posted January 25, 2006 01:49 PM         

This past Christmas, I'd been having to keep my cat out of the living area because he kept drinking the water out of the tree basin. I spent a few weeks trying to get him to stop, but he would get angry and attack me within minutes when I wasn't looking. As a result, he's been hanging out in the main hallway, dining room and kitchen. Plenty of space and he has all his goodies and company.

Other than being a toughy, he's sweet and has calmed down a lot since taking him in
two years ago.

The tree will be going out to the curb tonight, and he will get a chance to come back into the living area once again.

I was reading something on the net about cat behavior the other day and it suggested that to keep cats from meowing at closed doors, put something citrus smelling around the door.

Last night he was angry (again!) throwing himself at the door, so I placed a bowl of leftover orange massage oil by the door. It worked.

Today, just loud meowing. I put a few drops of orange essential oil on a piece of tissue and wiped it along the bottom door edge. He spent a good 10 seconds smelling it and walked away to the kitchen.

I am just wowed. In addition to Bach's Rescue Remedy, this method is great for calming my weird cat down.

Thanks for listening!

posted January 25, 2006 07:56 PM         

Your poor little guy!

So, is it that cats don't like citrus smell?

Hmmm I wonder how that would work on my dog, but she loves everything smell so I doubt it.

I have Rescue Remedy and it doesn't help my dog. She is terrified of thunder and loud banging noises that sound like thunder, loud planes, etc. It doesn't work for that. Also, she gets really crazy to go anywhere in the car, and I've given it to her for that and it doesn't work either.

posted January 25, 2006 08:38 PM         

Yes, it's probably because most cats don't like citrus smells. He's been good all day. Wow.

I found this article on dogs being fearful of loud noises:
http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/fear-thunder.pdf

May be there are some interesting tips in it for you?

Cheers,