Any advice on 14month old Persians behaviour pls

[Isthisreal3]

Hi all,

Any advice on understanding my cats behaviour would be most welcome! She's a 14 month old chinchilla Persian, neutered & lives indoors. We've had her since a kitten.

I've always grown up with dogs & been very wary of cats since bitten by a neighbours cat as a child, however my children (4 and 2) were desperate so I did my research and found what I thought was a docile, amicable, lap loving breed!

The girls love kitty & she is good with the eldest... She has scratched & bitten the 2yr old but this has been in play and not aggressively. However every evening she begins her attack on me!

She waits until the girls are asleep & then pounces. If I walk up the stairs she's shoots after me, grabs a leg & bites. She corners me in the kitchen, living room, wherever I am she's poised! She's not like this in the day with me, nor in the evening with other people. She loves to be with the family, which ever room we are in she's there, if the girls cry at night she's up to their room.

Any ideas how to tame her behaviour around me as I am on my guard from coming down in the evening to closing my bedroom door at night? My husband has to distract her as I go up the stairs to prevent an attack!

Looking forward to hearing some help! Thanks

She's playing and pert of that play is hunting behaviour at that time of the evening. Do you play with her when she's in this mode? If not get a flying frenzy and laser pen and wear her out / direct her energies to less harmful play. When she bites you yelp and walk away from her and shut her out of the room. She will soon learn this isn't acceptable.

Does she have to be an indoor? We had three chinchilla Persians but they went out because they went a bit nutty as house cats.

But yes, this is classic play.

I was actually also going to ask how much you played with her. It sounds rather as if you've been nominated (by her) as her person and you're not paying enough attention to her.

She wants you to play with her. Mines exactly the same.. I'll be sitting minding my own business and she'll sit right in front of me and start clicking the rug.. then she'll wrap herself around my slipper all claws and teeth and ill get out the toy or the cats meow if I'm unable to play at that time.

I really recommend a wand toy so she can stalk and hunt it.. get her moving until she splodges on her side on the floor.

She's really not being malicious.. she's picked you.

Another one voting for the more play. Also, could you let her outside? Nerve-wracking I know, but it enriches their lives so much.

Gamer, I've been pondering the cat's meow. I got them a badda-beam, which they blanked.

It's good. Obviously not something to use all the time as they get bored of it but it comes in handy when you just can't play at that time. Uses 3 C batteries though.

Thanks, reassuring to know she's not doing it out of malice. Do cats really choose 'the one?'

I've just ordered the flying frenzy...what's cat meow?

She could be an outdoor cat, I thought the breed needed to be kept indoors? She's definitely keen on exploring outdoors as she cries and cries at the window when the dog goes out.

They can go out. You could start introducing outside on a quiet morning in the garden.

Is she microchipped?.

My mum has an indoor Ragdoll and he plays with the Cat Meow , it's the only toy that holds his attention at all - it's brilliant .

I've just googled it...we have a bag with a ball inside that rattles & moves but she's not really interested. Is the cats meow better than that?

Yes she's microchipped.

Does anyone know if it's a problem if the Persian fur gets wet if it rains? Does it get all tangled?

Does a walk on a cat lead benefit them?

Never had a problem with them being wet because we dried them and they groomed themselves so it was ok.

We tried a lead but they didn't really like it.

Thanks everyone, I'll be trying some play tonight!

Maybe I should let her out then...perhaps wait til warmer weather

I've seen cats on leads who seemed ok with it, but I've never had a cat who didn't think a lead was The Worst Idea Ever. Guess it depends on the cat/the training.

Growing up we had a persion who went out and she was fine. If you're grooming them anyway it shouldn't really be a problem. Plus if they do get matted, just clip and start again...

In terms of mitigating her playhunting, as others have suggested, toys are good. Also, when she pounces on you, if it hurts, it's not a bad idea to let her know. Nothing violent but a reasonably loud short noise - I'm an 'OI!' person but you can choose your own. And then ignore her for a moment, and/or distract with a toy.

Might sound an odd question but what are your floors made of? If you've got a hard floor anywhere you could try ping pong balls - the madcat (very much a witching hour hunter) loves to bounce them up and down the hall, they make an amazing racket and keep her going for ages, plus they're super cheap.

You don't need to wait for warmer weather. Let her out! And play with her!

Letting her out for the first time in warmer weather is good in that you can go out in the garden with her for her first time without wrapping up like an Antarctic explorer and you can leave the back door open a bit. Bad though in that warmer weather will make outside more fun and with lots of flobbly young Spring birds and mammals about to excite her.

If you decide to let her outside, I'd be tempted to offer her it now while it's cold and boring out there and be sure that inside has a nice big fire going/is toasty warm and with some delicious nosh to come back to. (Let her out when she's hungry - just before breakfast in the daylight might be good.) I'd also wrap up and go out with her briefly - it gets your smell out there more and I also have just a feeling that if they see you against the back of the house, the memory stays with them so that they remember it's theirs.

At least that way, she might get over her 'thing' about outside and realize that it may not be all it looks to be from the window. Might.

That's a good idea, she has escaped once through the garage but she just hid under my car crying.
I've ordered lots of toys so hope that will help.
Are all cats so fussy with their food? She has royal canin Persian biscuits & applaws wet food but just nibbles at it....then the dog wolfs it down & won't eat her dog food!

Little & large!

She looks like a right little madame! (Although beautiful.)

Do you have the bowls close to each other? Cats often like to come back to food - but she won't be able to if Big Boy has wolfed it down already. I've always kept the bowls well apart so that there is absolutely no confusion and given the dog a firm reproof if he tries to muscle in on it. They learn.

(Might be as well to give her smaller portions as well. Cats tend to like their food very fresh and part pouches keep fine in the fridge (or in the freezer, decanted) so that may be something to try.)

You're right she is a Madame & knows it!

I tend to feed her & then leave it down... Thats when the dog moves in & she can get up to all surfaces. I'll try little & often as you're right she only really likes it when fresh

She looks like my old cats.

Fluffycloudland...any other chinchilla traits I should be aware of?!

She's a lovely cat now I understand her play! Looks out the window for me to come home, follows the children around, purrs when I cuddle her... First cat for me so learning the ropes!

Aww, she's a fluffy ball of prettyful!

I agree about letting her out now when it's cold and not much going on in the way of wildlife to make her want to stay outdoors.

And did I say, aww, she's beautiful! I want to steal her!

When I first let my two indoor cats out I invested in a harness and retractable dog lead, was about £5 on ebay. I then went out and sat with them while they explored for a while. Did that for about a week while they got familiar with the garden. Probably didn't need to but made me feel a lot better!

Nope, they were great cats. Quiet, unobtrusive fluff balls who slept most of the day.

My cats wait for me at the bannisters because they love trying to catch me through the spindles. This is a specific game they are used to. Or pretending to hide behind a sheet and pounce on shadow of hand (we hang our sheets on the bannisters) Definitely play.

I once read that you should avoid playing games where the cat attacks your moving hand though as they think it is fun to bite and scratch. I never play that sort of game with them and they don't show any interest in our hands moving or when we are walking. Ours stopped the ankle attacking very soon after 7 months possibly because they moved onto stalking each other in the garden. Outside there is so much to entertain that they are less inclined to pretend you are a mouse! Ours went out just a little way at first. Then they got slightly too enthusiastic and used to disappear into the shrubbery - but we worked out a signal of rattling cat food to lure them back in. They would come racing down the garden the minute they heard the rattle of the dry food. So you could try it just before they are fed?

I am so used to them behaving that I was shocked how irritating it was when I tried knitting after many years of not knitting. They would not leave the ball of wool and the needles alone at 3 years old. So they still had the killer instinct just had contained it indoors!

Ferdy likes chasing scrunched up pipecleaners still across a wooden floor. The other two don't bother, although they still run up and down the stairs a fair bit.