Training kitten not to climb on desk or tables?

[gethenian]

My kitten Nemo is 4 months and 3 weeks old (give or take a week). She had recently been introduced to an exclusively indoor lifestyle. I am trying to train her off of undesireable habits.

The first I've noticed is her jumping onto a table and trying to eat from a dish a person is eating from. I only know of her doing this with me and I have so far dealt with it by saying "NO" and placing her on the floor whenever she tries this. I have read that I should not use her name when scolding her. I have "rewarded" her by OCCASIONALLY offering her leftovers of cat-friendly foods for her to lick up (I mean.... tiny bits of chicken or eggs, a few laps of milk, nothing more) by placing dishes on the floor when I'm done, but is this all right to do? Our other indoor cat hasn't been encouraged to jump on the table by us offering him the occasional human-food treat, but he's over 10 years old and I've forgotten how we trained him to do that.

Further, she keeps wanting to climb up onto my desk, crawl on my computer, on my stacks of papers, etc. I have, again, been discouraging this behavior by placing her on the floor with a firm "NO" when she climbs onto the desk... but she is VERY persistent as long as I am sitting here and I am unsure what else to do. I have offered her a box full of old tee-shirts to sleep in at my feet, and a few toys on the floor, and these distract her for a little while sometimes but she STILL wants to come up and explore. It was fine when she was a small kitten and she just slept on my mousepad, but now she seems to want to sleep on my keyboard which is... inconvenient, to say the least. I want to discourage her from wanting to be wherever I am all the time, but I don't want to discourage her from being affectionate or frighten her. :\

Should I offer her treats as well as toys when I put her on the floor or place her in a nest box under my desk? I really need her not to keep trying to be on my desk and upsetting my work but I cannot do the squirt-gun trick at my computer or my artwork.

Thanks!

 

[jennyr]

Hi and welcome. I am not sure why you have been told not to use her name - I can't imagine the reasoning for that. I always use my cats' names when I say no or down - I say the name first to get their attention. People remark how they obey when I call them. I would not reward her when she has done something wrong, and I would never give her food off human plates, even on the floor. She should not associate your eating in any way with getting food or treats. But it is terribly difficult to stop a cat, especially an indoor affectionate cat who is always looking for something to do, from being with you or playing on/with the computer. You may or may not be successful- I have never completely managed it. Just put her down asn you say 'xxxxx down' in a very firm voice. Some cats will get it, some never do.

 

[yayi]

I only say their names to call them or get their attention. For misbehaving my cats respond to NO, hissing or psst. 

It is natural for cats to jump on counters and I am sure that when I am not looking mine do it. But otherwise, they don't bother me when I am eating or using the computer. They just sit and watch me. As I remember, it took one or two times to correct them. I just put them down and say NO, or hiss at them. 

Perhaps for your kitten, it may help if you have a toy or something to redirect his attention.

 

[mrblanche]

You have to remove the incentive for the cat to do something, or you have to create an aversion. We've had good luck with putting masking tape sticky side up along the edges of counters to keep the cats off them.

 

[cococat]

Good luck!  After years I gave up.  You can use an SSS Cat for areas that are really off limits, like a kitchen counter or something.