I adopted a kitten today. I'm realizing I may not be able to sew for awhile. She's into everything. Follows me everywhere, jumps up on my sewing board. Walks across my project! She's so cute, I don't want to reprimand her. Guess I'll have to wait until she grows a bit. Chery.
Teach her to keep off the sewing! If you don't, like kids, she'll never learn...
Mind you, my two STILL like nesting in the projects!
As a lover of felines and as someone who sews, I'm going to suggest
*now* is a really good time to start disciplining her. While picking the pins out of the pin dish and dropping them on the floor is sorta cute and basically not too harmful, grabbing and chewing needles threaded with polyester thread (or just scraps of thread) can be very dangerous. And kitten paws trying to catch the sewing machine needle can be very traumatic. And then there's rotary cutters. And ribbons. And buttons to swallow. And... and...So you might as well start teaching what "no!" means now... even if "no" is spelled "hssss!" It may well mean a longer life for your buddy. :-)
Kay, who has been known to shut felonious felines in the bathroom long enough to get a pattern pinned on grain
. She's into everything. Follows me everywhere, jumps up on my
I'm going to strongly echo Kate and Kay. Discipline *now*! Would you wait to discipline your children until they're 18? Keep the cats off of things you don't want them in. Whether it's the sewing, the countertop, stove, kitchen/dining table, etc. No matter how many times you have to keep after them
IM(not so)HO cats have no durn business up anywhere except the lap. Think of what their paws go through in a day. Especially the litter box. Why would anyone want the cat to go tromping where you prepare and eat your meals?
I'm sorry. I feel very strongly that our furbabies belong either on the floor or on the lap. *And no where else.*
Off my soapbox now, AK in PA
It would be good for her to get used to the idea that there are some places she isn't allowed. She needn't be "punished" -- just removed and firmly told "No." Although she's adorable, it's not really fair to change the ground rules just because she gets a bit older and bigger, and perhaps not quite as cute.
On Fri, 10 Aug 2007 22:31:28 -0400, Cheryl wrote (in message ):
heehee, I was there about 18 months ago when we tow dog people were adopted by a kitten, now a good-sized cat. I'm a lot more careful now about pins and needles and such and I have to watch the iron when it's on as he's always wanting to sniff it. As for cutting stuff out - I try to do it when he's sleeping! I haven't been able to break him of the idea that my moving scissors are a toy to chase. When desperate, I shut him in a bedroom or the basement or some such for a while. He does still love to settle himself in the middle of my fabric and/or pattern pieces.
The best discipline we found is a spray bottle of water. It only takes a couple of squirts full on in the face for a cat to learn. And if the cat still goes to forbidden places, you need only pick up the bottle to change things. And water doesn't hurt cats, however much they think it does!
Cheryl, I amcoming out of lurkdom to make a suggestion that is effective and not at all harsh. When I got my 2 kittens(!) I got a spray bottle and filled it with water. Iwould just make a hiss and spray and say no to whatever unacceptable thing they were doing .I kept right on top of them and after awhile they learned. .Now all I have to do is hiss and they scram. Enjoy! I am recently catless and my house seems to have lost it's spirit. : ( Sue
Just to confirm this advice - its worked well with our three cats
I use a squirt gun. Its distinctive shape can be the initial deterrent. Thumbsie keeps trying to make a mad dash for freedom, and I have to cover the doorway (feeling like Emma Peel, armed with a neon squirtgun).
Another advantage: you could create a simple Wild West holster to carry it around for the couple days you'll really need it. And they are dirt cheap right now (summer sales).
Kitties need to learn what NO means. Yesterday I was working on some flooring, all sticky, and my 15YO kitty started to walk across. I said "no," and she put on the brakes and waited.
HTH
--Karen D.
YES!!! Although the infamous sewing machine needle incident was probably more traumatic to *me* than to Isabelle. *She* was just mad that the machine had "bitten" her. She's treated it with a healthy respect ever since, though!
Or spelled "spray bottle of cold water." At one point my boyfriend was going about with it muttering things like "ok, kitty, MAKE MY DAY!" :-) A spray in the face is unpleasant enough to be remembered but not harmful or abusive. Now we just show the bottle to kitty and that is enough to get the point across.
Erin
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