Yuki Won't Stay Off My Night Table...

[myrnafaye]

So Yuki is officially one year old (a "catton", a cross between a cat and a kitten) and he has a bad habit. He goes on my night table - next to my bed..I dont want him there, he almost pulled the lamp off the other day. I have taken almost everything off and he is still obsessed with the table, and he does this at night when I am trying to sleep, or early in the AM. Any thoughts about keeping him off? I dont want to use double sided sticky tape or mousetraps under plastic.

 

[susanm9006]

It’s kind of difficult because your cat wants to be near you and if they want to play, mess around or just watch you sleep, better somewhere other than your bed. If he has alternatives to your night table it may be easier to convince him to stay off. Do you have space to add a second night table so there is one he is allowed on? Or do you have other places in the room like a dresser top or cat tree in the room where he is allowed?

 

[daftcat75]

Can you locate the lamp somewhere else? Can you use a cat-safe lamp? Can you provide an alternate perch near that table? You may have an easier time retraining yourself, or changing the environment, then telling this teenager what to do. You’re going to have to figure out what Yuki finds appealing about this table and either frustrate that or provide him something even more appealing to divert his attention. Though depending on the appeal, he may do both. Cats are a lot weirder and more stubborn to train than dogs. Dogs can be trained to not do that thing you don’t want them to do. Cats, on the other hand, will learn that they get rewarded if they first do that thing they are not supposed to, and then stop doing it when they are told to.

 

[myrnafaye]

Thank you both for responding. There is another dresser, and a cat tree. I dont want him knocking things off my dresser either but a lamp is really off limits. Mittens occupies the cat tree but there are additional levels - when he goes near the tree , he seems to prefer the platform of the tree. No, I cannot move the night table - it has my lamp for reading and the alarm clock. like most night tables. I think he just likes to go up on it now...Mittens went on it as well but she just lays down quietly and behaves. Yuki does not behave. If there were 10 objects on the nightstand, there would be 10 objects on the floor.

 

[susanm9006]

It might take months but you could try picking him up and shutting him out of your room for the night every time he jumps on this night table. Eventually he will make the connection between getting in the table and being banished.

 

[Lisannez]

Both of our cats love my fiance's night stand. They know they are not supposed to be there so they do it when he's not here, either with me (I still make them get off) or we see it on the camera. They go through spurts of jumping up onto different things they know they are not supposed to be on, sometimes it's the kitchen table, sometimes it's a desk. My conclusion as to why they do it, it's because you tell them they cannot. Cats like to explore things, and they don't like the unknown, which is why they hate closed doors they cannot look behind. I honestly thing the cats want to go there because if you are telling them not to there must be something really fun there for them to see right ? My suggestion is remove anything from the nightstand that is breakable or dangerous to the cat, put it up high. If it's the item the cat is after then they will stare at or try to get it that item no matter where you put it. If they don't then when the cat gets on your nightstand try ignoring the behavior entirely. Don't yell, don't say a word, look away and see if that works. It may take a week or two but I suspect the cat will eventually lose interest and move onto something else. This has worked for us.