13 replies to this topic

[ChelseyLu]

My cat spends her entire day watching my hamster. If she's not distracted, if I'm not home, or while we're doing other things. We'll hear her scratching at his bin cage. I have it set up so it's below my cabinet, on top of my counter. Only two sides of my ~4 month old robo hamster's cage is exposed. It's a white tinted plastic material, not clear. She'll scratch, watch, pounce at his cage whenever he's awake. He doesn't seem too fazed, but I'm sure it's scary. This has been happening since day one when I brought Robo (also his name ahaha) home. 
 

I'm very very (too) close with my cat. She comes before all else. I consider her a therapy animal. My life being self-employed and suffering from chronic illness, I'm home a lot. I always know exactly where she is at all times, she's always close by (although I'm sure she's sick of me). I live in a very small apartment. Consisting of a small living area, and a kitchen, one very small bedroom and one bathroom. So, locking her out of the room is impossible. She ply's open the closet and laundry room door if it's closed. If she cant get in, she will knock and meow until she's in. She needs to know where we are, and what we're doing. She doesn't even want to come in the room, she just wants to check up on us. She's been like this her whole life. When she lived with our family, she would scratch at everybody's doors, and they weren't having that. We ended up having to lock her, and her sister in the living/dining room in a different house. Away from the sleeping family, sadly away from me. But, let me tell you, it was the most peaceful sleep I've ever had.

I love her to death, but I'll spray her until the sun goes down. We have a pressure type gardening sprayer for our Crested Gecko (who she rarely cares for, unless we're handling her, which is manageable). We use that and spray her away from him whenever she goes near. We place the sprayer right next to the bottle, but she couldn't care less. She goes for him anyways. I'm sure she would attack him if she got a hold of him. I don't say it would bad, she's a bit of a fluffy wimp. But, if he ever got out, I would know where he is. 

His cage is cat-proof. To even unlatch and open the top of the bin-cage, you need to remove it from under the cabinet. The ventilations fine, it needs to be fine, because anything else would probably be a death sentence. I have a mesh screen door (from a sliding mesh door) cut into the top lid. It's surprisingly heavy duty, if anybody wanted to try that idea out. I don't know how to keep her away. I've tried absolutely everything and I'm at my wits end. (Jackson Galaxy anyone?). We've tried the water bottle, different bottles, scaring her??, removing her completely, giving her food, playing with her, distracting her. Everything. But, 20 minutes later she'll be back on the counter staring at him, and pouncing.  Any advice? I know this is long, but I wanted to cover everything!

Edited by ChelseyLu, 28 May 2018 - 04:53 PM.

[IsAnyoneThere]

My cat spends her entire day watching my hamster. If she's not distracted, if I'm not home, or while we're doing other things. We'll hear her scratching at his bin cage. I have it set up so it's below my cabinet, on top of my counter. Only two sides of my ~4 month old robo hamster's cage is exposed. It's a white tinted plastic material, not clear. She'll scratch, watch, pounce at his cage whenever he's awake. He doesn't seem too fazed, but I'm sure it's scary. This has been happening since day one when I brought Robo (also his name ahaha) home. 
 

I'm very very (too) close with my cat. She comes before all else. I consider her a therapy animal. My life being self-employed and suffering from chronic illness, I'm home a lot. I always know exactly where she is at all times, she's always close by (although I'm sure she's sick of me). I live in a very small apartment. Consisting of a small living area, and a kitchen, one very small bedroom and one bathroom. So, locking her out of the room is impossible. She ply's open the closet and laundry room door if it's closed. If she cant get in, she will knock and meow until she's in. She needs to know where we are, and what we're doing. She doesn't even want to come in the room, she just wants to check up on us. She's been like this her whole life. When she lived with our family, she would scratch at everybody's doors, and they weren't having that. We ended up having to lock her, and her sister in the living/dining room in a different house. Away from the sleeping family, sadly away from me. But, let me tell you, it was the most peaceful sleep I've ever had.

I love her to death, but I'll spray her until the sun goes down. We have a pressure type gardening sprayer for our Crested Gecko (who she rarely cares for, unless we're handling her, which is manageable). We use that and spray her away from him whenever she goes near. We place the sprayer right next to the bottle, but she couldn't care less. She goes for him anyways. I'm sure she would attack him if she got a hold of him. I don't say it would bad, she's a bit of a fluffy wimp. But, if he ever got out, I would know where he is. 

His cage is cat-proof. To even unlatch and open the top of the bin-cage, you need to remove it from under the cabinet. The ventilations fine, it needs to be fine, because anything else would probably be a death sentence. I have a mesh screen door (from a sliding mesh door) cut into the top lid. It's surprisingly heavy duty, if anybody wanted to try that idea out. I don't know how to keep her away. I've tried absolutely everything and I'm at my wits end. (Jackson Galaxy anyone?). We've tried the water bottle, different bottles, scaring her??, removing her completely, giving her food, playing with her, distracting her. Everything. But, 20 minutes later she'll be back on the counter staring at him, and pouncing.  Any advice? I know this is long, but I wanted to cover everything!

 

Does your hamster seem bothered? My two cats watch my hamster ALL the time, they sit on top of the cage and paw at the bars, but I know that the cage is perfectly secure, and my hamster doesn't seem to give two hoots about it. 

 

I mean, at the beginning she noticed there was a cat there, but now she literally goes up to the side of the cage where the cat is and continues hamstering (digging, pouching, running, whatever) just as if there's no cat there at all. 

 

I'd say that if they're not scaring your hamster or causing stress, and you're absolutely sure the cage is secure, then it's fine.

 

HOWEVER, the presence of the cat there *could* be stressful for the hamster, especially if she is making sudden movements towards the cage which startle the hamster. You say that the bin cage is under a cabinet... would it be possible to make/get an opaque barrier so your cat can't *see* the hamster cage?

[Hamster~paws]

Shut your hamster and cat in different parts of the house or if your hamster is getting stressed from the cat or the cat is trying to get to your hamster try a squirting bottle with water and when the cat is being naughty squirt them they should soon learn.

[LemurH]

I agree with IsAnyoneThere's advice. Also, please stop spraying your cat. Hunting prey is a natural behaviour for them and it's not fair to punish her for doing something that's she's literally designed to do. Spraying her will only cause her frustration and likely lead her to associate you, not the hamster with the spray bottle.

 

I also noticed that in your post you mentioned your cat doesn't let you sleep properly at night. This combined with your cat being fixated on your hamster might mean that she's bored and under stimulated. Playing regularly with your cat is one excellent way to deal with this problem. It's generally recommended to play with cats twice a day for about 15 minutes each session. These play sessions should be physically invigorating and really get your cat running and jumping around.

 

This'll hopefully eliminate some of your cat's energy, let you sleep better at night and maybe even get your cat to stop going after the hamster all the time.

[Hamster~paws]

I agree with IsAnyoneThere's advice. Also, please stop spraying your cat. Hunting prey is a natural behaviour for them and it's not fair to punish her for doing something that's she's literally designed to do. Spraying her will only cause her frustration and likely lead her to associate you, not the hamster with the spray bottle.
 
I also noticed that in your post you mentioned your cat doesn't let you sleep properly at night. This combined with your cat being fixated on your hamster might mean that she's bored and under stimulated. Playing regularly with your cat is one excellent way to deal with this problem. It's generally recommended to play with cats twice a day for about 15 minutes each session. These play sessions should be physically invigorating and really get your cat running and jumping around.
 
This'll hopefully eliminate some of your cat's energy, let you sleep better at night and maybe even get your cat to stop going after the hamster all the time.

I personally don’t spray my cats for hunting and chasing, I read it somewhere and my friends have done it it did stop them they learned that they shouldn’t chase the hamsters and should instead play with toys. I know that there are other methods such as providing more toys but I commented that as a last resort method , sorry

[LemurH]

I personally don’t spray my cats for hunting and chasing, I read it somewhere and my friends have done it it did stop them they learned that they shouldn’t chase the hamsters and should instead play with toys. I know that there are other methods such as providing more toys but I commented that as a last resort method , sorry

 

No worries, I wasn't talking to you. My comment was meant for the original poster : )

[Hamster~paws]

No worries, I wasn't talking to you. My comment was meant for the original poster : )

 

oh ok that's good hope we can be friends

[nebit]

I agree with Lemur and IsAnyoneThere. None of my hamsters have been bothered by cats or dogs watching the cage. I would make sure that the mesh screen is VERY heavy duty- most mesh screen is not cat/hamster proof. If you're worried that the cat is physically moving the cage, switching to a tank may help- they're much more solid in construction and even a hard hit from a cat would have no effect on the occupants.

[MamaLuna]

I've also had this issue with both animals. My hamster Luna being pretty un-fazed by my cat Sunny who's always interested in her when she's up. I think the best thing to do is just normalize it, no matter what the cat will always be interested in a small fast moving creature.

I work at home atm so I supervise my pets and make sure to grab my cat and lock him out of my room if he bothers her i.e (trys lifting top or bats at cage window) for a lease 30mins. If you only have a restroom I suggest putting the cat in there as a time out teaching them that this behavior has bad consequences. You shouldn't punish your cat if they're just looking at the cage out of curiosity and excitement its just apart of their nature. 

Also this is probably obvious but try not to leave the cat and hamster alone, if you can move either one of them into a closed room so that there wont be a tragedy while you're away. 

[FrostytheSyrianHam]

My cat spends her entire day watching my hamster. If she's not distracted, if I'm not home, or while we're doing other things. We'll hear her scratching at his bin cage. I have it set up so it's below my cabinet, on top of my counter. Only two sides of my ~4 month old robo hamster's cage is exposed. It's a white tinted plastic material, not clear. She'll scratch, watch, pounce at his cage whenever he's awake. He doesn't seem too fazed, but I'm sure it's scary. This has been happening since day one when I brought Robo (also his name ahaha) home. 
 
I'm very very (too) close with my cat. She comes before all else. I consider her a therapy animal. My life being self-employed and suffering from chronic illness, I'm home a lot. I always know exactly where she is at all times, she's always close by (although I'm sure she's sick of me). I live in a very small apartment. Consisting of a small living area, and a kitchen, one very small bedroom and one bathroom. So, locking her out of the room is impossible. She ply's open the closet and laundry room door if it's closed. If she cant get in, she will knock and meow until she's in. She needs to know where we are, and what we're doing. She doesn't even want to come in the room, she just wants to check up on us. She's been like this her whole life. When she lived with our family, she would scratch at everybody's doors, and they weren't having that. We ended up having to lock her, and her sister in the living/dining room in a different house. Away from the sleeping family, sadly away from me. But, let me tell you, it was the most peaceful sleep I've ever had.
I love her to death, but I'll spray her until the sun goes down. We have a pressure type gardening sprayer for our Crested Gecko (who she rarely cares for, unless we're handling her, which is manageable). We use that and spray her away from him whenever she goes near. We place the sprayer right next to the bottle, but she couldn't care less. She goes for him anyways. I'm sure she would attack him if she got a hold of him. I don't say it would bad, she's a bit of a fluffy wimp. But, if he ever got out, I would know where he is. 
His cage is cat-proof. To even unlatch and open the top of the bin-cage, you need to remove it from under the cabinet. The ventilations fine, it needs to be fine, because anything else would probably be a death sentence. I have a mesh screen door (from a sliding mesh door) cut into the top lid. It's surprisingly heavy duty, if anybody wanted to try that idea out. I don't know how to keep her away. I've tried absolutely everything and I'm at my wits end. (Jackson Galaxy anyone?). We've tried the water bottle, different bottles, scaring her??, removing her completely, giving her food, playing with her, distracting her. Everything. But, 20 minutes later she'll be back on the counter staring at him, and pouncing.  Any advice? I know this is long, but I wanted to cover everything!

My cat was the same way when I had Frosty. She would sit on top of the cage at night and just watch him and even pounce on the lid. It never bothered my hammy any. When we made the lid for the bin we made sure to make it very secure and strong so it would hold her weight. She seemed a little confused when Frosty passed and sat at the cage for about an hour trying to figure out where he went.

[LovePets151]

Teach your hamster self-Defense

[SyrianSugar]

Teach your hamster self-Defense

 

What a fantastic idea! Hamsters probably have some sweet ninja skills.

[TrudeMudeni]

If the cage protects your hamster from the cat, then you don't need to worry because the cat has a natural instinct and wants to hunt, and your hamster is the perfect target for her, you know? The main thing for you is to protect your hamster from the cat, or close the cage with the hamster in one of the rooms and thus do not let your cat enter these rooms. I had a similar problem, but it was solved somehow by itself. I just bought a new Cat Scratching Post, and thus the cat began to sharpen its claws on this thing more often and forgot about the hamster altogether.

[ChayaDeleon]

And why do you leave access to the hamster for your cat, and why can't you forbid it or put the cage with the hamster away or in another room where the cat can't enter? If you had a child, you would ensure he was not afraid or hurt by such a cat. I had a Maine Coon cat that I bought last summer. And I had to study https://topcatbreeds.com/how-to-take-care-of-a-maine-coon-your-guide/ so the cat would trust me but do what is customary in the house since he lives here with all the family members. And you, as the owner, have to mark the territory.

Edited by ChayaDeleon, 11 August 2022 - 06:19 PM.