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My cat has discovered toilet paper.

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ellaila

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So I''m posting this partly because it''s funny and partly because I need advice!

My cat has recently discovered the joy of unrolling/shredding/eating toilet paper. He *kills* it. We''ve taken the roll of the holder and now have it on the back of the toilet, which is inconvenient but seemed to keep the stalker at bay ... for a while ...

But then last night, he discovered the other six rolls of toilet paper we had on the bottom shelf of a wire stand in the bathroom and started shredding one.

So what do we do?! How do you discipline/train a cat?! It''s futile, isn''t it? Are we destined to a life of shredded toilet paper?

A few shots of the crime scenes:

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ellaila

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A different day:

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ellaila

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This one was extra special. He woke us at 1:30 am with lots of proud "COME SEE WHAT I DID!!!" meows, so we went out into the hall and saw the toilet paper trail from the holder to the hallway ... with no actual ROLL in sight. After some searching, we found it under the bed ...

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KimberlyH

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I don''t have any advice for you except to keep the bathroom door shut, I just think the scene is hysterical. Thanks for my morning laugh.
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ellaila

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So ... any advice??

If not, then I hope that you are at least giggling a little at my misery ... it IS funny
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Funny that it took him a year and a half to discover this new "toy" -- now he''s apparently making up for lost time!
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I guess I should be thankful it''s just toilet paper and not the couch or something more valuable, right?!
 

ellaila

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Oh, and we have a SMALL condo, and the only place for the litterbox is in the bathroom, so unfortunately, we can''t shut him out of there!!
 

SoonIHope

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Hehehehe, this is hysterical!!!!!
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Sorry though, I don''t have any good advice! Maybe just put the roll high up on the wall? A bit awkward though, and I bet he could still find a way to it.... good luck though!!!
 

poptart

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I would keep the door shut, but there is also another way. If you get a spray bottle and give him a little mist in the face every time you catch him in the bathroom, he will learn that if he goes in there he gets water in the face. And if he isn''t in the bathroom... he can''t shred the toilet paper! Ahhh the wonder of cats. Funny yet annoying!

*M*
 

pyramid

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He is trying to tell you it is too high up for him to reach when he does the toilet
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Is it because he is bored maybe, get him some toys.
 

poptart

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I forgot to add.... if he doesn''t have a scratching post get one. And if does have one, maybe he needs something that is a little more interactive.

*M*
 

firebirdgold

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Put a scratching post made of sisal near the toilet paper?


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ROFLMAO!!
 

Tacori E-ring

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Ahhh, our little male cat used to do that. It was such a pain to clean up (got grounded into the carpet) We leave the rolls off the holders (no dangling temptation) and just put them on top of the toliet. So far it has worked. No he is obsessed with ponytail holders.
 

ellaila

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He's got *plenty* of toys, and he's very active! My hubby plays with him with a laser many times a day, and he LOVES that! (When we want to end the game, we just go "You got it, Monkey!! Good boy!!" one of the times he "captures" it under his paw
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). Other fave toys include squishy foam earplugs, milk jug plastic thingies, OJ plastic thingies (the little white pull-tabs), twistie ties, catnip mice, "momma's" hair elastics, etc. Basically anything he can get his hands on. Other than the laser, he hasn't been too fond of storebought toys -- he's more into the "Hmm, what have we here?!" things he finds in the apartment ... like, you know, toilet paper.
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Unfortunately, we've only caught him in the act once (he was actually standing on the toilet seat with the roll in HIS MOUTH trying to get it off the holder!!), so it's hard to discipline him. Every other time, we've just witnessed the bloody aftermath of his attack. We can't squirt him every time he goes in the bathroom because that's where he, uhh, does his business, and unfortunately there really is no place else to put the litterbox in our place ...

I guess maybe we can move his scratching post into the bathroom to see if that does anything ...

Thanks, guys!

Here's a photo of him looking all sweet and innocent ... isn't he a cutie?
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How can I stay mad at a face like that?

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Mara

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haha those pictures are hilarious!!!

portia, our dog, is a present/paper shredder. we have to cordon off the tree and gifts during holiday or else she will 'open' them all for us while we are gone!!! she loves paper left out like a tissue or a bill/statement or whatever.

i don't have any great words of wisdom other than we just try to keep temptation out of her reach. hahaha. close the bathroom doors and find a new place for the litterbox.
 

sumbride

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I was thinking maybe you could get a roll holder that made noise, but 1) he might like that and 2) your holder doesn''t allow for those. Hmm.... Maybe when you leave for the day you could put something heavy on top of the toilet paper that would crash and make noise if he went for it... like a can of pennies?

I have a ponytail holder fanatic as well. I''ve actually caught him up on the sink LOOKING for them. He''s taken most of them so I keep what I have left in a box so he can''t get to them, but he will play with one for hours, and he loves the milk jug things too.
 

ellaila

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Date: 11/28/2006 1:47:44 PM
Author: sumbride
I was thinking maybe you could get a roll holder that made noise, but 1) he might like that and 2) your holder doesn''t allow for those. Hmm.... Maybe when you leave for the day you could put something heavy on top of the toilet paper that would crash and make noise if he went for it... like a can of pennies?

I have a ponytail holder fanatic as well. I''ve actually caught him up on the sink LOOKING for them. He''s taken most of them so I keep what I have left in a box so he can''t get to them, but he will play with one for hours, and he loves the milk jug things too.
Ooooh, that''s an idea! I hate the thought of freaking him out like that (I''m so overprotective!), but on the other hand, he''s got to be dissuaded somehow! I don''t want anything that could hurt him though -- a can of pennies sounds kind of heavy! Maybe something else that would still make a loud noise though ... hmmmm.

Re: the ponytail holders, my husband used to call them my "scrunchies," which cracked me up! He''d fling one and then tell the cat, "Go get Momma''s scrunchie!" I was like, "Umm, sweetie, I haven''t had a scrunchie since about 1990. These are just hair elastics." He was like
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So now of course we both call them "scrunchies"
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poptart

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You don''t have to put a lot of pennies in the can. Just like... eight or so. Enough to make an annoying noise when you shake it. Cats and dogs hate that noise, so that''s a VERY good idea. If you don''t put many pennies in there it won''t hurt him. He''d probably be so freaked out from the unknown noise that he would be out of the bathroom before the can even hit the floor!

*M*
 

ellaila

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Is it me or are PSers just a bunch of brilliant smartypants
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I''m definitely going to do the few-pennies-in-a-can trick today when I get home!! Thanks, sum and poptart!!
 

Miranda

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OMG!!! That is so funny! You could try squirting him with a water bottle. He''ll learn quickly. My dog isn''t allowed in the kitchen/dining area when we are eating as he has a rude tendency to eat off of the table. So I started squirting him. He HATES water so this works well for us. Last week he needed a squirt and I shouted, "Say ello to my litta friend" ala Scarface while squirting. Now if I say that when he is licking or being naughty he stops and squints his eyes because he''s afraid of the nasty water getting him. He knows something terrible will happen when mama starts in with the Italian accent.
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sumbride

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Yay! Let us know how it works! And no, it doesn''t have to be heavy enough to hurt him, just heavy enough to stay put until he wiggles it free while attacking the paper.

One of my cats wouldn''t stay off my laptop until the other day when she accidentally hit some keys in the right order to make it beep at her really loudly. She literally jumped into the air! all four feet in the air! She hasn''t gotten close to it since. I call it a serendipitous victory! Cats can ignore a lot... you really have to catch them off guard to get their attention.
 

ecf8503

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One of my cats does the same thing - so we just keep the roll in the cupboard! It works fine for us - but when company comes we always have to remember to tell people where it is (as it isn''t on the roller bar where they expect it to be). Most people are very understanding, albeit somewhat amused at our "oddity"... silly kitties!
 

ellaila

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Date: 11/28/2006 2:58:16 PM
Author: Miranda
OMG!!! That is so funny! You could try squirting him with a water bottle. He''ll learn quickly. My dog isn''t allowed in the kitchen/dining area when we are eating as he has a rude tendency to eat off of the table. So I started squirting him. He HATES water so this works well for us. Last week he needed a squirt and I shouted, ''Say ello to my litta friend'' ala Scarface while squirting. Now if I say that when he is licking or being naughty he stops and squints his eyes because he''s afraid of the nasty water getting him. He knows something terrible will happen when mama starts in with the Italian accent.
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Hah!! I remember trying the squirting thing with my previous cat (miss you, Jasmine!
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) and I put a little lemon juice in it -- a trick I read somewhere because the sour was supposed to really turn them off. Turned out, my little weirdocat liked sour lemonade and didn''t feel it was a punishment at all to get squirted with such a tasty treat! Who knew?

The squirter works with Monkey sometimes but only temporarily. He is ridiculously good natured (toilet paper massacres aside) and when you "punish" him, he sidles up to you like five seconds later with an "I forgive you" rub. So we squirt him, he runs out of the room, and then five minutes later, he''s back giving us another shot.
 

firebirdgold

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My fi''s cats are rather destructive with furniture. In desperation to get them to stop scritching my leather sofa and good rugs despite the three strategically placed scratching posts, I bought a cardboard scratching thingy from Trader Joe''s. Maybe it''s the catnip but the cats love it! And it''s cleared up 89% of the scritching problem.
 

justjulia

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The pictures were hilarious! My black kitty does the same thing, but only if I leave a roll off the holder. She also does it to papertowels. I wish I had a solution.
 

sumbride

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Re: the waterbottle...

we tried that with my "unflappable" cat when he kept scratching at the mattress to wake us up while YOWLING. Now when he sees the bottle he runs just out of range and keeps up with the yowling. His aim is to get us out of bed to feed him, and he knows that if we have to get up to chase him with the bottle, we''re up... so we might as well feed him!!!

It does work on my mom''s hyper-barking dachsund. All she has to do now is ask "do you want me to spray you?" and he immediately shuts up.
 

anchor31

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Oh my, that''s hilarious!
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We use the pennies-in-a-can trick. Works wonders on my cats and my sister''s dog. One of my cats does that to the toilet paper too... Fortunately we can just close the doors to keep her out.
 

moremoremore

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LOLOLOL....Put some double stick tape all over the roll on the roller for a while (clearly, you can''t use that LOL)....that will be the end of that!
 

Tacori E-ring

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We use the spray bottle full of water trick but you obviously have to catch them in the act. Our female cat knows the spray bottle by sight so we use it as a warning for her (if she is going on the counters, trying to eat our food) and she will run away, no spray needed. Our male cat is a different story. Sometimes he gets pretty wet.
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monarch64

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Hehee, you will kill me for saying this, BUT, would it be possible to bring a new kitten into the situation for distraction? LOL. I know.
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I''m crazy.

I spent the TXgiving weekend with my parents taking care of my brother''s 12 cats because he and his wife went to TX for the weekend.....I LOVE cats, and wished I could''ve taken a couple home with me, but we have a 3 yr. old beagle and a brand new beagle puppy so it wasn''t an option. If it had been, I definitely had two cats picked out to bring back!

Sorry, elaila,this is just my opinion, but I feel like cats are sometimes bored with us humans and need another feline to play with...could that be an option for you at all? If it were up to me I would have a total zoo here-- dogs, cats, you name it, but I know that is not feasible nor possible for just two humans to take care of adequately. So...just wondering if another kitty is an option for you guys to maybe distract your baby from dismembering the tp in your absence?

Take care, and good luck!
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ellaila

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Haha, Monarch, your post made me giggle! Though I wish we could take on another cat, our 640-sq-foot living space just doesn''t allow for another living creature to be in here! Between two people, one cat, three and a half bikes (hubby is working on one), two computer desks ... well, you get the picture!

We didn''t try the pennies-in-a-can trick yet because, ummm, we don''t have a can. Must run out today and get something in a can so we can do this ASAP because he struck again last night! This was the TP that we had already taken off the roller and had on the back of the toilet
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We''ve got a clever little guy here.

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