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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

Sponge Cat's version of Cutted-Up Pear

27 replies

SpongeBobJudgeyPants · 03/01/2021 06:47

Anyone remember that thread, where the OP's toddler had been asked how he wanted his pear, and he wanted it 'cutted up', then went into an absolute screaming hissy fit because she had, indeed, cut it up?

Well, Spongecat has a variation on that, kind of. Please make me feel better with your versions. Despite having a quite expensive cave house, she insists on sitting on top of it, squashing the beejaysus out of it. So, I unsquash it, bash it back into shape, and she does it again. Rinse and repeat. So I tried to think like a cat. Cat house is by the radiator. So I put a cushion by the radiator, with speshul blankie from the cat house (has paw prints). Cat says no, and goes back to squashing cat house, which is now about a yard further from the radiator. The other day she was so intent on being on it, despite knocking a shrink wrapped copy of the Radio Times on top of it, she was sleeping on the magazine on squashed house. So yesterday I decided to have another Unsquash, when Spongecat had left it for a bit. I was mid-pummel when she returned, and leapt on it. We had a comedy few seconds as I tried to lift her off it to finish the job, and she clung on for dear life like a cartoon cat on Tom and Jerry. Most unimpressed. Although the house is currently unsquashed, and she has slept in, and presumably been much warmer in our not very warm house, I am not expecting this to last. Later this morning it will have been 24 hrs, which will be a record, if we make it. What does yours do, that is absolutely batshit?

OP posts:
Original poster
SpongeBobJudgeyPants · 03/01/2021 11:19

Everyone else's cat completely sane then? Grin

OP posts:
Toddlerteaplease · 03/01/2021 11:31

Cheddar will beg for titbits but then won't eat them unless she is hand fed them.

Redact · 03/01/2021 11:39

My cat took 3 years to use her cat cave. She refuses to go in it if I Hoover the cushion or wash it. She loves a certain cat food/treats then suddenly refuses to eat them, it's hard to keep up with her whims 😂

TinySongstress · 03/01/2021 11:40

The Bear is MAD for Bakewell tart. He absolutely hounds me if I have one, is up across my shoulders sniffing, the full charade. I'll occasionally break a tiny piece of the outside pastry off and put the crumbs in his bowl but he doesn't want that...
He'll only entertain it if I sprinkle a few crumbs in the foil dish so he can sit next to me on the sofa to eat his cake. Grin

viques · 03/01/2021 11:56

I think you need to ask yourself whose cat house it is?

Does the cat re arrange your possessions to suit her own aesthetic needs? Does the cat tell you how many pillows you should have on your bed? Or how you should arrange the cushions on your sofa?

Cats are put in a very difficult position, they don’t have access to the internet to buy their own stuff, instead stuff is bought for them - did you ask about the paw blanket or make an assumption, maybe the cat would have preferred colour block, or floral - and they then have to either accept the items as presented, or if they are fortunate , be allowed to make small adjustments to suit. But usually, as your cat is discovering, the hand that wields the credit card calls the shots. For a cat with a strong sense of design and gestalt it must make life very difficult and stressful.

If I were such a cat I would be tempted to take small acts of revenge, hiding one of a pair of gloves, being sick on the thriller you only have a couple of chapters to go, waiting until you are eating before using the litter tray.......

Re cats changing their minds, I find this often coincided with the week a previously favoured cat food goes on special offer and is stockpiled.

Original poster
SpongeBobJudgeyPants · 03/01/2021 12:30

You guys! This is great stuff, and I am not quite so cross/bewildered now. Bakewell tart, who'd have thunk it? And yes, I do suspect Sponge probably has a more chintzy idea of interiors than me, but who knows! Thanks all Grin

OP posts:
Toddlerteaplease · 03/01/2021 15:29

@TinySongstress how many Bakewell tarts did you have to eat to discover that?

Evvyjb · 03/01/2021 16:10

One of ours stole Mr JB's sock from his hand this morning as he was putting it on. I may have laughed a bit too much.

Snooks1971 · 03/01/2021 17:52

@SpongeBobJudgeyPants I admire your persistence, you are clearly a much stronger woman than me. (You’ll never win though Grin)

About a month ago ours decided that she would no longer eat at her food station (in the utility room, aka “her office”) but would only eat on a chair next to the kitchen table. We battled for a couple of days....guess who won?

Now she asks for food in her office but then runs to the chair to actually eat... and we follow like gullible stupid servants. She is 16 though and I think she is clearly using her advanced age to her cunning advantage.

Original poster
SpongeBobJudgeyPants · 03/01/2021 18:59

Oh gosh. Yes Spongecat has got more demanding with age, and we don't know how old, cos rescue. Born in 2004/2008 was vet's best guess at the time. So she could be 16/17.

OP posts:
Snooks1971 · 03/01/2021 19:12

@SpongeBobJudgeyPants

Oh gosh. Yes Spongecat has got more demanding with age, and we don't know how old, cos rescue. Born in 2004/2008 was vet's best guess at the time. So she could be 16/17.
Similar to Snookscat maybe, she was a stray older kitten when we adopted, we imagine around 16 because DS1 was about 6 months at the time...
Thecherryontheverytop · 03/01/2021 19:14

My car will only drink water from the toilet Envy, or a running tap in the bathroom sink, never from a water bowl or the downstairs sink or even the special contraption i bought that has running water and takes up half my bedroom.Angry

Fluffycloudland77 · 03/01/2021 19:20

We used to call our utility his office too.

violetbunny · 03/01/2021 22:10

We have an expensive custom cat tower and Girlcat refuses to sleep on it at all. Her preferred sleeping spot instead is on top of my wardrobe 🙄 I have at least managed to put a blanket up there so now it's not just a rock hard surface.

To be fair, I think the main attraction for her is that her brother never goes up there because she can't stand him.

Robbybobtail · 03/01/2021 22:15

Why not just let her Squash it then? Sounds exhausting constantly unsquashing it.
My cat instantly jumps in any boxes left lying around (nightmare trying to put the Xmas decs away today as I was constantly tipping him out of boxes). He also wrestles with my sweeping brush when I’m trying to clean - I’m sure he thinks it’s some kind of squirrel as it usually has loads of hair stuck to it (3 long haired dd’s in this house). Same with dustpan brush, I have to do it really quick or he’ll try and take my hand off along with the brush!

Toddlerteaplease · 04/01/2021 09:25

My parents cat would stand on their bathroom sink and yowl at them to come and turn the tap on. Twice daily without fail. They stopped that and bought him a water fountain instead. Personally I think they were being very unreasonable.

LittleMissnotLittleMrs · 04/01/2021 09:35

Mine shouts to let us know he is having a drink of water. For about 30sec. He stands there, 30cm away from whichever bowl and yowls. I’ve asked him what’s wrong, what can make it better. He doesn’t know.

TanglinOrchards · 04/01/2021 09:42

@Fluffycloudland77

We used to call our utility his office too.
One of our cats sleeps in our shower room. We call it 'Molly's bedroom'.

She has a cat hammock on the radiator. A cat mat. A cat table for her cat food and water. She has her toys there.

thesunwillout · 04/01/2021 09:44

Hilarious 🤣, shouting about water.

Original poster
SpongeBobJudgeyPants · 04/01/2021 09:55

I think I probably will give in with the cat cave in the end, but it has survived unscathed for about 48 hrs now! As we have snow outside, and hasn't been warm enough to melt it for about a week, even Spongecat prefers to be warm than make a point!

Previous lady cat liked drinking from a tap. I think DD made a Youtube video of it at the time. If I can find it, I'll put it on.

In a variation on the pear theme, Sponge will sometimes only eat the food if it's mashed up for her, sometimes not. And it's not her teeth if you'd seen her tucking into turkey at Crimbo Hmm Also, pp mentioned the change of mind on cat food after stocking up, which I menioned on the Are cats low maintenance thread. We are due to go or have a delivery from Pets At Home, which will probably coincide with a request demand for a different type of cat food. I buy the better stuff, but she's quite happy with Aldi cheapo sachets tbh, and at 17, if that's what she is, I might just indulge her.

OP posts:
HunkyPunk · 04/01/2021 10:13

Hunkycat frets and fusses around for his breakfast, but invariably takes one sniff and buggers off out for an hour as soon as it's put in front of him. He might eat it when he returns, but only if you sprinkle some of the hard stuff on it, as by then it's probably lost most of its meaty allure!

Beamur · 04/01/2021 10:16

Why do you keep ruining your cats cave after he's squashed it into the shape he wants?
You are a cruel and unreasonable slave.

QueenPawPaws · 04/01/2021 10:17

Mine claims he can't possibly eat dry food with one tooth yet manages to crunch raw bones and dreamies Hmm

Original poster
SpongeBobJudgeyPants · 04/01/2021 19:52

We get that too Hunky. Beamur, because I'm an evil witch of a cat mother! Yes, same here Queen.

OP posts:
HunkyPunk · 06/01/2021 00:42

Aw! Just checked back in and saw your video, op. What a sweetie. Flowers