Little Critters are Friends, Not Food

Delilah is getting to be very bad about wanting to get on to or next to Lenore's cage. Lenore's cage is currently in my room, which is where Delilah spends most of her time. At first, Delilah was mildly interested and watched Lenore from below. Now, though, she is constantly trying to get beside or on top of the cage. It's driving me mad!

I've been keeping a squirt bottle at my side while I'm in my room, but Delilah is very resistant to the squirt bottle. It's more of a mild irritation. I have to squirt her sometimes five times before she gets down. When she does get down, she licks herself for a minute and then hops right back up. She knows what I mean when I say, "Get down." She argues with me about it, meowing her I-don't-want-to meow.

This isn't the first time she's tried something like this. She absolutely loves the guinea pigs. Their cage used to not be covered. That lasted until I got Delilah and she grew enough to jump up there. She likes to get in the guinea pig cage. She doesn't chase them. She just sits and watches them, sometimes patting them. So, I covered the cage so she can't get in, but she still sits on top of the cage and sometimes sleeps there. The guinea pigs don't mind, so long as she isn't in the cage.

Delilah is different than Shadow. The second Shadow catches sight or smell of the birds or the guinea pigs, she goes into her mighty hunter mode and starts stalking her (would be) prey. Delilah, on the other hand, doesn't want to hunt the guinea pigs. I think she thinks they are her friends. She also isn't as interested in the birds as Shadow is, and she can be easily distracted.

Delilah on the guinea pig cage.
The cage had to be changed again after this picture because she figure out how to get in.