# Spray bottle



## Yukki (Dec 13, 2008)

Where I live it's really really hot right now, and I don't have air conditioning. My rats looked miserable, so I gave them some frozen food, a cold rag and a bottle full of ice water to lay against. I've been changing out their drinking water to keep it cool as well.

Anyway, I have a spray bottle that I have been misting myself with... and I thought the rats would be kind of freaked out if I misted them, since they hate being put under a faucet, but I tried anyway and they seem to like it! They actually climbed higher up in their cage and just sat there, letting the water fall on them. And now they are looking much more lively as well.



Just thought that it was cute and I would share.


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## Corpseflower (Jun 12, 2009)

My dad used to spray the cats when they did something he didn't want them too. I always thought of it as more of a punishment, but it's cute that your rats like it. 


On a sidenote; I think a spray bottle is an awful punishment for a pet.


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## Lea (May 15, 2009)




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## Dexy (Aug 11, 2008)

It sounds like more of a mist of water gently falling on them rather than a jet of water in the face - which is a cruel punishment and I wouldn't condone at all.

This however is a great tip ;D - I've never thought of it before and it's boiling here at the moment 8) 

Combined with a good comb it might also be a good way of cleaning a dirty rat who can't tolerate a full bath?


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## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

I usually do that on particularily hot days and the rats seem to really love it. Or, I just moisten their tails with it - as that's how they lose most of their heat. It seems to help keep them comfy


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## Little-Fizz (Mar 5, 2009)

Corpseflower said:


> On a sidenote; I think a spray bottle is an awful punishment for a pet.


Not at all. It's the best punishment, it doesn't hurt them and it's fun as ****. I would spray my room mates cats ALL the time ( only because they were monsters and needed it) I mean I wasn't like "oh a cat!" and sprayed it. The cat tried to eat my rats once, I soaked the jerk. Honestly these cats are horrible!!! They peed on EVERYTHING if you left a glass on a surface they could reach, for more then 30 seconds (literally if you turned around) they would knock the glass over spilling liquids ever. I have two cats of my own and they are great I've never had to spray them. She just has the cats from **** :-\. It's better then the wonderful story I heard yesterday of my friends dog peeing on her brothers blanket and him picking the dog up throwing it against a tabled and repeatedly kicking it. I'd much rather be squirted then that! (The dogs ok, poor thing is just scared to death)

But that's interesting I wonder if my rats will like getting sprayed! I assume you use the mist rather then jet stream? haha now that would be punishment.


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## Corpseflower (Jun 12, 2009)

I still think it's a terrible punishment. A cat should never be let around rats, because it's within their nature to want to hurt them. You can't punish them for doing what comes naturally to them.  I guess I just don't like any kind of physical punishment for animals.


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## Little-Fizz (Mar 5, 2009)

Corpseflower said:


> I still think it's a terrible punishment. A cat should never be let around rats, because it's within their nature to want to hurt them. You can't punish them for doing what comes naturally to them.  I guess I just don't like any kind of physical punishment for animals.


I wouldn't really call it a physical punishment. It doesn't hurt them, they just don't like to have their feathers ruffled. I never said I LET the cats around my rats... As stated these were not cats, there were monsters. I was minding my own business with my girls in my lap when someone opened my bedroom door and the little bugger bolted in and jumped right into my lap. I understand it's in their nature but I'm not about to let him kill my rat, and I'm not about to let him think was he did was acceptable. If your dog bit someone wouldn't you let them know it was wrong? Correct the behavior... I think so. Unfortunately cats don't care when you say "NO BAD!"


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## zoe9 (Oct 3, 2007)

Little-Fizz said:


> It's better then the wonderful story I heard yesterday of my friends dog peeing on her brothers blanket and him picking the dog up throwing it against a tabled and repeatedly kicking it. I'd much rather be squirted then that! (The dogs ok, poor thing is just scared to death)


Your friends brother sounds like a sadistic coward who should never be left alone with animals (and possibly small children.) 

I hope there were repercussions for his behaviour because it's just appalling and to stand by and say or do nothing is completely unacceptable to me ... (just saying)


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## notscaredtodance (May 5, 2009)

You guys really have no idea what sadistic is until you've seen a 12 year old boy throw his pet guinea pig up into the air and let it drop onto the concrete, let it bleed from it's face, listen to it squeak, and watch him CONTINUE throwing it. 

It really bothers me when you people on this forum say people are being cruel to their animals. YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT CRUEL IS. STOP BEING S JUDGEMENTAL. THERE ARE FAR WORSE FATES AND I HATE WATCHING EVERYONE ACT SO JADED ABOUT SQUIRTING A CAT WITH WATER.


As you can see... your people's behavior really upsets me.


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## Little-Fizz (Mar 5, 2009)

zoe9 said:


> I hope there were repercussions for his behaviour because it's just appalling and to stand by and say or do nothing is completely unacceptable to me ... (just saying)


 If it were up to me that guy would be bleeding from his ears left in a ditch. (just saying) 

I've actually been planning on renting a room from that friend. Let's just say the rooms now available. 

Hahaha thanks notscaredtodance, it's so true. I'm sorry but if anyone thinks it's cruel to squirt a cat with water (when it's doing something bad) needs to seriously reconsider what animal cruelty is. 

*edit* Not that you called it animal cruelty, but calling it physical punishment is really extreme.


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## Corpseflower (Jun 12, 2009)

Little-Fizz said:


> Corpseflower said:
> 
> 
> > I still think it's a terrible punishment. A cat should never be let around rats, because it's within their nature to want to hurt them. You can't punish them for doing what comes naturally to them.  I guess I just don't like any kind of physical punishment for animals.
> ...


I still don't like it as a punishment, it's too close to abuse for my taste. You could just try isolation or something. Though I guess it's not really your responsibility, since their not your cats. I can understand defending your rats though.


notscaredtodance;
Just because worse things happen we should ignore the lesser things? So if someone murders someone with one gunshot, it should be okay because people have been murdered with two? I don't condone physical punishment of any kind on animals. It's just some cruel display of power when there are many other methods of punishment. I've seen some people just beat the crap out of their animals, but that doesn't make me emotionless when I see someone smack them. They're defenseless, and whatever they did, I don't think they deserve to be hurt for it. I'm sorry that my opinions upset you, but someone has to speak for those who can't speak for themselves.


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## Little-Fizz (Mar 5, 2009)

Corpseflower said:


> I still don't like it as a punishment, it's too close to abuse for my taste. You could just try isolation or something. Though I guess it's not really your responsibility, since their not your cats. I can understand defending your rats though.


Ok, I'm the biggest advocate of animal rights I know. Spraying a cat with water is not abuse. Isolation sounds more like an unusual type of cruel punishment to me. I love animals but I'm willing to admit they aren't as smart as us, so while sending your kid to their room may get your point across it doesn't work that way with animals. Especially not cats because they could care less if you put them in a room by themselves, that's how they prefer it most of the time anyways. 

I would hit, smack or physically touch an animal to get my point across, I obviously know it's wrong and it's no different then beating a child. But spraying a cat is even a better punishment then getting your mouth washed out with soap. And I know that's happened to me once or twice. Animals need to have behaviors corrected before they get out of hand, then it becomes their nature. That's a large chunk of homeless animals sitting in shelters right now. Because their owners couldn't be bothered to train them. You never need to use physical force to teach an animal right from wrong, they just need friendly reminders. Like how we got our dog to stop chewing our baseboards (hot sauce)


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## notscaredtodance (May 5, 2009)

Don't you dare say that you're speaking for those who don't have a voice. Until you can say you've never stepped on an ant or fed mealworms or crickets to your rats, you cannot say you have never hurt an animal. Rats are cute and fuzzy and have personalities so they're more important than a bug, right? I think it's great that you don't want to hurt animals, no one should want to hurt them, but I think it's VERY rude and disrespectful, especially coming from a teenager like yourself, to say that someone was borderline abusing an animal, when people on the forum have said that if rats are being introduced and get into a fight, spraying them is the best way to distract them. It is NO different from what she did with the cat.

I am also not saying that since worse things happen we should ignore the lesser things. I just think we need to realize that some things are necessary. If she hadn't done that to the cat, she might have lost two of her pets. They would have been dead. I'd choose a wet cat over a dead little rattie any day. I'd dunk that cat in water before I let it hurt my girls. Sometimes we HAVE to choose between the lesser of two evils. If someone made a post on here saying, "my cat came in and started attacking my rats, but my cat doesn't like being picked up, and I didn't want to bother her, so RIP my poor rats  " people would be all over that person, saying they should have done more. You are just being ridiculous and judgemental, trying to make yourself superior by making snarky little offhanded comments about a poor cat being tortured by water. It's just such a teenager thing to do and it really bugs me.


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## Little-Fizz (Mar 5, 2009)

Too be fair, she didn't start on me, she made a comment about spraying cats being horrible punishment and then I made a comment about it and here we are now. :-\ Let's just ease up on the aggression, I mean we can make our points here but lets not gang up. I obviously agree with everything you are saying though!


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## notscaredtodance (May 5, 2009)

People gang up on this forum ALL the time and I am sick and tired of it!

A brand new rat owner doesn't need 20 people telling them that THEIR RAT NEEDS A FRIEND or YOU SHOULDNT HAVE BOUGHT THAT RAT IF YOU CANT AFFORD A VET or THAT CAGE IS TOO SMALL.

So many comments on here are criticizing and not constructive at all. It's been getting under my skin for a very long time.


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## Corpseflower (Jun 12, 2009)

notscaredtodance; Are you seriously insulting me for being a teenager? THAT is immature. Different people do different things. I will NEVER hit my pets. I will NEVER spray my cats with water. Simply because I personally feel it's not right. Isolation has worked with all my cats and dogs thus far, and I will continue using it. Obviously, the spray bottle has worked for Fizz and she will keep doing it. I never told her not to, I just said I wouldn't. You're seriously being very rude over nothing. And it's immature and stupid. I made no snarky remarks and I never tried to make myself seems superior. Honestly, you're the only one who's done either of those things.


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## notscaredtodance (May 5, 2009)

Corpseflower said:


> I will NEVER spray my cats with water. Simply because I personally feel it's not right. Isolation has worked with all my cats and dogs thus far, and I will continue using it. Obviously, the spray bottle has worked for Fizz and she will keep doing it. I never told her not to, I just said I wouldn't.



That comment in itself is proving my point that people on this forum comment with criticism, trying to make themselves seem holier than thou, without offering anything constructive. If you felt so strongly about spraying animals with water, you WOULD have told her not to do it, instead of just saying, oh well you can do what you want... I just know _I_ never would...

And I'm insulting you for being snarky like a teenager, not for being one.


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## Corpseflower (Jun 12, 2009)

I suggested an alternative; isolation.
You're reading too much into that statement, all I was saying with that statement was "Different strokes for different folks" basically. I would never try to shove my opinions down someone else's throat, I will however state my opinions and offer alternatives. I'm not saying my ways are the best ways, **** they could be the worst. None of us can really say for sure who's right and who's wrong, it's a matter of opinion.

You have no right to insult anyone on this forum, it's supposed to be a place for advice, help, and friendly discussion. Not insults and rudeness. And I would like to ask that you stop insulting me because it's rude.


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## Little-Fizz (Mar 5, 2009)

Hey, rather then fight listen to this off topic story. The cats I was talking about actually belong to my ex room mate and I only got my stuff out of there on Wednesday but I've left on bad terms because she's a psycho... Hahaha I guess when I moved my rats outta there I split a whole lot of rat raisins on the floor. I totally left them there for her to clean up ;D God I hate her. She is now slandering my name all over facebook. It's a rather poor decision as I still have the keys to her apartment. 

Just laugh at that and get along, we all have opinions, obviously or this wouldn't be much of a forum. Take everything with a grain of salt.


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## Corpseflower (Jun 12, 2009)

I hate it when people talk about other people on social networking sites, it's so immature. 

I agree that we all have our own opinions and that's all I was trying to tell her. :-\ I have no idea why she took it so far...


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## Little-Fizz (Mar 5, 2009)

Corpseflower said:


> I hate it when people talk about other people on social networking sites, it's so immature.


Yeah, I guess she is still bitter about the fact that I told her boyfriend she spits in his sandwiches. She has the mentality of a 12 year old. But I still feel like a 12 year old would know better. That's ok, I'm pretty sure she won't be happy when she finds out she is getting charged with slander. Or when she comes home to a pile of something bigger then rat poo on the floor. Hah, I can be immature too.

She sounded pretty frustrated and I can understand that as I would get upset if I felt like negativity was taking over my sacred place too. Let by gones be by gones, and I won't be spraying cats anymore as I don't live there anymore and my parents cats are angels! I haven't met my new room mates cats yet, so I won't retire the spray bottle forever  But I'll try the isolation thing and see if I can get it to work for me. Oh wow I just realized I have to work at ten tomorrow, haha I guess that means I'm outta here. Good night and sorry if I upset anyone tonight.


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## Corpseflower (Jun 12, 2009)

Spits in his sandwhichs?  That's not only immature, but also weird as crap. haha.

I didn't feel I was really being negative...but I guess it could have been taken that way. It's good that you're open to alternatives though. My cats have never even seemed interested in my rats. If they're out of the cage for free range, that cats just go about their ways. haha. I guess it's just some cats who feel those primal urges to attack!

Good night! (you didn't upset me at all  )


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## Yukki (Dec 13, 2008)

Woah... didn't mean to start any drama... 

However....
I use a spray bottle on my cat. I live in a trailer and there is no way to keep her out of my area where the rats are. She likes to jump at the rats and pounce and latch onto the side of the cage, which is something I am not okay with as it traumatizes the rats, so I mist her with the bottle and she walks away. I'm establishing boundaries. She can come into my bedroom, she can sit on my bed and stare at the rats all she wants, but she can't physically be on their cage or she'll get sprayed, and she knows that.

At first we used to just pick her up and toss her away from the cage, but she would just come back over and over again and would just get crazier and crazier the more we tried to discipline her, to the point where she was tearing around the house with her ears back and attacking anyone who tried to touch her and trying to get away with everything she could, including attacking the rat cage. (i kinda think she's the spawn of satan... she would get like this just from someone trying to pet her)

She runs away after you spray her, but then will quit what she was doing and usually come back and be calm and purring shortly after, instead of just getting angrier and angrier to the point where people wanted to hit her (though they didn't). I can definitaly see people not wanting to do this though, and that's great. I would prefer not to have to spray my cat, and I felt really bad about when I started but it was better than hitting or kicking her, which probably would have just angered her even more anyway and she would have gotten worse...

A far as the rats go, though, i don't spray them as a punishment. I spray above them on the mist setting and let it fall down onto them, which they enjoy when it's really hot.


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## Bomileloed (Jul 4, 2009)

My room gets really hot as well, and I have read that it is fine to spray the rats with water aslong as you don't get it in their ears or eyes. A fun thing I like to do is get a tupperware bowl and fill it with water and some ice cubes, next I put some frozen peas or your preference of frozen veggies and put them in their. The rats will fish for the peas and in the process cool off!


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## Yukki (Dec 13, 2008)

I let my rats play in a shallow baking tray filled with water, with some stones and frozen peas in it. It's very cute. They fish for the peas to eat, and will even run off to stash the stones (for some reason...)


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## Bomileloed (Jul 4, 2009)

Yukki said:


> I let my rats play in a shallow baking tray filled with water, with some stones and frozen peas in it. It's very cute. They fish for the peas to eat, and will even run off to stash the stones (for some reason...)


Haha mine do that too


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## AMJ087 (Aug 27, 2008)

Thats cute, I guess it made them happy. As long as your on a spray and not stream setting I can see it being useful.


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## Jest (Dec 29, 2008)

Keeping on topic -

I'll put a damp wash cloth or two in the freezer. When they're semi-frozen or just cold enough, I'll take one out and lay it on somewhere in their cage so they can lay on it and stay cool. I'm in PA so our summers are not nearly as hot as in other states, so this works just fine for my girls.


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## chiklet1503 (Jun 12, 2009)

I just caught sight of the 'debate' on here between whether the use of a water squirt bottle is appropriate to use. I know the topic is not specifically about it, but I wanted to chime in a little from experience.

I don't think using a squirt bottle is in any way cruel to use with a cat or dog in moderation. It is a safe and much nicer alternative to locking a dog up in their crate, using a 'shock' collar, or simply 'yelling' at them that they are bad. I have worked in dog daycares for the past 5 years and nearly every daycare uses squirt bottles because they are a humane way to shape behavior.

The reason they are so helpful with correcting bad behaviors is the split second you see the behavior and squirt them, the easier it is for them to associate that what they have done was not acceptable. The quicker you are able to reprimand a dog or cat for bad behavior, the easier they are able to learn the limits of what they should and should not be doing. You should never repeatedly squirt the directly in the face or eyes, THAT is cruel. One simply well placed squirt, either to the chest, tummy area or back end should be enough to get your point across.

Once your dog or cat stops the unwanted behavior, they should be praised. They need to know that they were good for stopping. Many people focus solely on correcting bad behaving but rewarding good behavior is just as if not more important. After your dog or cat becomes more familiar with the squirt bottle, you don't even need to actually squirt them anymore. Most of the time you can just hold it up facing them and make a quick 'shhH' sound and they get the point.

The daycare I worked at (on any given weekday) had about 40 dogs in attendance. If anyone has ever watched Caesar Milan (The "Dog Whisperer"), it's more about the timing than anything. We were able to get 40 dogs to consistently get along and play together as a pack. We used LOTS of squirt bottles, some empty soda cans filled with coins, and other noise making things to distract and reprimand them for bad behavior. 

I also used squirt bottles when I had my 2 cats. They liked to steal food off the counter tops (they got into EVERYTHING!) and I would hide behind something and wait. When they were getting ready to jump up on the counter, I would ambush them with squirts of water and they would take off. After doing this a little while, I no longer had any issues. My cats were the 2 friendliest cats I have EVER met. You could hold them up in the air superman style, grab their tails or their feet, blow in the face or anything else a child might do unknowingly and they would NEVER scratch, bite or do anything mean to anyone. I was 'rough' with them when they were kittens because I wanted them to be adjusted to any living situation and all people. When I was forced to rehome them after the divorce, the family that I placed them with had a toddler and now they are the best of friends. I don't regret a single thing I did because it was all to make them comfortable and wel socialized. I would never dream of hurting my pets.


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## Lea (May 15, 2009)

Using a spray bottle doesn't seem cruel to me if used properly for training, to get their attention and distract them from the bad behavior. You gave a good description of it; I agree with everything you said, especially about the importance praising for good behavior, and the timing in using the spray or noise if necessary to use them.


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