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Good luck!
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I'm just hoping that Pony never, ever figures out how to climb the bookcases. (The very thought -- *shudder*!) Of course, he's a cat, so I'm sure I hope in vain ...
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Or put him in the cat carrier for the timeout. Nothing to eviscerate in there!
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I'm trying to make him not hate his carrier (good luck, though, as we have only been using it to take him to the vet ...), but Jaime suggested locking him in the bathroom for a bit, which sounds worth a try.
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On the other hand, I do wish we'd been a bit firmer when she was a kitten. She was just so cute climbing up a pantleg when she weighed six pounds. At ten pounds, it's not so cute.
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