I got my cat, Tinker, 4 years ago when she was 12. I got her through Cats Protection because her owner had split with her husband and was having to move into a flat - she therefore decided to re-home her 3 cats because it would be unfair to keep them permanently indoors. Tinker is quite a character. She absolutely loves human company and whenever new people come round she has to sit on everyone's knee. She has a bit of a dribble problem, and also tends to pull people's clothes when she sits on them, but we just put her on a blanket on our laps so it's fine.
The problem is really that she's obsessed with me and my boyfriend. Most cats in my previous experience sleep for the majority of the day. They might come and see you for food when you get home from work, but most of the time they are self-sufficient and will only come and see you when they can be bothered. Tinker is not like that. If I'm in and sitting down then she wants to sit on me, even if I'm eating, or have something else (e.g. papers) on my lap. If I'm not sitting down then she's always somewhere close by - usually under my feet, and I often nearly trip over her, or kick her accidentally because I don't know she's in the way. She's particularly bad when my boyfriend and I are sitting on the sofa - she always wants to come and join us.
Now, I love Tinker very much and would never get rid of her, but I'd like her to be a bit less obsessed with me and company. I wonder if she's bored because she used to live with 2 other cats but now she's on her own. I don't know whether getting another cat would be good or bad for her. We live in a 2 bedroom flat with a garden, so there's some room for 2 territories, but not too much. It is better when it's summer/spring, because if you open the back door then she'll happily go out and play by herself for a bit, or sit in the sun. She's a very healthy cat and is doing very well for her age - she still plays like a kitten and races up and down the flat from time to time when feeling a bit skittish.
I have tried to "train" her by using a plastic container with dried pasta in it to shake at her if I want her to go away. She seems to understand what I'm doing though and then seems to sulk. She also deliberately tries to do things you've told her not to do. Can anyone offer any tips??
There's one other problem with Tinker. When she goes to the toilet, in the garden, she never digs a hole/scrapes the soil back over. Instead she just poos and leaves it - nice! I used to have grass, but because Tinker pooed indiscriminately on it, we took it up and put mostly pebbles down. There are borders for her to use though. Tinker does seem to have decided on a particular place to poo, but because she does not cover it over, it smells when you're near that place. Any tips to try to get her to use a different area, or to go into another garden to do it?!
