My cat is addicted to crack. The catnip kind.
I was telling a coworker today about how I discovered she is scratching the wall paper off of the walls in my dining room. It's a textured wall paper, so she can really grab ahold of it. Here I was thinking my awarding treats every time she uses her scratch pad was working. Guess it doesn't work so much when I'm not home to treat her.
My colleague asked if I had any catnip in the house.
Well, yeah, ALL her toys have catnip in them. So does one of her scratch pads, although it's not her preferred post.
"Jessica...you're cat's probably high off all the catnip, and that's why she acts berserk all the time!"
Well $#!t...
Here I am thinking I have saved this poor kitty's life by adopting her from the Humane Society. On the contrary, I have brought her home to a kitty crack-house!
When I discovered the wall paper being scratched off the walls this past weekend, I picked up a spray bottle at Wal Mart and filled it with water. Now we're not just practicing the I-get-a-treat-when-I-use-the-scratch-pad technique, we're also practicing the spray-water-in-face-whenever-I-do-something-that-lady-doesn't-want-me-to-do technique.
All of her catnip-crack toys have been moved into a cupboard in her litter box room - she's already tried scratching it open to get them out. Most times she gets sprayed once and takes the hint. She tried breaking in to the catnip cupboard seven times before she quit.
Now all I have to do is hold up the bottle of water when she acts out and she takes off at lightening speed.
Poor cat. She's deprived of all crack, cold-turkey, snoozing on the sofa table now where the fish used to sit. Poor Puppy has been moved to the mantle. After Kudzu started drinking the water, it was only a matter of time before she fished puppy out of his bowl...way to go ME for having that foresight!
My herpetologist sister called her feline specialist friend and he suggested a few things I'm going to try, including giving her her own room (now that I have a room to spare) full of all her toys and scratch posts, litter, food, etc. We'll see how that goes....
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