Kitten Advice: Part 1- Kitchen Table

[ethics]

I'll be pinging you veteran cat owners for days now, hope you don't mind.


Some questions I have:

With a dog, it was easy for them NOT to get in to the human plates on the kitchen table. They are small and can't reach when they are pups and by the time they are, they have no interest. They also can't reach the sink or the middle of the table.

Kittens will grow in to cats and have an amazing ability to get to anywhere.

What strategy do you guys use in order for them NOT to get on the kitchen table?

And please understand I hate using any punitive feedback--never used it with a dog and don't want to start with a cat. So sprays, loud/startling noise is out.

[MNeedham73]

Mine will occasionally get up on the table, kitchen counters, etc. And yeah, it's annoying, to say the least.

If I catch them at it, saying their name in a little louder than conversation voice gets their attention and they give a look like "Oh shit, busted" and they jump down.

Keeping my dining room table well polished with an orange-based furniture polish seems to work quite well. They don't care for the citrus smell at all. Plus, if they still happen to try jumping up, they slide right off :haha:

[Steve]

"HEY! Get off of there!"

Appropriate tone of voice, always works.

[BigDeputyDog]

Hell, don't ask me... my 20lb bundle of purrs, claws and teeth goes anywhere he wants to go... He allows me to feed him, play with him, and give him loving on his schedule... and I don't really think I'd want it any other way... ;)

BDD... :{)

[mikeky]

What strategy do you guys use in order for them NOT to get on the kitchen table? Keep them outside. :)

[ethics]

Not really an option since these will be exclusively indoor cats.

[anitakissnhug]

well my cats are bad when it comes to certain types of food... ie chicken... so.. when i cook chicken for dinner i make a plate for them as well... put it by their dry food and they get a treat. when they do get on the table... a louder voice and what do u think your doing?? they know they are wrong .... lol I have to say that they are like children in that they will test u daily... just to see if they can get away with it... so patience and daily nos...

[Copzilla]

Push them off. Easy. They jump up, they get pushed off. Soon enough they figure out they don't get to stay there.

[ethics]

Thanks for the advice!

[Cariad]

Swat them once on the rear end with a rolled up newspaper, or put them in a box outside :)

[joseftu]

A hissing sound will usually startle them. But if you use any negative too often with a cat, they just begin to feel contempt for you and your stupid games.

Basically, it's not your house, it's their house. You can make rules, but it's not like with a dog where they want someone to be pack leader. Cats don't give a shit about your silly pack leader ideas. ;)

[MNeedham73]

As the saying goes: "Dogs have owners. Cats have servants." ;)

[Elspeth]

I saw a sign once

"Cats were once worshipped as gods, and they haven't forgotten"

[MNeedham73]

LOL I like that one. And it's so true.

I like this one also:

So there are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat.

[ethics]

Cats don't give a shit about your silly pack leader ideas.

Wow! So wait, you have to understand this is REALLY new to me. I mean, with Dogs, that's ALL it's about--especially with large breed. Cats don't care about pack leaders? Don't they have leaders in their Pride?

[cmhbob]

I have occasionally used a squirt gun/spray bottle. Doesn't usually take many shots, either.

[Copzilla]

Wow! So wait, you have to understand this is REALLY new to me. I mean, with Dogs, that's ALL it's about--especially with large breed. Cats don't care about pack leaders? Don't they have leaders in their Pride?
Yes, they do, you're just not in their social network.

[ethics]

Uh oh, so where are we then?

[Copzilla]

You are a servant. Are you not listening?

[MNeedham73]

Lions are the only cats that operate in a pride, Leon. The rest? They don't need no stinkin' prides ;)

[ethics]

I think that's way cool! Matches my personality! ;)

[tke711]

I have occasionally used a squirt gun/spray bottle. Doesn't usually take many shots, either.

Squirt bottles are like magic for training cats. Whether it's getting off the table or stopping any other behavior for that matter.

[joseftu]

Wow! So wait, you have to understand this is REALLY new to me. I mean, with Dogs, that's ALL it's about--especially with large breed. Cats don't care about pack leaders? Don't they have leaders in their Pride?
Yep, that's the big adjustment you'll have to make. Cats are not pack animals. They do live in colonies, sometimes, but pack behavior is not part of the cat biology. Pack behavior is mainly evolved for a specific kind of large-animal hunting, and cats just don't do that.

TS Eliot (writing as Old Possum) said it best (I've bolded the relevant passage ;))

You've read of several kinds of Cat,
And my opinion now is that
You should need no interpreter
to understand their character.
You now have learned enough to see
That Cats are much like you and me
And other people whom we find
Possessed of various types of mind.
For some are sane and some are mad
And some are good and some are bad
And some are better, some are worse -
But all may be described in verse.
You've seen them both at work and games,
And learnt about their proper names,
Their habits and their habitat:
But
How would you ad-dress a Cat?

So first, your memory I'll jog,
And say: A CAT IS NOT A DOG.

Now Dogs pretend they like to fight;
They often bark, more seldom bite;
But yet a Dog is, on the whole,
What you would call a simple soul.
Of course I'm not including Pekes,
And such fantastic canine freaks.
The usual Dog about the Town
Is much inclined to play the clown,
And far from showing too much pride
Is frequently undignified.
He's very easily taken in -
Just chuck him underneath the chin
Or slap his back or shake his paw,
And he will gambol and guffaw.
He's such an easy-going lout,
He'll answer any hail or shout.

Again I must remind you that
A Dog's a Dog - A CAT'S A CAT.

With Cats, some say, one rule is true:
Don't speak till you are spoken to.
Myself, I do not hold with that -
I say, you should ad-dress a Cat.
But always keep in mind that he
Resents familiarity.
I bow, and taking off my hat,
Ad-dress him in this form: O CAT!
But if he is the Cat next door,
Whom I have often met before
(He comes to see me in my flat)
I greet him with an OOPSA CAT!
I've heard them call him James Buz-James -
But we've not got so far as names.
Before a Cat will condescend
To treat you as a trusted friend,
Some little token of esteem
Is needed, like a dish of cream;
And you might now and then supply
Some caviare, or Strassburg Pie,
Some potted grouse, or salmon paste -
He's sure to have his personal taste.
(I know a Cat, who makes a habit
Of eating nothing else but rabbit,
And when he's finished, licks his paws
So's not to waste the onion sauce.)
A Cat's entitled to expect
These evidences of respect.
And so in time you reach your aim,
And finally call him by his NAME.

So this is this, and that is that:
And there's how you AD-DRESS A CAT.
If you're even in Key West and go to the Hemingway house, you can see a large colony of cats--the descendants of Hemingway's cats. They're living together in a colony, and there are some subtle cat-defined dominant and submissive roles, but mostly they just co-exist, as a troupe of individuals. It's nothing at all like a pack of dogs.

They can show affection to humans--but they retain their own individual self-dignity in a way that no dog I've ever known can do (and don't get me wrong--I love dogs, especially large dogs--but if you try to treat a cat like a dog, you're going to get hurt!)

[cmhbob]

Yeah, they work great. I just hate having to go pick them up every time.

[bruzzes]

I use a two fingered tap on the forehead while saying "No".

Be consistent with this method.

Soon, the word "No" will suffice.

Don't change the wording.