Help! Obnoxious kitten is ruining everything

Nothing could possibly cause me more grief than our black-and-white kitten, which is into everything and will not settle down at night.

We have the misfortune of living with three cats in our home. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

Two of them – Ethel and Lucy – are elderly and not that much trouble. They mostly sleep when they are not demanding food, attention and petting.

But young Tuna acts as if her only purpose is to bug me and interfere in everything I do.

You’re probably wondering about her name. When she and her brother Daisy adopted us as tiny babies at our cottage, they were starving.

Daisy - named for the wild flower he kept playing with - scampered off. I opened a can of tuna for the one that hung around and she ate the whole damn thing, an amount as big as her.

I should have known then that she was trouble.

Actually, I did. I suggested leaving them in the country. My wife tricked me into believing she’d take them to a vet clinic, where they’d be put up for adoption.

You know where that went.

Daisy later got hit by a car. My wife cried for two weeks, so much that she was dehydrated.

Since then, she doesn’t like Tuna to go outside without supervision. And that’s a big problem.

At night, when everyone else is winding down, Tuna is ramping up. Jumping up is more like it.

She incessantly jumps up and down and up and down and up and down from the window sills, including the one in our bedroom, as if something big is going on outside.

It keeps me awake, so I close the bedroom door, but Tuna scratches and scratches until we let her in.

Then, up and down and up and down.

So I put her in the extra bedroom and close the door. And she scratches and scratches until she tires of it – long after us - and finally falls asleep.

She is at her vexing worst when it’s time to change the sheets.

While I’m wrestling the fitted bottom sheet over the mattress, Tuna gets under it and burrows. Then the vile purring starts.

When I flip the top sheet into the air to spread it across the bed, she lunges at it and tries to wrap herself in it.

Her sharp talons caused a three-cornered tear in the wonderfully soft old sheet that I was putting on. I almost cried.

Why is it that cats take such malicious pleasure in interfering in the making of beds? Other people have told me of similar problems.

As I write this, my bony butt is perched on the edge of my chair, while Tuna curls around my back and snoozes, resting up for another night of domestic terrorism.

When I'm trying to work, she pushes me out of my chair.

I’d put her up for adoption right now, but who’d take her?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Comments

[Raven]

You need another kitten to wear her out / keep her engaged! (No, really -- kittens are almost always best in pairs.)

However, if that's not an option, your only solution is to find alternatives for her to express her kitten-ness (all kittens go through a "crazy stage"). She needs an outlet for all this playful energy!

The best way to do this is to play with her "interactively" -- you know those "things on a string attached to a stick" toys for cats? Get one, and be sure that you are at the other end of this "magic wand". Laser pointers (not aimed at the cat), usually work well too. "Floor toys" (ones you toss on the floor) may only go so far ("dead prey" is no fun after a while).

Make it a routine every night before bed -- at least 20-30 minutes... Hopefully she will tire out enough to let you sleep.

Good luck!