No good deed goes unpunished…
I am going crazy, batshit insane. I wonder if I will EVER get a decent night’s sleep again.
And it’s all because I felt sorry for a little orange kitty that was living outside, and brought him in. Do you think he’d at least be grateful? NOOOOOOO! Instead, he’s making my life a living hell.
He has this VERY annoying habit of scratch-scratch-SCRATCHING at the vertical blinds in the living room. NOTHING I do can make him stop. That room has no door, so it’s hard to keep him out of there at night. My only options are to close him in the bedroom with us, or close him in the bathroom.
Every time he scratches the blinds like this, no matter how deeply asleep I am, I SNAP awake. But usually, he does this when I am about to nod off. And poof, I’m wide awake again.
But you see, this noise does not bother Mike. It doesn’t annoy him if he’s awake, and it doesn’t wake him up when he’s asleep. Therefore, he doesn’t care if Pumpkin keeps doing this or not, and isn’t very cooperative in keeping him restrained someplace so that I can get at least a few hours of sleep.
And Mike is officially on my shitlist today. You may know how I can’t sleep without a TV on. He sure as hell knows this. I don’t mind if he turns the sound down once I fall asleep, but if I wake up and the picture is not on, I freak.
I had nodded off while watching a late-night “King of the Hill” rerun. I was suddenly SNAPPED awake by the sound of, you guessed it…Pumpkin SCRATCH-SCRATCH-SCRATCHING the blinds. How did he get out of the bathroom, anyway? And when I opened my eyes, I freaked out because the TV was off.
After I went after Pumpkin with the Squirt Bottle of Justiceâ„¢, I went and put the TV back on…for some reason, the channel I’d been watching had gone off the air, and I guess that’s why Mike turned it off. Geez, dumbass…ever heard of just changing to another channel? I don’t need the sound, I don’t care what’s on, I just need to damned picture on or else I have a heart attack.
And he’d let Pumpkin out of the bathroom, too. Jeez…how about making a little extra effort? Open door, catch cat. Go into bathroom with cat, close door, put cat down, take leak, wash hands, drink water. Pick up cat, throw him back into bathroom, quickly close door.
I am at the end of my rope here. Other than trying to re-home this cat, I don’t know what else to do. I’ve tried everything that I can think of.
I don’t want to have to go back to sleeping all day and staying up all night, but that might be the nonly way I’ll ever sleep again around here.
1Nicole
wrote on 12 January 2008 at 9:03
One word. EARPLUGS.
If it weren’t for earplugs, I would never sleep because of DH’s snoring. Not only do I use earplugs, but I sleep with earplugs and headphones plugged into a radio set to static. Oh, and let’s not forget the fan for added noise and effect.
Yeah, it’s insane, but his snoring could wake the damn dead.
2Jill
wrote on 12 January 2008 at 10:17
Ugh!! I wish I had some suggestions for you. Luna’s pretty well behaved after being shot with the squirt bottle enough times… and the time I accidentally bopped her on the nose with my finger when I was shaking it at her (as in tsk tsk tsk… naughty kitty). Ever since that happened, all I have to do is point my finger and she reacts like it is a loaded gun or something. LOL!!!
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3Kat
wrote on 12 January 2008 at 14:44
Christine, they make this stuff called apply bitter, the sell it at Petsmart and stuff. You spray it where you don’t want the cats to go, and they stay far away from it.
Or, you could place a strip of tin foil right in front of the blinds with double sided tape on top of it. When the cats walk on it, the crinkle noise bothers them, and then the double sided tape makes them freak out when it gets stuck to their paws.
Just ideas.
4Chewie
wrote on 15 January 2008 at 19:04
Our oldest cat, Gracie, has a blinds-problem, as well. Hers started as a kitten, when she wanted attention – my DH babied her (after I told him not to) and it has remained a problem, though she’s gotten much better about the blinds thing. However, she occasionally bothers the blinds in our bedroom, so I usually toss the decorative lion pillow in her direction (not hard) and she leaves the blinds alone.
I would also recommend trying the stuff that you can spray that keeps felines away – you might be able to break him of the habit. The foil idea didn’t work on our youngest kitten when he was going somewhere he shouldn’t – he just walked on it anyway. The spray, however, was effective.
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