# knocking over cups/glassess incessantly!



## dreamangl686 (Jun 20, 2011)

casper has this habit that started out almost cute when he was tiny, but now it is incessant and mischievous. he knocks over cups/glassess of water, juice, anything! he'll jump right up to them, tip them toward him, splash his paw quickly in any spillage, and run away. sometimes he hangs around to watch me clean up the mess he's made. he tips over empty cups too, but my guess is that he only hopes all cups are full of liquids. i thought maybe he likes playing water? but oddly, he doesn't play in his water bowl. any ideas how to change this behavior? i usually keep a glass of water by my bed at night on my night stand, but multiple times now it has ended up all over my pillow. now i'm using water bottles with caps on it for night, but during the day time i'd like to be able to use glasses without supervising my kitty!


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

The bottle solution is great for nighttime, but the easy solution is to never leave a glass or cup down unless you're within arm's reach. If you have to leave the room, put it in a cupboard or high up where he can't reach it. You want to break him of this habit by not giving him the opportunity to tip it. Maybe later when he's older he'll have grown out of this mischievous prank.


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## Alpaca (Dec 21, 2009)

I've given up that habit. I use plastic bottles so they don't break if it's felled. If I'm mobile in the house and I'm using open cups then I put them all behind closed doors/places. So it wouldn't be weird in my house to find a cup of water in the bathroom with the door closed or a cup of tea in the oven.

Sometimes being owned by a cat involves changing up your routine/habits instead of trying to 'convert' the cat. It's much easier and not that big of a deal once you're used to it. It's second nature to me now.


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## dreamangl686 (Jun 20, 2011)

well at least i'm not the only one with a tipping cup cat! i am already keeping cups out of the way and using bottles when possible. hopefully he will outgrow it if there really is no way to train him to stop this behavior. i guess i should expect this from a curious 5 1/2 month old kitty. and WOW he keeps growing!


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## Penny135 (Apr 6, 2011)

Mia has just started knocking cups over. Her favorite thing seems to be Diet Dr. Pepper. She loves to drink it and if you leave it lying around, well.... Today she knocked over a rose that my son gave me for my bday. I believe they come w/ something in the water to keep them alive longer. Well Mia had licked alot up before I found her. She vomited for almost 2 hours, 9 piles in all. Yuck!!! She hasnt now for a couple hours and has started to eat a little and drin some too. Thank goodness. 
I tend to put my drinks up next to the kitchen sink and slid back against the wall. For some reason she doesnt bother them there.


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## Alpaca (Dec 21, 2009)

Some things never change. Miu is 2 yrs old and she's still mischevious. We can't leave any human food out in the open if it's food or water. You might find an entire tea set with teapot and cup in my bathroom. Sometimes my mom will cook and let food cool down. So yes, we do run out of room in the oven sometimes so we migrate the stuff to the microwave, toaster oven, pantry, odd kitchen cabinets and finally if there's really no space, the laundry room with the door closed. If you come over to my house, you might find some freshly baked muffins on top of the washer!

And plants? Forget that. My poor plants are stuck in my bathroom forever. I forgot to close the door once and when I discovered it. There was no cat in sight, but there were some leaves with tooth holes in them while others were completely torn off. Ninja Miu strikes again!


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

My mom is still here and she was making chicken stock yesterday. When I got home from w0rk she was all ticked at Book. He was such a pest and stealing things right out of her hands..she said she locked herself in m bathroom so she could separate meat from bones and strain the stock. 

This morning she left the grapes out and he dragged away the entire bunch. He steals tea bags out of cups as well...doesn't care how hot it is.


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## hal1 (Jul 16, 2011)

Answer to your concerns>>>>>>. You have a cat. While cat's are trainable, I think the best solution (though not really changing his behavior) is to not leave stuff out. I think you'll find many people here have just given up on having nice things (or any things) out. Lots of bare shelves and tables


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## Beckie210789 (May 9, 2011)

hal1 said:


> Answer to your concerns>>>>>>. You have a cat. While cat's are trainable, I think the best solution (though not really changing his behavior) is to not leave stuff out. I think you'll find many people here have just given up on having nice things (or any things) out. Lots of bare shelves and tables


I'm not a crazy cat lady, I'm a minimalistic decorator!


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## Alpaca (Dec 21, 2009)

MowMow said:


> My mom is still here and she was making chicken stock yesterday. When I got home from w0rk she was all ticked at Book. He was such a pest and stealing things right out of her hands..she said she locked herself in m bathroom so she could separate meat from bones and strain the stock.
> 
> This morning she left the grapes out and he dragged away the entire bunch. He steals tea bags out of cups as well...doesn't care how hot it is.


Oh MowMow, that is so funny. Ok I'm sorry for laughing but Book is so mischevious. 



hal1 said:


> Answer to your concerns>>>>>>. You have a cat. While cat's are trainable, I think the best solution (though not really changing his behavior) is to not leave stuff out. I think you'll find many people here have just given up on having nice things (or any things) out. Lots of bare shelves and tables





Beckie210789 said:


> I'm not a crazy cat lady, I'm a minimalistic decorator!


That's for sure! Everything remotely cat-breakable is stuffed into closets, drawers, behind closed doors, anywhere out of sight if it's not 'smellable' like food. If I leave a pen on the desk, it's hidden under the keyboard.

Oh but sorry..so off-topic. Yah. If you wanna leave cups and glasses lying around...it'll depend on your cat. Some will leave it alone if there's a lid on it. Others will just knock it over despite that...in which case, you can either wait for them to outgrow/get bored of it or hide it. Perhaps you can purchase a new ante table that has a latched drawer/door for the living room. Oh, in her bedroom, my mom uses a see-thru plastic box to put her cup in. So far, Miu has left it alone.


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## dreamangl686 (Jun 20, 2011)

your stories are all too funny! casper is mischievous and i guess as he continues to get older, i'll see what other kinds of troubles he gets himself into. i've adapted thus far about the glasses. it's too bad he's so brazen though, because i can't even drink a glass of water that is sitting next to me! he just knocked over my glass 4 times in a row... only the first time it spilled, the next 3 times it was empty. now i'm thirsty


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## BotanyBlack (Apr 6, 2011)

Too funny!!

more then once I had woke up in the middle of the night when Sherbert would find a glass of something sitting on my desk by the bed, and he just HAD to tip it so he could reach the bottom easier... changing sheets in the middle of the night could be aggravating. But I loved the little snot. Sherbert was the only one I had that tipped glasses with stuff in them. Now Jack just loves to watch stuff fall .. and break. just because. So no nick knacks in my house or houseplants for that matter, Jack likes to see how far the dirt will splash when it hits the floor.

Now i just use water bottles.


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## kittykittykitty (Dec 26, 2011)

Anything remotely breakable in my house is secured to a surface. Mostly with blu tack. I'm not taking any chances! Candles on the bathroom window sill all end up in the sink and I have a whole collection of mugs without handles after flying off the table. Just another day in the life of a cat lady...


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