Amazingly painful climbing cat - help!

[glittercat]

Hiya anyone got any tips on how to stop a cat from treating me like a tree??

One of my cats (15 months old) has always liked to sit on your shoulders/back of neck. She's been on cage rest for some time after an op although is now coming out for longer periods.

Now she has developed an extremely painful habit (for me anyway!) of leaping up from the floor, or wherever she happens to be, hooking all her claws in to whatever she can reach and swarming up. My hips, sides and back are shredded. She normally jumps to about hip level to start with.

She tends to jump when I'm not facing her so I don't see it coming and she's incredibly quick and agile. Once she's reached shoulder height it's hard to get hold of her. She's also done it to the vet although that wasn't from the floor!

I'd be worried she might do it to visitors or my nieces, one of whom is only 8.

Any advice on how to stop her doing it? Any thoughts very gratefully received!!

 

[amethyst]

I feel your pain, quiet literally, I'm dealing with the same problem right now, only with 5 young (but getting increasingly bigger and heavier) kittens. The best way is to redirect her to something else to jump on, a chair, cat tree, etc. and don't give her any attention when she jumps on you. Say "no" or yell "ouch", and put her right down on the floor and encourage her to jump on to something else, when she does give her lots of praise and you can then pick her up from there. She should start learning that if she wants to be picked up and cuddled she goes to a spot to be picked up from.

 

[jefferd18]

Amethyst is spot on with her advice.

I completely understand where you are coming from, Figaro, thinks he is a parrot so he is always leaping on my shoulders. I have told him NO in a very firm voice whenever he grips my shoulders with his claws and then I place him back on the floor. It seems to be helping because now he only uses his pads.

 

[glittercat]

Thanks guys.

She is so sweet but a little beggar lol. We've just been to the vet for annual boosters and a couple of times she got 'that look' on her face when she was having her check over - she's worked out that the vet can't quite get to her if she's hanging off the back of my neck!! Just means she gets peeled off.

I will keep saying no and screaming - though that bit is fairly involuntarily.

Putting her down on a chair etc is tricky because usually I can't reach her. Hey ho!

 

[Caspers Human]

How would you deal with a dog that tries to jump up on you?

You might push the dog down with your hand.
You might block the dog with your knee.
You might step aside when the dog tries to jump so that it misses and lands on the floor.
You could scold the dog, saying, "No!" or something similar.
More importantly, don't give the dog the kind of attention it wants when it jumps up.

I think that you should do the same kinds of things for a cat, except tailor the response for the size and temperament of a cat.
(e.g. You might shove a big dog away when it tries to jump where, for a small cat, you might only need to put your hand up.)

The bottom line is, whether it's a dog or a cat, they both want a certain kind of attention from their humans when they do things like jumping up or, in the case of a cat, climbing up. The way to treat this behavior and stop it is to teach the animal that it won't get the attention it wants if it doesn't obey the rules.

You're the human... You set the rules.

Eventually, through repetition, the cat should learn that there are good ways to get attention and bad ways to get attention.

When the cat obeys the rules, it gets attention, petting, play, treats and lots of loving.

When the cat doesn't obey the rules it doesn't get positive attention and doesn't get what it wants.

Cats are smart and they learn quickly but they ALSO learn ways to cheat. That means that you, as the master, need to be steadfast and consistent in enforcing the rules... "No jumping!"

Keep enforcing the rules and, eventually, the cat will learn not to jump up.