Hi all, my sis and I got a kitten yesterday, her name's Mikka and she's 9 weeks old. She's a Ragdoll-domestic cross. Very puppylike, she follows us all over the place, hates being left alone, and always has to be part of the action. Here's a pic:

[img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0RADxAtUUmNKAaMSWb12lUd*Aff7jLqdUvOkdIHA7OIvbIhXGD yNowTEjQ6wFLmTQXrqo8nGMal3!iURj3cdWaQkrAKtKvkyTIXC n1DQAeAY/Mikka.jpg?dc=4675487977564235010[/img]

How here's my issue. We've never had a cat before (my parents have plenty and we've had dogs but Maryrose and I have never actually had a cat). We did heaps of research about how to prepare our house, bought all the appropriate toys, tools, scratching post etc and she's been litter trained and all and so far everything's going brilliantly - she's a great addition to our place and we love her to bits (especially when she chases her tail for half an hour :D ).

Only one issue so far - she doesn't seem to want to sleep in the little cubbyhole/bed we bought for her, even though we put her favourite mouse toy and lots of blankets in there. She seems to want to sleep by Maryrose's (or my) head or on our laps, which is not a huge deal, but we'd rather she learned to sleep in her own bed. We've tried everything, we've moved the bed closer to Maryrose's bed (she's sleeping in my sister's room), we've elevated the bed on a chair, we've sprayed catnip on it - no avail. How do we get her to get used to her own bed? [img]graemlins/awcrap.gif[/img]

Any advice would be gratefully accepted! :D

[ 09-06-2004, 11:34 AM: Message edited by: Memnoch ]

Cats will sleep where they feel comfortable. Since she is a new addition to your home, and dosnt like beiing alone as you have said, it may take her a while to want to sleep somewhere else besides right on top of you.

She is after all a warm bloded creature with feelings and emotions. She is just wanting to feel secure...

Here is one of mine that has had security issues all his life:
http://www.jwoods.org/Saggitarius%20...eness'.JPG


He was abandoned as a kitten and wandered in my front door, eyes barely opened and his fur knotted and full of dirt. Saggitarius is in much better health now but he is very insecure... and very cute as well [img]smile.gif[/img]


hmmm I cannot get the image tag to work... just copy and paste it in your browser then... I suck [img]smile.gif[/img]

EDIT: Fixed it for you. You had a space between the ] and the http. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 09-06-2004, 12:51 PM: Message edited by: Memnoch ]

<font color=lime>Awesome! Another kitty minion for Chocs army! You going to enrole her? :D

As she gets older she will probly do that on her own. As a kitten she needs the comfort of you. Be patient, in a few months she will be much more independent.

Enjoy your new friend, she will make you very happy.
Drizzt is growing up to be quite a beutifull feline. ;) </font>

[ 09-06-2004, 05:08 PM: Message edited by: LordKathen ]

Thanks guys, she's a bit of a nutter actually. We were thinking of naming her Kamizake. :D

I have a feeling that we may have just wasted our money on the bed, eh... [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img] ;)

I think you definitely did ;) . Cats sleep where they want to - they take pleasure from being contrary (I think they think they're being fiendishly unpredictable, but in fact they are the most predictable animal about ;) ). I wouldn't worry about her not sleeping in her bed, she'll probably use it from time to time (they get little crazes and sleep in the same place for a few weeks and then move on) so it won't be a waste of money (the scratching post on the other hand... I think Tuppence has used hers about 4 times total! :D ). They only way you can avoid her sleeping with you is to shut her out of your bedrooms.

A couple of other things - make sure you have lots of litter trays. If she's anything like Tuppence she will not like to use the same tray twice in the row. Tuppence has six trays and if she didn't she'd go in the corner. Also cats really like to piddle on mats or rugs (e.g. bath mat, persian rug...).

She looks so cute! I bet she's as soft as anything [img]smile.gif[/img]

Oh, wow, too much cuteness in one thread. I'm gonna have to go chew on some nails, or something, try to get the testosterone up! lol. :D ;)

Yeap, she's still keeping secure. She will eventually find 'her spot'. Felix as a kitten slept on the foot of our bed, then realised that nobody sleeps on the sofa. Now that's his domain. On occasion he will sleep in his cube for a afternoon nap. Then again, he can be found curled up on a dinner chair.

She is a little cutie.

<font color=lime>I must be lucky. Drizzt has not done any of those things. She only has one box, in the master bath, and will actually "hold it" if one of us forgets, and shuts the door.
I dont think I have had any of those problems with any cat I have owned.?.
Now dogs on the other hand... ;) </font>

you cant learn a cat anything
exept when it's time to eat! :D

She won't sleep in her bed, huh? Well, just cat-slap that bi- no, I'm kidding. :D

I had the same problem with my old cat, Garfield. We eventually solved it by closing our bedroom doors and leaving his bed outside one of them. The thing with that is, the cat wants to be as close to you as possible, and if it can't be near, it'll pick the closest spot which is most comfortable. Eventually, we were able to move his bed into the living room and because he'd grown so used to napping in it, he just started sleeping there. Problem solved. That worked for us, but of course, it might not for you. Good luck. She's tres cute, by the way. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 09-06-2004, 05:25 PM: Message edited by: Arledrian ]