Beating cats

[deacsoft]

So after a while of discussion and such I've agreed to let my girlfriend have her cat come to live with us. She's agreed to take full care of it (meaning that I have no cat responsibilities what so ever). The issue is that I'm alergic to cats and otherwise have no problem with them, but certainly don't need some cat driving me crazy while I'm trying to work. I don't care if the cat is living with us as long as she keeps it and the house clean of cat hair and such. And I do not want this cat coming in to my office and bothering me while I'm working. I basically don't want the cat near me but I also don't want the cat to run and hide in terror every time it sees me. How do I train the cat to leave me alone but not fear me? The only way I can come up with to keep it away from me it to give it a good, savage beating. However I don't want to hurt the cat, the girlfriend would get pissed, and the cat would forever fear me. I just need to get it accross to this cat they we can have a good "don't mess with me; I won't mess with you" relationship. Any help here?

[Brainwalter]

Just spray water at it, they really hate that. My dad did this for 10 or 12 years, it works well. They avoided him for the most part.

A little goes a long way, just keep a spray bottle around for a few days after tha cat moves in.

[ukpokerplayer]

Either piss yourself, or surround yourself with lemons. It wont come near you then

[Paluka]

water in a spray bottle is a good option.

[Los Feliz Slim]

To reduce your allergies:

Hardwood is better than carpet.
Get a good HEPA air purifier and put it in your bedroom.
If possible, keep the cat out of the bedroom at all times.
Have her brush and wipe the cat down regularly.
Feed the cat high-quality food.

If these steps help your allergies, how about you make an effort to accept the cat into your life? They're really wonderful animals. If you can't at least give it a shot, having the cat come live with you is a really terrible idea for everybody.

Obviously, don't beat the cat.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
To reduce your allergies:

Hardwood is better than carpet.
Get a good HEPA air purifier and put it in your bedroom.
If possible, keep the cat out of the bedroom at all times.
Have her brush and wipe the cat down regularly.
Feed the cat high-quality food.

If these steps help your allergies, how about you make an effort to accept the cat into your life? They're really wonderful animals. If you can't at least give it a shot, having the cat come live with you is a really terrible idea for everybody.

Obviously, don't beat the cat.

[/ QUOTE ]

Great post.

I very strongly agree about NEVER letting the cat in the bedroom. EVER. If you go to sleep with the cat in there, it will have hours to expose you, and you will have hours to build up exposure. They are also nocturnal, and will often run and jump around at early morning hours, wake you up to try to play or see if you're alive, whatever. It can be extremely frustrating in an adorable kind of way that makes you want to punt them over the fence.

Plus, their hairs will find a way into your closets and you will find yourself picking cat hair off your suits and jackets and shirts and pants all the time, even if the cat never touches them and never gets in the closet even once.

Plus, clean as cats are, let's face it, they don't wipe their asses. Perfectly clean, they sadly are not. Have one trot by your face with a freshly shat back door and you'll become aware how much the idea of a cat's cleanliness is a myth. They do NOT lick their bungholes. They WILL drag whatever stayed stuck around with them, and you don't want that stuff by your face.

If a man's home is his castle, you should be able to have at least one or two rooms that cat is not allowed in, ever. If your girlfriend is like most people, she'll just do what she wants and not give a damn anyway, even if she agrees, because it doesn't concern her directly and people love being transgressive and sneaky. But, it's worth a shot trying to get her to take very seriously that sneezing and being allergic during the day is one thing, but you need to sleep every night without problems, unless you win the lottery and stop having to go to work in the mornings.

The brushing and wiping down is a good idea too, as is the HEPA filter.

I do predict you might wind up liking the cat more than you think you would, though. They're really pretty cool, as LFS notes, very low cost to maintain, and basically zero maintenance. Not a bad deal.

[Mvcode3]

I heard a good savage beating is a great way to keep small childern away from you also.

[Dominic]

get a water gun. Every time the cat comes near you, spray it. It will learn rather quickly not to come near you.

As a side note, when my finacee and I moved in, she brought two cats with her and I felt exactly like you did - keep the cats away and clean up the cat hair!

Now, I love the damn cats like my own children and the cat hair doesn't bother me at all.

We've also gotten ANOTHER cat and two dogs!

[img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[deacsoft]

Thanks guys. I'm going to go out and get a badass water pistol today. That's a great idea. As I said, I have no problems with cats. I'm not a cat hater. The rules we set before I agreed to let the cat move in were these:
1) Not allowed in the bedroom or the my office. Ever.
2) The cat must be bathed regularly.
3) The house must be kept clean of cat hair. I agreed to buy a Roomba to help with the cleaning.
4) Cat litter must be kept in order. I agreed to buy a littermaid to help with that.

[swede123]

So she's bringing her cat into the house but in return you're buying her a bunch of automated household gadgets? Sounds like a win-win for her.

Swede