How To Teach Kitten Not To Do Things

[bigbacon]

I need to start trying to get my kitten not to do certain things which are really annoying.

1. Stop her from going on the counter.

2. Stop her from going completely bat shit crazy with any kind of food. we seriously have to lock her up in a room just to prepare, cook, and eat a meal.

she is only 6 months old but I need to try and teach her some how. help

 

[bigbacon]

She also has a tendency to start attacking my feet and leg if I stop paying attention to her for a few minutes. I can't pay attention to her all day long, I have work to do.

 

[war&wisdom]

1) Take her off the counter and say "no" every time she does this (or gently push her butt until she jumps off herself, but don't shove her). She will learn eventually; it just takes patience. Although she may continue to jump up there while you're not around, to be honest...

2) I try to feed my kittens at the same time as I cook/eat dinner. It keeps them somewhat occupied. Also, how often do you feed her? Maybe she's hungry.

It sounds like your kitten might need more stimulating toys (electronic mice can occupy her while you're busy, for example) and/or designated, substantial play sessions (15-30 minutes at a time) to wear her out. She's a kitten -- she's got a ton of energy to burn!

 

[LTS3]

Are you feeding your kitten enough? A 6 month old is still a bottomless pit and needs a lot of food to eat. Hungry cats will often seek out food to eat and try to eat your food while you are trying to cook and eat.

How To Set Healthy Boundaries For Your Cat
The Dos And Don'ts Of Cat Behavior Modification
Cats And Discipline Don't Mix
Cat Behavior For Beginners
https://thecatsite.com/ams/how-to-keep-cats-off-counters-and-tables.22407/quote

Be sure to give your kitten scheduled playtime daily. A 15 minute session while you are watching tv or right before bedtime is goo d. Be sure to leave out some safe toys for your cat to play with.

 

[bigbacon]

Lol we tried.the tape.thing on the counter. She just tried.to eat the tape and then ran around with it on her face.

 

[krystab]

Lol we tried.the tape.thing on the counter. She just tried.to eat the tape and then ran around with it on her face.

Honestly I gave up with the countertops. I just clean them really well before preparing food. The cat goes up there when I’m not home anyways

 

[danteshuman]

I would try only teaching her one thing at a time. So I would buy air canisters for the counter and feed her more. Next I would play with her at least twice a day, until she is Tucker-ed out. Lastly I would start carrying around small toys to throw away from me when she hunts you. If you find she still attacks you I would say "ow" in a high pitch voice and clap your hands or stomp your feet. Then ignore her for 10 minutes.

When I trained my cats I was mean. If I saw them on the counter I said "off" loudly and cruelly pushed them off..... or scared them off with clapping. I would try the gentler consistent method to train a cat to stay off the counter. It worked to gently train the semi-feral 7 year old cat. I know it may seem weird but gentle annoyance and meeting their needs is the way to train cats.

 

[MarcEwing]

The main advice is avoid physically or verbally punishing your cat, try to use good/bad reaction examples for him (for example, remove it from the counter and give some favourite food and the opposite case).

 

[bigbacon]

update, she is still crazy with food. We can't keep her away when we eat, we have to put her in the room. We have been feeding her more but it doesn't work. We can give her food and she'll ignore it and attempt to get our food. She gets enough food throughout the day.

The food thing is probably the biggest issue right now because it is really impossible to do anything with food and keep her attention away from it.

 

[basscat]

My cat thinks his name is No No No.

 

[duncanmac]

Apparently, one of my cat's name is DuncanNo.

I remember the first meal I tried to eat with Duncan in the house. I was sitting on the couch and he hopped up on my lap and stuffed his face into my plate, which I pulled up towards my chin. And there he is staring at me across the plate. We started eating at the table since then.

What we have done: 1) Eat on the kitchen table. 2) Even though we let him on the table in general (its a good perch to look out the window) we would put him on the floor if he started getting into our food; 3) Sssscat air canisters on the counters - they go off every time and don't make us the bad guys. We don't need them anymore 4) The passage of time will make him less food crazed.

 

[danteshuman]

Wow I take my cats off the table if I'm eating or preparing food. I don't let my boys on the counter or table ever. You let your cats get closer to food/temptation then I do. If I'm watching tv and eating, I won't let them get in my lap as I'm trying to eat. I just gently push them away.... but the counters? Fire, brimstone and penny cans will reign down on them!

Dante thinks his name is bud and Dante means "Hey you, STOP what you are doing right now!!!!!" When he was a teen I invented a chant just to use his name in a positive way.

 

[duncanmac]

Wow I take my cats off the table if I'm eating or preparing food. I don't let my boys on the counter or table ever. You let your cats get closer to food/temptation then I do. If I'm watching tv and eating, I won't let them get in my lap as I'm trying to eat.

We had to pick our battles. Our kitchen table was kind of big, so one cat would stay at the other end of the table or else be put on the floor. The other guy would only get on the table to look out the window.

We were also new to cat stewardship, so we weren't quite expecting how exhausting it would be taking a cat from table to floor 8 thousand times a day

 

[recurringecho]

Haha! She sounds like my cat when he was just 5 months old. He would try to climb up my leg when I'm prepping food, then lose his grip and slide back down... with his claws out! Was she a former stray/recent adoptee? If so that might explain it — all that competition for food in her precious environment.

What are your thoughts on free feeding? It sounds as if your kitty can’t wait until the next meal and is afraid of missing out on food. Having food available all the time might help her. Of course after she stops hounding food all the time, you can readjust her back to scheduled feeding!

Feeding her a while before you start to eat might help too. That way she’d feel full and might be less inclined to eat your food when it’s your turn. If she jumps onto the table, tell her “no” and plop her back onto the floor. Scratch her on the head when you put her down, but don’t give her any more attention than that. Repeat as necessary. She’ll learn! Or at least she’ll eventually tire herself out or get frustrated. Don’t giver her any scraps during dinner/lunch/etc. You can giver her a little something after you're done though. She might make the association that begging-while-humans-at-table = no food, humans-done-eating = treats for her!

It might take a while! My kitty took a couple weeks to learn but he leaves us alone when we eat now!

 

[sargon]

I'm a big fan or being manipulative with cats, when possible, as opposed to hard discipline. i don't strictly ban my cat from counters, but she almost never goes on them, because whenever she does, my wife and I smile, walk up to her, and, all happily, hug her (which isn't a thing most cats like much.) it doesn't scare or anger her, just mildly annoys her, so she usually avoids going on "the hugging place."

With kittens, you should supply a quality dry food (all life stages or kitten food, preferably grain free, with a majority of the protein from meat sources) that you free feed, in addition to whatever else you feed. Your kitten needs the nutrition and between the energy level and physical growth, they won't get overweight unless they have a medical issue. For added stimulation, you might try a puzzle feeder for the dry food (it will generally reduce your cat's desire to be played with in a very physically and emotionally healthy way.)

Even if puzzle feeders are available, you'll still need to play with your kitten a lot, especially if they are an only cat. That's just how kittens are. They grow out of it (at least to a degree.)

P.S. Kittens are cute, because they need to be, since they can be so much work.

 

[bigbacon]

Haha! She sounds like my cat when he was just 5 months old. He would try to climb up my leg when I'm prepping food, then lose his grip and slide back down... with his claws out! Was she a former stray/recent adoptee? If so that might explain it — all that competition for food in her precious environment.

What are your thoughts on free feeding? It sounds as if your kitty can’t wait until the next meal and is afraid of missing out on food. Having food available all the time might help her. Of course after she stops hounding food all the time, you can readjust her back to scheduled feeding!

Feeding her a while before you start to eat might help too. That way she’d feel full and might be less inclined to eat your food when it’s your turn. If she jumps onto the table, tell her “no” and plop her back onto the floor. Scratch her on the head when you put her down, but don’t give her any more attention than that. Repeat as necessary. She’ll learn! Or at least she’ll eventually tire herself out or get frustrated. Don’t giver her any scraps during dinner/lunch/etc. You can giver her a little something after you're done though. She might make the association that begging-while-humans-at-table = no food, humans-done-eating = treats for her!

It might take a while! My kitty took a couple weeks to learn but he leaves us alone when we eat now!

i will say this feeding before we eat doesn't work. even if she is eating she will stop and just come after our food.

Part of the problem here is the male cat we had that passed in Jan did a lot of these things although we loved him, he was 12 years of pain. I can't put up that stuff again. Our old cat is just well a cat, she keeps to herself. I can't put up with another cat who just goes after food from anywhere, or wakes me up at 2 am every day. I want to figure out how to curb that stuff now or its impossible to do later on.

She has also started to stand on the litter box or watch the old cat go and then chases her. Old cat isn't covering stuff anymore because she can't go through her motions as little cat is there.

We can't free feed because the cats will eat the food or the wrong food. Old cat is loving the kitten food and new cat is loving the old cat food. Neither of which should be eating the wrong stuff unless there is a dry food that either cat can eat without getting fat (old cat issue)

 

[Notacrazycatlady]

The only suggestion I can make about trying to eat from your plate is to put the kitten on the floor and give them a bite ** I would have something safe for cats on my plate so that's what he got in the hopes that when he realized that it wasn't tasty food, he'd lose interest.

That's what I've been using with my older kitten Angus. It works for the most part, although I have discovered that he loves sweet peas and spinach. He's not real keen on green beans or beets. The only rule was he only gets food on the floor, never on a table/counter/etc. If he wants a bite, he has to get down. So far my younger kitten hasn't shown any interest in my food. If you find something unpalatable but safe for the kitten, it may get the point that human food is not for cats?

As far as the kitten eating the older cat's food and vice versa, if you solve that problem let me know. Angus is getting a little tubby because of his penchant for eating out of every bowl of food I put down and, as you pointed out, kitten food that Leo, the younger kitten, still needs for his growth and development is higher calorie. All I've done with that is put two bowls of about a quarter cup of the kitten food down so that he's limited in how much he has access to. Angus eats out of all of the bowls, but he's not finishing the contents of every bowl (which makes monitoring his calorie intake a nightmare).

As far as setting boundaries, I know others here will disagree, but I use a water pistol. I connect the use of it to the word 'no' and only for specific locations--the only time they're allowed out of the apartment is on a leash, so if they try to sneak out when I'm coming or going, I say 'no, back.' If they stop, no problem. If they continue, I spritz water on the floor in front of them--they may get some splash but I've found that just shooting water in front of them is as effective as actually spraying them. I also use that to establish the laundry room as a 'no-go' area because of the chemicals in there (normally the door is kept closed but if I'm carrying a basket of laundry in or out, I can't wrangle them easily). After a few times, I don't even need water in the pistol. They see it in my hand, I say 'no, back' and they take a step back and either sit or lay down to watch (for an opening to sneak through anyway, probably). I tried using with Angus as far as counters in the kitchen as a no-go, but catching him on the counters, I realized that it only worked when I was there so I gave that up and just keep the counters clear and wipe them down regularly.

Edited to add: I'm sure it was probably in one of those links, but I think it was Jackson Galaxy's show where he said that cats didn't like the feel of aluminum foil underfoot. Lining the counters with aluminum foil when you're not using them might discourage the kitten from thinking it's a good place to sit.

 

[krystab]

i will say this feeding before we eat doesn't work. even if she is eating she will stop and just come after our food.

Part of the problem here is the male cat we had that passed in Jan did a lot of these things although we loved him, he was 12 years of pain. I can't put up that stuff again. Our old cat is just well a cat, she keeps to herself. I can't put up with another cat who just goes after food from anywhere, or wakes me up at 2 am every day. I want to figure out how to curb that stuff now or its impossible to do later on.

She has also started to stand on the litter box or watch the old cat go and then chases her. Old cat isn't covering stuff anymore because she can't go through her motions as little cat is there.

We can't free feed because the cats will eat the food or the wrong food. Old cat is loving the kitten food and new cat is loving the old cat food. Neither of which should be eating the wrong stuff unless there is a dry food that either cat can eat without getting fat (old cat issue)

When it’s “human” meal time I just close my cats up in another room... that way I can eat in peace and am not outnumbered 2-to-1
if you do it consistently they get used to it and just have a nap. I have already started this with my 12 week old kitten - if I don’t he is instantly in my plate. You can also just remove the kitten to another room if the old cat isn’t interested in your food... they need to learn young that this is what happens. They don’t see it as punishment at all if you start early