is it possible to train ur cat to

to stay off the kitchen counter/ stove or is it going to learn itself when it gets burned?? and also my little kitty seems to be scared of everything like i roll a black ball around and it runs away. how is going to scare away or perhaps go against a little mouse?? does anyone kno the answers to this or will they learn all of this by themselves eventually?

You won't train it to stay off the counter. He/she will train herself to stay off the stove (they can sense the heat pretty well and avoid burners, and kittens can't reach that high til they're older anyway). If the ball is big and makes noise, any cat will be scared of it, but if you get those 1" round striped soft rubber ones at the pet store (usually in a bowl by the cash) they'll love them, as they do same size squished up foil ones - only problem is they end up under the furniture by the millions :0). And mice can carry diseases, etc. Don't count on your cat to be a hunter or mouser - they're our friends and responsibilities, not free pest control.

the stove will take care of its self. cats dont tend to jump onto something unless they know what they might find. this is why you CAN train them to stay off the counters:

get a scat pad or double stick tape. cover the counter with the tape or plug in the scat pad. they will get a small surprise ( aversive) that will happen whether you catch them there or nor. leave it on there for a while and then sometimes leave it and sometimes not and the cat will stop tryig to jump on the counters because it won't know when the bad stuff will be there ( variable schedules of reinforcement) (I knew behavior modification 501 would come in handy at home) this works with husbands too

Except for the stove, we have no off limit areas. We feel our cat is as clean as we are. And at close to eight months he has never shed a hair even though he is a longhair so we do not worry about that. I feel the reason he does not shed is because of the vigorous brushing and combing he gets every day. He keeps himself very clean so we let him go everywhere. Remember the old saying: It is safer to kiss a cat than a human!

A stern "NO" keeps my cats off the kitchen counter. Ha !
The smarty-pants know not to go up when we are home. Quite often, after having been out I see their cute little footprints on my counter. They think they are fooling me and I let them believe it.......Karin