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abmatt

Guess Where We Found Paw Prints?!?

abmatt
16 years ago

Ok, so we let a little dust collect and it exposed one of our two cats' bad behavior. This is the curved glass of our range hood, looking up through to the ceiling and wall.

The perp:

I could not fathom that he would actually jump to the counter and then up to the range hood. He must do this when we are away of course.

I am not amused.

Comments (34)

  • carolyn53562
    16 years ago

    The secret lives of cats! I always thought it would be fun to put a helmet camera on our cat and see what he does at night and when we aren't home. I've never seen our cat on our counters, but I bet he's been up there. But jumping up onto a glass hood?????? LOL! Pretty cat!

  • coolbeansw
    16 years ago

    It looks high, warm, and cozy. Smart cat!

  • abmatt
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Naturally, we admonished him with a chorus of "bad kitty." I'm sure he understood and will take our judgement into consideration next time.

    His name is Ivan and we think he is part Maine Coon because he has a slightly squared-off snout and is franky a very sweet and playful cat. I saw his mom, but his dad was nowhere to be found, probably out prowling the neighborhood.

    I thought all he did was sleep all day. He's taken to the counters only after we began renovating. It's time to get the water bottle after him.

    I think everyone on this forum who has house cats would agree that their cats lead a spa-like existence!

  • lascatx
    16 years ago

    I love it! I have one cat who MIGHT weight 6 lbs and would porbably check out anything she could like that. My other is a HUGE Maine Coon that couldn't even get to the counter to thinkabout making the next jump.

    I suspect your 4-paw has checked it out and will not be likely to return. At least not too often.

  • mindstorm
    16 years ago

    Yeah, Ours have been there too.

    I didn't think about it for a minute when I picked the hood. And then the moment it was being installed, the thought immediately came to my mind that it was nothing but another flat surface/ledge offering another vantage view, if you put yourself in the right frame of mind. And sure enough, we too have proof positive that the little blighters frequent that space.

    Mine isn't glass so their transgressions aren't quite so visible. Well, chalk this up to another coulda-woulda-shoulda (gotten a different hood, that is. Or gotten a different cat!) :-) That's what I've been doing. Next time, it isn't my convenience that will be factored in the kitchen layout or componentry, it is the cats' safety. ;-)

  • weissman
    16 years ago

    Spider Cat, Spider Cat, does whatever a Spider Cat does :-)

  • abmatt
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Mindstorm, all kidding aside, I have to agree about the safety issue. What if he jumps off the long end and accidentaly switches on a burner when we're not home? I know the oven has a child-proof locking mechanism. Once again our routine is modified because of our furrier family members.

    This cat just turned two years old last September. It's like he rocket-propels himself around the house when he gets his morning and evening energy bursts. Needless to say, we're crazy about him. It took our older Siamese mutt a little longer to take to him, but they're doing ok, evidenced by more frequent co-groomig.

  • alku05
    16 years ago

    Our cat TRIED that with our hood too...But she quickly realized it was a bad idea b/c it wasn't flat up there:

    But there were definitely paw prints up there and we heard the commotion. Then again, where do we not find paw prints...

  • abmatt
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    alku, you'd find my "paws" all over your kitchen too, it's beautiful.

    Those cats just have to inspect everything, don't they?

  • jillypie
    16 years ago

    Somewhat OT, but here goes. This happened on Xmas Eve, 7 days after my DH had hernia repair surgery. Our MBR closet has 2 blind corners where the buit-ins meet a right angles. Unbeknownst to us, the tops of these blind corners were not capped. So.... Max the cat, aka "Devil Dog" or "Bad Kitty" is flying around the top shelves and jumps fro one side to another. I thought he landed in an open box, but no..he fell down the open top to the floor and now had no way to get out (7 feet straight up wooden panels in a 15x 15 triangular shape chasm) Of course being Christmas Eve there is no help to be had so my poor DH who is not supposed to lift more than 10lbs for 6 weeks, and I have to dismantle these huge wall-mounted cabinets to get the gol-darned kitty out. He was fine of course, thought it was a great adventure and couldn't wait to "fly"again. I now have to lock him out of the bedroom in order to open the closet door while we wait for material to finish said tops. He has already dislodged a temp fix. These beings just can't be trusted- but they are so cute, what can you do?

  • cocontom
    16 years ago

    You can put Contact Paper sticky side up on the hood or counters for a few weeks- it only takes a few jumps before they realize they really don't want to do that anymore.

    I didn't have a ton of storage space in my old apartment- my cat found the soft sided cooler on top of the fridge and decided it made a nice bed.

  • abmatt
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    OMG! The poor cat falling into the closet chasm! Poor post-op DH!

    Those animals live better than many people on this earth! Like you said, what are you gonna do?

    Thanks to all for sharing your cat stories. No reason to stop of course, I'll check back later!

    Anne

  • bikey
    16 years ago

    One of our cats decided to jump up on the counter and run across the rangetop. Unfortunately, the griddle was on because I was getting ready to make pancakes. She hasn't done that again. :-)

  • bklyn2pok
    16 years ago

    Fortunately my two cats are too well trained to jump on the countertops and appliances....I have no idea how the paw prints got on the stovetop...cats told me they were sleeping. BTW - the calico matches the granite :=)

  • Fori
    16 years ago

    Canned compressed air (for cleaning electronics) will work as well as water (more so in the case of some cats) without making a mess...of course you'll have to stay up all night to catch the little guy!

  • gshop
    16 years ago

    OK everyone you all made me LOL with your stories and pictures! As I'm reading all of this, I have my cat (Siamese) sitting on my lap watching me type. They give so much love back, how can you stay mad? Keep the stories coming...

  • alku05
    16 years ago

    Well, since you asked for it...

    Our kitchen butts up against our garage. For some reason, our contractor couldn't figure out how to get to the hood wiring from the kitchen, so he cut an acess hole so he could do the wiring from the garage (don't get me started on the absurbity of this..) Anyway, when it came time to install the backsplash, he uninstalled the hood so the tile could go behind it and up to the ceiling.

    So the tile guys mudded everything up on the first day. We let the cats out of confinement and then starting brainstorming where to go for dinner since the kitchen was all taped and papered up for the tile guys. At this point in time, my DH commented that the cat in the yard looked just like our indoor cat Mitzi...wait that WAS Mitzi! Turned out she jumped out the acess hole and exited to the yard through the open garage door. And left some cute paw impressions in the mudding on her way out.

    I didn't get a picture of Mitzi's "Walk of Fame" prints, but you can see where DH blocked the hole with cardboard to prevent further escapes until the hood went back up:

  • rowen_realtor
    16 years ago

    Thanks everyone for sharing! We recently remodeled our kitchen and both kitties were banished for most of the remodel. Of course, they'd never climbed on the counters, but all of a sudden, all those cabinets with cardboard tops, etc. didn't REALLY look like a kitchen. So Gypsy kept me company from her new vantage point until everything was back in place and presentable. I do really think that her favorite part is the hardwood flooring .... all the way to the family room ...wheeee!

  • abmatt
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Well, these stories remind me of another of Ivan's transgressions. A friend of ours installed our engineered wood flooring. Ivan is pretty comfortable around our friend Ed, since he spent so much time helping us with our remodeling. Well, when Ed was gluing the floor he opened a window for some fresh air. Ivan came flying into the room to jump to the window and got flooring glue on his paw pads. When his paws hit the glue he started trying to fling it off and it landed on the newly painted walls.

    It finally wore off his paw after a while.

  • gdoke
    16 years ago

    Not to be a kill joy with all the funny cat stories, but as a dog owner I'm glad that my two Labs cant walk on the counters in a food prep area after walking in kitty litter.

  • jillypie
    16 years ago

    Oh gdoke, they always lick their paws clean after using the litter box. Didn't you know that kitty saliva was just as good as anti-bacterial soap, lol!

  • mindstorm
    16 years ago

    gdoke, I used to have a lab too. Kissed it on its nose, got doggy saliva all over ... gotta tell you since I got up close and personal to all manner of animals - the paws haven't been anywhere the nose hasn't. ;-) And whether your labs tell you so or not - they're eating machines and will be everywhere food is. That includes helping himself clandestinely from the counter.

    The subject of labs reminds me of one of Peter Mayle's books on living in France. He partook of monthly visits around France to various gastronomic festivals. One month he was somewhere for an escargot festival and found himself waiting in line behind a labrador. The dog's owner told him that this was "Gascon's" fourth visit in as many years and that he's been looking forward to the event. So Peter Mayle remarked that Gascon sounded like an escargot afficianado. The owner replied: "Monsieur, 'e ees a labrador. 'E will eat anything". Judging by any labradors I've known, truer words were never spoken; they will go everywhere and do anything to get food - and you can flap your hands at hygiene all you want! ;-)

    You take these things in stride when you have pets, it seems to me. Meanwhile, the cat stories were hilarious.

  • chapnc
    16 years ago

    Great stories!

    The first time I met my cat, she was just a kitten, and was brought to my house by a friend who fosters kittens from the shelter and tries to place them. She had been after me for days to meet this perfect kitten.

    Ok, something I had never even noticed before was a missing section of the toe-kick panel in the corner where my dishwasher meets up with the cabinets to make a 90-degree corner. There's a teeny section about 3 inches wide missing. This new kitten is running flat out thru the dining room, turns into the kitchen dashes past my legs and, zoooom, right thru that hole and up under the cabinets. In the blink of an eye, didn't even slow down. I'm panicking thinking I'm gonna have to remove the dishwasher and the cabinet panel beside it. Before I could even finish this thought of what I would have to do to rescue this kitty, she turns and runs OUT of the hole, again at full speed.

    I was immediately in love, of course.

  • jubileej
    16 years ago

    Ha,ha - this reminds me of a long thread on the conversations side a year ago, that organic donna started. Donna, you still around? Jillypie, you might remember. Laughed myself sick over your cat's (and DHs) plight.

    My contractor told of a job where they managed to board the cat up into a ceiling. Had to come back out and dismantle beam by beam while trying to coax out kitty with a bowl of food.

    We were always intrigued, while our open plan house was in various stages of remodel - to see our gray kitty's earnest little face peaking out of high places a level up.

  • jubileej
    16 years ago

    Alku05 - what IS your backsplash tile?? I think it might go well with my blue pearl - after all this time, still haven't put in a backsplash.

  • alku05
    16 years ago

    Jubileej, it's a 1" x 2" white venatino tile. It's been discontinued, but Walker Zanger's Tribeca collection offers a similar one.

  • weedyacres
    16 years ago

    Pre-remodel, I came home once to find our cat sitting on top of a wall cabinet. I had to get a step-stool to bring her down. She must have jumped on the counter, then to the top of the fridge, then onto the wall cabinet. I have no idea if she had done it before or if this was the first time and she didn't know how to get down.

    She can't do that now with our new configuration, but I know she gets on the counters and range when we're not looking (I've found footprints and cat hair). We're going to need to try the contact paper and/or a scat mat, as I don't consider them cute enough to forgive getting on my granite. ;-)

  • alku05
    16 years ago

    Our cats know better than to get on the counters...unless they know we're sleeping or not home. They were completely unphased by the contact paper. If anyone finds something remotely affordable that works, we'd love to know about it!

  • jenellecal
    16 years ago

    I have this HUGE black "mutt" cat that I love. He comes into the kitchen 3 times a day to inspect the new space. He'll poke into every crevice and nook, rub up against DH and walk out. If nothing new has been done he doesn't rub against DH, it's hilarious (course neither do I lol).

    Of course he doesn't get on the counter (right, lol, I've just never caught him). He did attempt to get on the counters at the beginning of demo, I guess he didn't think it was a kitchen anymore either. But my hood!!!! he'll be a goner if he gets up there. ;-)

  • sail_away
    16 years ago

    LOL, Jenellecal. Sounds like you and the cat have come up with a perfect way to make sure DH is motivated to keep making progress on the kitchen.

    Our first cat, which we had for sixteen years, was such a sweetheart. She honestly didn't get on the tables or kitchen counters. In fact, we had her trained not to get on most of our furniture, unless we were there and she could sit on one of our laps. She used to come and find me and meow and meow until I would follow her over to a chair in the family room. She wanted me to sit down so she could jump in my lap and take a nap. Of course, I did!

    Having a cat that didn't hang out on our furniture sure made the cleanup and hair containment a lot easier, too.

    Our first cat really spoiled us and unrealistically raised out expectations. We somehow have acquired THREE cats (two littermates and then a third cat our son brought home as an abandoned kitten)! None of them have ever seen a surface they didn't want to inspect. Keeping them off our countertops has been a constant, and losing, battle. They don't get up there when we're in the room, but they clearly explore when we're not around. We've tried just about every type of deterrent--spraying water when catching them, doublesided tape, contact paper, noisy aluminum cans, disposable aluminum trays filled with a mixture of water and white vinegar, and plastic carpet protectors (like are used in offices under rolling chairs) turned upside down so the prongs are facing up and would be uncomfortable for the cats. Unfortunately, all of these things failed. We even found the cats lounging on the carpet protectors that were supposed to be so uncomfortable for them. They acted like they were getting a massage.

  • abmatt
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Sail-away,

    You don't say! Your cats were lounging on the very tool you employed to stop them from lounging?!? How unlike a cat! ;-)

    Those wiley felines get us every time. . .

    Hey, anyone recall growing up as early as the sixties when a lot of pet cats were exclusively yard animals?

  • jenellecal
    16 years ago

    Outdoor cats - gasp, who would do such a thing? We have always had cats, indoor, outdoor, barn, you name it. My cat now is indoor/outdoor (in coyote country). I don't even have a catbox. I know that when I get another one there's the potential that he won't be as smart and either have to be indoor (read catbox, phew) or be coyote food ;-(.

    My cat's been staying really close to the house lately and won't even go outside now until it's light out. I think there's been a band of coyotes running my street, they've been loud and active. Now this is the same at that has woke me up at 4:00 every night on the dot for the past 8 years to go outside.

  • sail_away
    16 years ago

    Abmatt, I know it's hard to believe, but that's exactly what they did.

    I hear you, Jenellecal. In addition to all her other virtues, our first cat was an indoor/outdoor cat. We only had a litter box in the garage when she got older, so she didn't have to go outside when it got really cold or wet. Now we have three cats and they are all inside. I miss the inside/outside days. To be fair, though, our "perfect" first cat used to get up on our roof at the most inopportune times and then howl because she couldn't get down (or pretended she couldn't). We'd have to drag out the ladder and bring her down.

  • acoreana
    16 years ago

    LOL weissman! Almost did a spit take over here!