So Tiger was a perfect angel the first night Kyle brought him home. We found out that he's house-trained (perk!) and that he is very cuddly. He was the best cat anyone could ask for!
Four days later, Tiger has shown us that he does scratch furniture afterall. We've been very lucky to catch him at it early--we sit in the living room a lot, so we stop him before he even starts sometimes. Kyle read somewhere (he's been reading up on cats a lot lately, now that we have one) that cats hate the smell of citrus spray, so he bought some citrus room spray from Wal-Mart the other day and sprayed down the furniture with it--it's done a little in helping Tiger to stay away! The point of this (instead of just hitting him or throwing him off) is for him to think that it's not fun at all to scratch furniture as opposed to it's not fun to scratch furniture when people are around. By deterring him from coming near the couch altogether (instead of just when we're there), I think it'll take care of his scratching when we're out.
We also discovered that cats hate the feel of aluminum foil on their feet, so we put aluminum foil down along the floor around the corners of the couch. It helped--Tiger wouldn't step on it! But he'd stretch over it to reach the couch, which is why we needed the spray.
Tiger also eats more than the average cat, I think. He eats like it's his job! He goes through a whole bowl of food a day (lots more than my parents' cat does) and when he's out of food, he begs at the table. Especially for Arby's food. And when he doesn't get it, he thinks it's okay to jump on the table to see what we have! He's not jumped on surfaces very often (I think his last master didn't like that too much, either), but I've had to keep him off the kitchen counters once. Cats do not belong on tables, counters, or other surfaces! If you let your cat up on any of these things....gross!
Kyle and I worked together to give Tiger a bath on Monday...that was interesting. He was actually very well behaved, and I emerged with no scratches or bites (I did the primary lathering and rinsing) but my shirt was SOAKED. When they say cats hate water, they hate water! I've never been cruel enough to shove a cat in a bathtub when I was a kid, and I'm awfully glad I didn't!
Kyle continues to be amazed by Tiger's cleverness and agility--he's never owned a cat, you see, so he's always surprised by how high he can jump, how far he can stretch, and how stealthy he is. This, of course, is old news to me. I don't underestimate Tiger. He's an interesting little kitty. He might be cute and cuddly (he's taken to crawling on my chest and licking my cheeks when I'm busy reading), but he also likes to playfully bite at your feet--which is something Kyle discovered during a nap!
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