As I have previously reported on this blog, you can find anything having to do with dealing with cats on the internet.
My third main trial with my cat Sox continues to be her crazy drive to run out the front door. I thought I had her pretty well trained by yelling "no" at her and then squirting her radically with water from the spray bottle. But it seems like none of these tactics have had long lasting effects.
I spent last weekend relaxing at Amy Mo's cabin. When she dropped me off on Sunday afternoon, Jamie was coming out of the door to go with Nathan somewhere. Sox immediately ran out and ran down the sidewalk. This has been like the millionth time this has happened in the past couple of weeks so I was pretty frustrated.
When I got inside I immediately googled something to the effect of "cats running out the door". One of the links that came up was for the "Scatmat" which is a battery operated, clear-plastic mat that you lay in any problem area. When the cat steps on it it delivers a mild shock similar to getting shocked by static. A.k.a it's more frightening then painful. I thought it was awesome. I called the Tucker Petsmart and sure enough they had two of them. I ran over there and got it, came home, and laid it across the landing right by the front door.
For a long time Sox just sniffed it but didn't step on it. Then Jamie and Nathan came home. Sox went over to the door, stepped on the mat (I didn't witness it, but they did) and she freaked out, ran around the house and then bolted up the stairs. After a while I went to my room and called her name and she came out from under my bed looking happy to see me. So she wasn't permanently traumatized. I think Jamie and Nathan were though. But they witnessed her reaction firsthand.
Now, one day later, she just c-r-e-e-p-s by the door with a ton of paranoia and no sign of her darting out. Once you train them the mat instructions said you can roll up the mat and you won't need it anymore. I'm pretty stoked. I did step on it myself just to check it out. It does shock you, but it doesn't hurt. With shoes on you can't feel it at all. It's just the anticipation of the shock really freaks out out. Exactly the point!!
4 comments:
I remember one time when Widda got out back at the blue house. It might have been my fault, too, because Caddie got out a few times due to my own errant ways with window screens. Anywho, Widda was gone for several hours, and it was raining, and we were sure he was gone. It was not a happy time. But then, quite unexpectedly, your brother found him in the yard after a while. I figure he just took a break from suburban life to do some pimping. That's how he rolled, you know.
Ahyway, this mat would have been quite handy. :)
That's awesome!
Okay, it was definitely a little traumatizing. You heard the buzz and then Soxie jumped about a foot in the air. I felt really bad for her as she ran and hid and wouldn't come up to any of us, but Jess was just laughing, so glad that it worked. But seriously, if that thing keeps Soxie in the house, amazing!
hilarious!
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