OMG, my boy is driving me insane!! He's 6 months now, getting to be a big boy, and has discovered he can jump onto any surface of our house. He's eating/knocking over plants, plastic bags, my purse, anything he can find - and now he's going after our Halloween decorations! Argh!
We've tried quarantining him in his basement area, but then I just feel bad that we're cooping him up all the time (he's already locked down there all night). We yell at him or threaten him with the squirt bottle, and then he'll get down, but is there anything we can do to teach him not to do the behavior in the first place? It's especially hard when we're not home all day to stop it.
Daily Kitten Chat Forum » Cats & Kittens
How do I survive kittenhood??
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Posted 2 years ago by icallshenanigans #
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This is available at most pet stores
http://www.lonestarpet.com/ItemBrowser.aspx?item=CE00221
Also, you did not say but at 6 months he is mature. Has he been neutered? If not you want to have it done quickly before he ingrains spraying behavior.
Posted 2 years ago by ailuromaniac #
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hmm i might have to go get that asap. my little one still loves to jump on the kitchen island no matter what!
Posted 2 years ago by kaits_mama #
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I might just have to see if I can find that! We've taught him to fear the can of compressed air as well as the squirt bottle, so it just might work.
And yes he's been taken care of - no way would I let any pet run around without being fixed.
Thanks for the suggestion! :)Posted 2 years ago by icallshenanigans #
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any luck or progress?
Posted 2 years ago by kaits_mama #
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My two little monsters have simply learned to avoid being caught.
Don't discipline your little boy too much, honey, and keep rewarding him for good behavior. He is acting like any 10-year-old boy, which is what he is in human years.
Just love him. Kittenhood and childhood never last, and when they are gone, they are gone forever.
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one friend of mine had luck with aluminum foil on flat surfaces.... kitty did not like the feel, and it slid... I keep my kitchen door closed or I would have kitties all over the counters. I worry most about the dining room table and the mantle of the fireplace - all other zones are left to survive on their own. they usually only go on the table or mantle when I am in the kitchen for an extended period, and I can tell because the meows are coming from a height! And it really is mostly just one of the cats - the boy!
Posted 2 years ago by nawlins catmom #
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Use the plastic carpet protector stuff--it has nibs on the back-put it on the counter nib side up---cats hate it! Also try scruffing.
Posted 2 years ago by Sheba's Mom in Raleigh, NC #
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Last night I found out that Ruggles has truly learned to open the cabinet door that contains the catnip. He looked like a furry little black bear, leaning into the shelf and burying his face into the bag. Crooning softly and purring.
When I pulled him out, his little "mew" of outrage almost made me drop him and the bag of "goodies."
I was laughing so hard I had to sit down on the floor, while Ruggles kept headbonking and plaintively mewing for his treat.
Funny baby! He is the most charming little cat I've ever had -- all 14 pounds of him!
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We now have to put out of reach any edible item contained in a brown paper bag. Because miso shredded one such a while back and found warm home-made rye bread inside, she has good associations with brown paper. She bites at bread, scones, biscuits (even in plastic wrappers, which she also shreds) and has even tried grapes. We find leftover soggy pieces of dough, or bitten chunks of bread, or wet grapes rolled into corners (not that interesting really). All this is watched attentively by her tiny apprentice sumi. But sumi is not as interested in hooman food as miso is, so she doesn't use her acquired skills! Sumi, however, climbs things, knocks things down, and eats plants. She's still a kitten though, so this is to be expected, whereas miso is now a big girl, at 13 months. She's even been found with her head stuck deep in the compost bucket, snaffling roast pumpkin skins! Just always hungry....
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I just got a kitten a month ago. She is ripping up the carpet in my apartment. I have tried spraying her with water bottle, firmly saying NO, holding her by the snuff, and redirecting her to toys she can play with and scratching boxes. What else can I do? Please Help!?!
Thanks,
Jenn Jenn
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Jenn, what kind of scratching post/box do you have? It's good to have both a horizontal one and a vertical one, because some cats prefer one or the other. You can sprinkle/rub catnip on it. One TDKer also had the great idea of getting a laser pointer to play with her cat (they love it and - great side effect - it exhausts them too) and directing the laser onto the scratching boxes so the kitty follows the red light to the right place and hopefully starts scratching it and never stops...
If spraying water doesn't work, you can also try compressed air as someone suggests above. Or something noisy -- a rattly can. When you say scruffing, are you holding her scruff and her head gently down and hissing, like a mama cat would?
And if all else fails, there's a product called Soft Paws, which many TDKers recommend (gentle caps for her claws which are cute too).
But when all's said and done, Emma's absolutely right, kittens will be kittens and that's why we love them. Keep cuddling her and loving her when she does right and maybe she'll forget to do wrong...
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