Everyone knows how sneaky cats can be.  They live under the Two-Way Rule......when you are in the room, they innocently follow your rules......and when you step out of the room, they live by theirs.  What, in your estimation, is the sneakiest low-down thing your cat does that either rankles you or makes you laugh?

....and what about your dog?  Is he/she 100% guilt-free..........hmmmmmm?

Okay......I'll start:

None of the cats are allowed up on the kitchen counter. And I never see them there, either....  :)   But in the morning when I go to make coffee,  the first thing out of the cabinet is the Lysol Spray......for very clear cat footprints are evident on the ceramic tile counter and stainless steel sink.

As for dogs....my husband and I left for the day, a 22#  turkey thawing in the kitchen sink for Thanksgiving the following day. We had 2 outside dogs at the time and they were in the yard.

When we returned, we were greeted by two happy dogs that had jumped the backyard fence. The glass panels were shattered all over the driveway from the double doors leading to the kitchen.  The turkey?  The breast had a gnaw hole about an inch deep and three inches across!  What did we do? We blanched the "wound" with scalding hot water and baked it the next day......of course!

My cat has been staying with my boyfriend off and on (he keeps cat-napping him). Anyway, last night he pooped on his bed. My boyfriend was less than amused. Duke is an indoor/outdoor cat that got locked inside a little too long.

LOL!  Rebecca, that doesn't seem so much sneaky as just downright angry!  Cats do know how to get even with us...don't they?

Love the Cocteau quote, incidentally......it sums it up...

I have both a carport and a garage - bought the house that way - and yesterday I was in the yard on my lounger reading when I looked up and the neighbor's cat was on the top of my carport, tucked under the eave of the house, sitting there staring at me in my yard!  She ran off when I got up, but I had to laugh. 

This cat goes for walks with her family and thier dog.  From time to time she also sits in my front yard and meows for my dog to come to the window, then approaches the window and casually walks around "ignoring" Pepper while she goes nuts!  That's my kind of cat!

Sharon ~

LOL!!!  I have one cat that likes to stare....watches every move I make....but usually hides around a corner not quite out of view...  I delight in telling him hello  in a voice a bit louder than I usually use.

Your signature deserves an award. Touche'!

Did anyone have their cat sneak out candy at Halloween?  Mine likes to bat around the wrapped twilight mints....

Yes, cats are very sneaky.

We have just a few rules for our cats, one of them is no paws in the kitchen.

I have seen one cat push the other cat (headbutted) into the kitchen and then howl loudly to get the cat in trouble.

My husband also thought it just fine to leave a pound of salmon to thaw on the counter and then leave to go to the store to get something. Upon returning he found the salmon on the kitchen floor, with plastic chewed open and that foam base with parts missing too. The cat had eaten a good third of that salmon.  ANd we know it was just one of the cats since only one pooped plastic. 

I have also seen my husband eating a lolly pop, he was distracted (was reading) and the lolly pop was just in his hand, my cat leaned over and licked the lolly pop, all without my husband noticing and he was too spaced out to hear me telling him not to lick the lolly pop. I do know the cat was not impressed as I think she figured she would get the lolly pop after having licked it.

Anyone else have a cat that goes totally nuts for boiled eggs?

Hysterical, Pam!  My D.O. never quite understood what he was up against with a cat lurking in the background, either, and they got away with murder, too. The sucker thing really registered.....Jack will always try (likes sweets) and then, of course, he likes to play with bubbles in carbonated drinks.

My cats don't  much like eggs......but when I prepare the chicken breast for my homemade soup, they hang out until all 4 of them have had some choice tidbits......and no......I don't believe in spoiling animals.......much......

The cats are not so much sneaky as nosy in this house.... First week we brought Pandora home, I'm unloading groceries with her in the kitchen.  I finish and look around for her, but she's no where to be seen.  then I start hearing her meows, slightly muffled.  I check the cabinets, the pantry, everywhere.  Finally I open the refridgerator, and there she is.  She climbed into the fruit drawer without my noticing.  She was chilly but alright.

Other places she's investigated: the crawl space, the cubby with the plumbing for the hot tub (I guess she likes the warmth) and the trundle under my bed. She also almost climbed out the skylight in pursuit of leaves blowing in the wind.

My cat is the same way as yours with the counters.  I don't know how long he's been doing it but I just realized it recently because he knocked down a super sized jar of peanut butter that I obviously would have noticed if I had done it myself.  Then I heard him in the sink one day, but I cannot for the life of me catch him.  It does make me a little mad because that was the one place I didn't have to worry about fragile stuff!

The other one likes to chew on bags and fish for things underneath closet doors.  She sometimes manages to pull things halfway out and I don't even know how.

Pandora crawled into the refrigerator????  TOO funny!  Would that make the fridge Pandora's Box.....or.......(I'm on a roll, here).....would it make her a real cool cat.  :)  (Okay....I'll stop!)

My son has had the house torn up for the last year and one of his cats pushed the sliding door between the kitchen and livingroom open and went roaming thru the ductwork of the house.  I live downstairs and if you don't think that sounded weird overhead.  I took off another vent in the hallway and called her.  She came right up to me but wasn't ready to come back out.  She eventually did, but it made me very uncomfortable until she did.  Cats....there is NOTHING like them.  :)

Linda

Christina, I feel your frustration.  I love cats, I am always going to have cats, and if I have to clean a lot and deal with very dry hands because of the constant cleaning, so be it.  My choice...right? 

That being said, Doctors Foster and Smith have several devices you can leave in areas you don't want your cat to go and I am sorely tempted to get one or the other. (The sprays don't seem very effective and I believe I have tried them all.)  One of the aids is a Scat Mat which emits a little static charge and can be left wherever....kinda pricey...but another one has piqued my interest more....it's called The Tattle Tale and picks up the least little vibration (translation: sneaky cat approaching).  It emits a 2 second alarm that lets you know what the cat is up to and then re-sets itself.  It runs off a 9-volt battery and runs around $20.00.  The first one I mentioned runs somewhere between $70-80.00. There is also another one that makes a beep when your cat 's paw touches the area you want to protect....runs around $30.00.

Funny how cats fish like that.  Bet you are always checking to make sure a belt or scarf isn't partially exposed.  I'm cautious, too. But it's not a big deal....they are so funny to watch!  Better than most TV Shows I have seen lately....  LOL!!!

Don't know if anyone saw L.G.'s post in the CMT forum, but she made a great suggestion for keeping cats off your countertop: set mouse traps underneath a thick layer of newspaper.  No harm to the cat, but the sudden noise will be remembered!

Sneaky cat story: I got a really pretty floral arrangement delivered to me yesterday for Valentine's Day.  It came in a fairly deep box....approximately a foot square.  It had a hole to hold the vase securely, with perforated lines radiating out from the center.  Hmmm......says I......a cat toy!

I put it out for LeeLoo, tissue paper stuffed into the hole for more 'possibilities'.  He played with it all evening and had a great time.  I went to read in the other room for awhile, and when I came back to get coffee, the whole box was on the kitchen table!  I would give my right arm to have seen that performance!

Oh.  And the teddy bear that was in with the arrangement?  It ended up on the hallway floor where the box had been.

I have a window over my stairs that has a ledge that is about a half and inch wide.  One of my cats can  reach the ledg by jumpin from the upper floor by jumping too it from the back of the couch, but I do not like her on it because I am afraid that she will slip off and fall down to what amount to a two story drop.  Any time I yell at her to stay away from the ledge, she looks at me as if to say "what is your problem, I do this all day long when you are gone"

The other sneaky thing I have had a cat do was done my cat Maggie (she is no longer with us).  She loved to play with straws.  I could not get her to touch a cat toy, but she would go crazy over straws, so I would buy a box to keep as toys for her.  The problem was is that she prefered the type of straw that you get with drinks from fast food restaurants and if you turned your back on your drink for a second, she would steal the straw right out of your cup.  I still have not figured out how she could do that without knocking the cup over.  At least my roommates and I knew to guard our drinks.  When we would have friends over, their straws would disappear and they could not figure out where it went.  LOL

Very sneaky cats, Michelle! 

Maybe Maggie liked the straws because they roll....or did she try and eat them like so many cats do?  She sure had a light touch, that's for sure.  I don't drink carbonated drinks much, but if I do, I don't dare leave the glass where Jack can get to them......he plays with the bubbles.  Yeah.  With his paw!       :)

Guess you were referring to Fidgit at the ledge?  You know she jumps on that narrow ledge when you are gone!  Cats are their own little bosses and only try to please us when they can see us.....or we can see them.  LOL!

Linda:

If you revisit this forum, can you tell me if the mousetrap would work for trying to keep a cat away from the outside door.  I am having a really hard time keeping my little guy away from the outside door and sneaking out.  I live in an apartment complex and I'm afraid that if he gets out he will definitely not find his way back.  I do have him tagged though, so I am hoping that if someone finds him they will call me.  He is both tagged with my Phone number and he is chipped.

Any suggestions about keeping him away from the outside door would be very helpful and I would be truly grateful as well.

Shelly, I can appreciate your concern for your cat getting out, as that is one of my biggest fears, too.

Some of the pet sprays are effective, but I don't know about you, I get tired of the fact that they have to be applied again after a few days. What has been effective for me, as I am soft-spoken for the most part and the house is not overly-loud, is using sudden noise as an attention grabber.  My cats now know that a kicked door and "Watch Out!" means I am coming in.....SPLIT......and they do!  They sit at a distance while I come bustling in with groceries or whatever and they caught on to this really fast.  As you go thru the door and see the cat has moved, tell him what a good cat he is as soon as the door is closed behind you.  Just don't know why so many people think cats aren't too bright....do you?    :)

The mouse traps under the newspaper might work, but I think from a personal viewpoint, I would find it a royal pain when I came thru.   ;)

Hope I was of some help....anything I have to offer is just me looking for a way, too.  How old is your cat....great you have him chipped.  Mine are, as well.

Our cat, Boogie, acts like a snob all day long! If you try to be near her or pet her she's so grouchy she just growls and swats. At night she jumps on us snuggles and purrrs like a kitten and is lovey dovey! I tell my husband either she's embarrassed to be seen with us during the day or she's crazy! Maybe both lol!

Well, Boogie isn't really all that sneaky about showing what is acceptable to her....is she, Lena?  :)

The intrigue of cats for me is they clearly let you know when they don't want to do something you want them to do or accept the invasion of your hands upon their sacrosanct little bodies.  It cracks me up, really.  I respect their space....but again....they really do crack me up!

Of course, if it is cold  at night, you may touch them and share your body heat, please....

When the sun comes up and your cat is rested and lazily enjoying the warm patch of bedspread you have so thoughtfully provided all night long,  as you leave it to take care of your family or get ready for work, your cat will again revert to indifference as you bestow upon it that final pat.

The sneaky part probably occurs when you turn your back and leave the room......that's when I suspect your cat sticks out its tongue at you!    LOL!

What d'ya think?

Actually, your right:) Here is a sneaky....I caught her doing this one day and it scared me to think how many times has this happened withOUT me knowing.......I had a drink on the coffee table with a straw in it. I got up to do something and when I came around the corner she had my straw rubbing in her nose! EEWWWWWW and no that is not why she's named Boogie LOL

ROTFLOL!!!  Ew is right.  I have one like Boogie, too...Jack.  He doesn't know about straws, but he has the Snowshoe's fascination with all things liquid. I used to leave a drink here or there, until I discovered that Jack Frost was fishing in my glass with his front paws.  Double ew.  I don't do that anymore.  Guess I was lucky I didn't die from it and that he didn't knock the glass over.   ;)

Oh!  New one:  Casey is doing the old counter thing again and then walking across the stove.  I have had to re-light the pilot on the righthand burners twice this week....

Ugh....

In response to Linda's post above:

I have found that the Scaaat Spray works wonders.  I have a can down by my door and everytime he trips the sensor he gets a spray.  It has helped keep him away from the door.  For those of you who are looking for something to keep your cats off the counter, this is supposed to work for that as well.  Just put it in a spot that your cat will trip the sensor and he will get a dose of the non-harmful spray with a loud sound. 

Linda:  Samson is 7 1/2 months old.  That's him as just a little(r) guy in my avatar.  He is so much fun.  Right now he is driving me absolutely batty because I have taught him to walk on a leash and he is always meowing to go for walks.  However, being as I am the adult and he is the child, he goes out on my schedule :-)

Hello, Shelly -

Wonderul, helpful post!

Thanks for the cat-behavior hint.  I have heard about this sytem of control but haven't tried it. Nice to get these ideas out to those in dire need....  ;)

Sampson is a beautiful kitten and training him to leash is a wonderful accomplishment. I adopted a 3-4 year-old cat some years back, and surprisingly, he learned the routine quickly.  I think he was owned by someone quite elderly....he didn't know how to play!  Bright boy that he was, he learned that quickly, as well...

Cats are so amazing.

I needed something badly to keep him from becoming the escape artist that he wanted to be so I looked into this Scaaat Spray.  It seems to be working.  Before I started the spray, he would lay by the door and wait for me to arrive, while trying to escape out the door as I opened it.  With the spray being used, he doesn't get near the door, but waits for me in the hallway by the door.  I still use it and will continue to until I know that he has learned that he cannot get out the door without me first.

He also, I believe, has learned that the only way he can get out is if he is in my arms.  It is starting to become entertaining and it's weird how I can read him, but he jumps into my arms and as I walk by the door he turns he head toward the door; because this is how he gets out the door...in my arms.

I really didn't have that hard of a time training him to walk on the leash.  He now relates the leash with walking because when I get it out to take him for a walk, he immediately puts his head through the loop of the leash. I didn't do all the training that some "experts" advise, just put it on him and took him outside.  He did flop down  a couple of times after the first time of having the leash on but now he knows what it is and when it comes out he knows its time for his walk.