# Do you have a cat with habits that drive you crazy?



## AprilSun (Mar 14, 2019)

Hi everyone! I have a senior cat that has a habit that drives me crazy! She loves to cuddle with me which I love this! But, in just a few minutes after she has gotten in my lap, she starts licking my clothes! I tell her "you're not a dog" which is why I've never wanted a dog. I like dogs as long as they belong to someone else but I don't like the licking. It doesn't matter what I'm wearing, she licks it anyway. She has been checked by the vet and nothing was found to be wrong. She just has this bad habit. Do you have one that does this or has another kind of bad habit? If so, what is it?


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## SeaBreeze (Mar 14, 2019)

It doesn't drive me crazy, but I don't let it go on.  I have one particular face cream that I put on in the mornings, it has aloe and green tea and a pleasant scent.  He knows as soon as I put it on and comes to me to lick my face.  After the first lick, I pull him away and tell him he can't do that.  It's kind of gross on the face, but it's also bad for him to ingest.  I think your kitty is doing that just out of affection for you, like she's grooming you. :sentimental:


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## RadishRose (Mar 14, 2019)

I had a cat that went wild licking us if we used Ben-Gay! Also toothpaste. If she snuggled with me after I'd just brushed my teeth, she'd try to stick her nose in my mouth!


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## AprilSun (Mar 14, 2019)

SeaBreeze said:


> It doesn't drive me crazy, but I don't let it go on.  I have one particular face cream that I put on in the mornings, it has aloe and green tea and a pleasant scent.  He knows as soon as I put it on and comes to me to lick my face.  After the first lick, I pull him away and tell him he can't do that.  It's kind of gross on the face, but it's also bad for him to ingest.  I think your kitty is doing that just out of affection for you, like she's grooming you. :sentimental:



Maybe that's it. I've been told I have spoiled her but she is so sweet when she's not licking me. She doesn't do it all the time and sometimes when she starts I can make her stop by rubbing her head. She LOVES it! If I stop too soon she grabs my hand with her paws and pulls it back and she's just purring away!



RadishRose said:


> I had a cat that went wild licking us if we used Ben-Gay! Also toothpaste. If she snuggled with me after I'd just brushed my teeth, she'd try to stick her nose in my mouth!



Maybe they are suppose to lick us.  It sounds like your cat wants some of the Ben-Gay and the toothpaste. Is it telling you to share it?


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## jujube (Mar 14, 2019)

She's "grooming" you.  It's a sign of love and respect.  

She regards you as the "alpha cat" and is paying you respect by social grooming.


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## Keesha (Mar 14, 2019)

YES! My cat is an indoor / outdoor cat. From spring to fall we rarely see her. She’s in for food but stays out most of the time. She kills mice, gophers , squirrels etc., and leaves them for me on the back porch. 
She plays with the dogs and is very family oriented but as soon as winter comes and she’s an indoor cat , she gets needy and smotherly. She doesn’t want to just sleep by me at bedtime, she wants to practically sleep on my face so I have a face full of fur. If that’s not bad enough she starts purring and it sounds like an engine running. Then she starts licking me or wiping her face on me. You know how cats rub all over you. If I lock her ou she goes around the house meowing super loud. 

Dont get me wrong; I LOVE my cat but she drives me nuts at times.


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## AprilSun (Mar 15, 2019)

jujube said:


> She's "grooming" you.  It's a sign of love and respect.
> 
> She regards you as the "alpha cat" and is paying you respect by social grooming.



Maybe that is it. I noticed last night while we were cuddled, she started licking my hand. I wouldn't do it but I wonder what she would do if I started licking her? 



Keesha said:


> YES! My cat is an indoor / outdoor cat. From spring to fall we rarely see her. She’s in for food but stays out most of the time. She kills mice, gophers , squirrels etc., and leaves them for me on the back porch.
> She plays with the dogs and is very family oriented but as soon as winter comes and she’s an indoor cat , she gets needy and smotherly. She doesn’t want to just sleep by me at bedtime, she wants to practically sleep on my face so I have a face full of fur. If that’s not bad enough she starts purring and it sounds like an engine running. Then she starts licking me or wiping her face on me. You know how cats rub all over you. If I lock her ou she goes around the house meowing super loud.
> 
> Dont get me wrong; I LOVE my cat but she drives me nuts at times.



I know exactly what you mean and how you feel. I love my cat too but she also "drives me up the wall" with her licking my clothes!


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## CindyLouWho (Mar 15, 2019)

It's not really a bad habit, but my, 17 year old cat (B-day in June), has the loudest meow I've ever heard. Of course she walks so quietly and when she let's out a cry and I don't know she's there, it actually makes me jump. What's funny is when I first got her as a baby kitten, she would open her mouth to cry but nothing would come out just a raspy sound....well, she found her voice! She's my last pet since my other cat and sweet dog passed away fairly recently, so I am so grateful to have her, especially since she is almost 84 years old!!


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## jujube (Mar 15, 2019)

AprilSun said:


> Maybe that is it. I noticed last night while we were cuddled, she started licking my hand.* I wouldn't do it but I wonder what she would do if I started licking her? *
> 
> 
> 
> I know exactly what you mean and how you feel. I love my cat too but she also "drives me up the wall" with her licking my clothes!



The very loving cat I had several years ago would groom me incessantly.  We had an arrangement.  I'd hold out my index finger and he'd lick the tip. Then I'd groom him with the finger.  Repeat and rinse.  He was willing to keep that up for an hour if I'd go along with it.   We had a mutual grooming society going on there.  

He was such a sweetheart.  

He also liked to provide for the family: he was an indoor and outdoor cat and there was an  "offering" every morning on the doorstep.  It might be a squirrel haunch, it could be a pile of intestines, it might be a head or a tail or a still-twitching lizard minus a few bites.  But, there was always _something_.  The Mighty Hunter took care of his clan.  

He loved to play fetch with a little plastic ring.  He'd run to retrieve it and would bring it back and drop it in my palm.  He'd do that 3-5 times and then he'd just look at me like "What are you waiting for me to do? Fetch the ring?  I think not.....cats don't "fetch", lady!" and walk off in high dudgeon.  Cats.....


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## AprilSun (Mar 15, 2019)

CindyLouWho said:


> It's not really a bad habit, but my, 17 year old cat (B-day in June), has the loudest meow I've ever heard. Of course she walks so quietly and when she let's out a cry and I don't know she's there, it actually makes me jump.


There are times I think my cat is laying on her bed and then before I know she's moved, she has meowed very loudly right behind me. Sometimes, she will do it in another room. I have read that some senior cats do this and she is a senior cat.



jujube said:


> The very loving cat I had several years ago would groom me incessantly.  We had an arrangement.  I'd hold out my index finger and he'd lick the tip. Then I'd groom him with the finger.  Repeat and rinse.  He was willing to keep that up for an hour if I'd go along with it.   We had a mutual grooming society going on there.
> 
> He was such a sweetheart.
> 
> ...



He sounds like he was so sweet! I love cats and especially sweet cats!!!!!


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## Keesha (Mar 15, 2019)

CindyLouWho said:


> It's not really a bad habit, but my, 17 year old cat (B-day in June), has the loudest meow I've ever heard. Of course she walks so quietly and when she let's out a cry and I don't know she's there, it actually makes me jump. What's funny is when I first got her as a baby kitten, she would open her mouth to cry but nothing would come out just a raspy sound....well, she found her voice! She's my last pet since my other cat and sweet dog passed away fairly recently, so I am so grateful to have her, especially since she is almost 84 years old!!


At 17 years old perhaps your cat is going deaf. My parents last 2 cats they had were very old and when they couldn’t find each other they would meow really loud.


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## jujube (Mar 15, 2019)

AprilSun said:


> He sounds like he was so sweet! I love cats and especially sweet cats!!!!!



Oh, he was!  I think he was a Golden Retriever reincarnated as a cat.  He'd follow me around like a dog and he let the kids dress him up in doll clothes for hours.  I'm not sure that he was actually enjoying it, but he put up with it with no objections. It would be so funny to see him slinking around dressed in a frilly dress and a bonnet.  Most cats just go limp when you put anything on them, but he was a bit of an exhibitionist.  Either that, or he thought if I saw him, I'd feel sorry for him.


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## AprilSun (Mar 16, 2019)

jujube said:


> Oh, he was!  I think he was a Golden Retriever reincarnated as a cat.  He'd follow me around like a dog.



Your comment about him following you around like a dog reminds me of this cat. From the time we first got her until now, if I'm doing something that she's not familiar with, she has to check it out. Here she comes sniffing whatever it is I'm doing if she can get to it. She really did this a lot when she first came here. She was right there with me regardless of what I was doing.


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## tortiecat (Mar 16, 2019)

My Callie is approx. 16 years old and she howls at night.  The vet. says it is a form of dementia, and insecurity.
It is becoming an issue, as I already have insomnia and her crying is affecting my sleep.  I cannot shut her
out of the bedroom as that would only make matters worse.


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## Aneeda72 (Mar 16, 2019)

Lol.  My puppy licks so much I was thinking she must have some cat DNA.


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## AprilSun (Mar 17, 2019)

Aneeda72 said:


> Lol.  My puppy licks so much I was thinking she must have some cat DNA.



LOL!!! That's a good one! If my cat starts barking and your dog starts meowing, we will have a problem!


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## Fyrefox (Mar 31, 2019)

My one cat drools on me in bed, most often in close proximity!  I mean, droplets of his saliva just patter on down.  I asked my vet about the behavior, and when he established the context in which it occurred felt that it was because of arousal of the cat's pleasure center.  At least I now know that my cat likes me and isn't planning on eating me, and I'm glad that humans don't manifest pleasure in the same way, which would be most disconcerting...


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## AprilSun (Mar 31, 2019)

Fyrefox said:


> My one cat drools on me in bed, most often in close proximity!  I mean, droplets of his saliva just patter on down.  I asked my vet about the behavior, and when he established the context in which it occurred felt that it was because of arousal of the cat's pleasure center.  At least I now know that my cat likes me and isn't planning on eating me, and I'm glad that humans don't manifest pleasure in the same way, which would be most disconcerting...



My cat hasn't started that yet and I hope she doesn't.


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## fuzzybuddy (May 4, 2019)

Mikey was the kitten from hell. He ran everywhere. He used to climb up my drapery. But his best trick was to attack a female, Turkey. He would get a running start in my bedroom, gather up speed in the hall, then jump on to the arm of my Laziboy, and finally take flight, and landing on poor unsuspecting Turkey. I would be watching TV and see a cat with out stretched paws go flying buy.


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## AprilSun (May 4, 2019)

fuzzybuddy said:


> Mikey was the kitten from hell. He ran everywhere. He used to climb up my drapery. But his best trick was to attack a female, Turkey. He would get a running start in my bedroom, gather up speed in the hall, then jump on to the arm of my Laziboy, and finally take flight, and landing on poor unsuspecting Turkey. I would be watching TV and see a cat with out stretched paws go flying buy.



Goodness, it sounds like Mikey kept you busy by just keeping him out of things.


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## fuzzybuddy (May 6, 2019)

Yup. I've had cats for most of my life. Mikey was exceptional. He never knew he was a cat. He thought he was human.  In his mind, he let me live in his home.


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## Nihil (May 6, 2019)

I love all 7 of them, no matter what they do.


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## tortiecat (May 6, 2019)

I think all cats are creatures of habit.  I know my Callie determines meal times, TV time, bedtime.


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## AprilSun (May 6, 2019)

Nihil said:


> I love all 7 of them, no matter what they do.



I love my cat regardless of her licking but it does get old sometimes. But, she is as sweet as she can be and I would take the licking over her being a mean cat anytime!!!! She loves to cuddle and so do I!!!!!


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## Five_Leaf (Jun 8, 2019)

My 9 yr old cat has suffered from severe spasms. She would freak out every time someone walked in the door. I have been giving her CBD tincture in her food which seems to help


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## RadishRose (Jun 8, 2019)

I had a cat that went wild over mint or eucalyptus scent. She'd try to get in my mouth after I brushed my teeth, and oh- if we used Ben-Gay for a sore muscle, we'd have to ban her from the bedroom!


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## Judycat (Jun 30, 2019)

My cats are indoor/outdoor cats. I have one who will sit at the patio door and plead to be let out, then turn around and stare to be let back in. I have a cellar window converted to a cat door,  but she would rather do the doorman routine. I have one who seems to want in, but runs away when I open the door. She's the same one who will come in, and run down to the basement and out the cat door, only to sit and stare in the patio door again. This can become maddening. It's all a game to them.


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## AprilSun (Jun 30, 2019)

Judycat said:


> My cats are indoor/outdoor cats. I have one who will sit at the patio door and plead to be let out, then turn around and stare to be let back in. I have a cellar window converted to a cat door,  but she would rather do the doorman routine. I have one who seems to want in, but runs away when I open the door. She's the same one who will come in, and run down to the basement and out the cat door, only to sit and stare in the patio door again. This can become maddening. It's all a game to them.



That would get old fast! There's no doubt about it, cats are creatures of habit.


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