Pushing things off of counters and tables

Our cat is just over a year old and has developed the habit of pushing things off of counters, tables, desks. She will just nudge it off with her paw, and if we say something or go to stop her she will stare at us while pushing it down.

It has gotten to the point that if the behavior isn't changed she may need to find a new family. That would kill me because she is a very smart cat, and very loving. But we are moving in with someone that cannot tolerate the behavior.

If anyone could give me advice I would appreciate it.

could she be bored?
Mecha wll push things off of tables etc whenever she is bored,

She's "helping" you...or bored. Try interactive playing. Charlie still does it at times but not often.

Is this small things like pens? or breakable stuff?

Well, trying to keep Sterling from pushing pens off everything would be a hopeless task.

All you can do is try the best you can to prevent them from hurting themselves or breaking your valubles. Other than that, kitty pretty much rules the roost.

Peace, Love and Tie Dye, ,
Rob & Sport

Originally Posted by wolfgrl97

Our cat is just over a year old and has developed the habit of pushing things off of counters, tables, desks. She will just nudge it off with her paw, and if we say something or go to stop her she will stare at us while pushing it down.

It has gotten to the point that if the behavior isn't changed she may need to find a new family. That would kill me because she is a very smart cat, and very loving. But we are moving in with someone that cannot tolerate the behavior.

If anyone could give me advice I would appreciate it.

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This sounds like attention getting behavior to me. If my cat tries to wake me up at night and I ignore him, he will start pulling stuff off my nightstand. It works too because I always get up to feed him, which is what he wants.

I would take everything off of the counter and tabletops for 2 months. Increase the play time with him. Then try adding a couple of things back in to see how it goes.
Get a cat tree and put it in front of a window to encourage him to stay away from other areas.

My daughter's kitten climbed on top of the big screen TV and jumped on top of the cornice board on one of the windows. The cornice board was decorative, not heavy-duty and fell off. Destructo-kitty is fine.

Originally Posted by wolfgrl97

Our cat is just over a year old and has developed the habit of pushing things off of counters, tables, desks. She will just nudge it off with her paw, and if we say something or go to stop her she will stare at us while pushing it down.

It has gotten to the point that if the behavior isn't changed she may need to find a new family. That would kill me because she is a very smart cat, and very loving. But we are moving in with someone that cannot tolerate the behavior.

If anyone could give me advice I would appreciate it.

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I had a good chuckle when I read the title of this thread, because most cats like to do this sort of thing.

Play with her more. Take anything breakable off of the counters.

Consider moving in with someone who is more tolerant of your cat. If the person in question can't "tolerate" this type of behavior, it won't be long before he/she finds other types of behavior from your cat "intolerable".

Mine do this when they want attention, too.

Of course, sometimes it's unintentional, when they switch their tails and hit my soup bowl, lol.

One solution would be to train your cat to stay off the counters and table.
I just am careful to put things away and only leave things out that don't matter if they hit the floor.

My cat does this for fun, always has, our counters and tables are clean but sometimes we have a pen or some earrings up there, a hat or something, and it all goes off to the floor. She is not allowed on the counters and tables, but that doesn't always mean she doesn't get up there and make trouble. Keeps us that much cleaner I guess

All my cats have done this when they want some extra attention because they are bored.

I just play with them more and if I see them up on a place they shouldn't be, I go over, say "NO!" and pick them up and put them on the ground. If you do this it's important that it's consistent at all times, and not just every now and then. Consistency is the key.

Our cats do this just to watch stuff fall. It is just what they do. We limit the damage by not having breakables/valuables on the counter top, so the only things they will regularly knock off are pens, keys, etc. Of course, the cat could be bored, or could just enjoy watching things fall. Gravity is pretty cool....

Consider moving in with someone who is more tolerant of your cat. If the person in question can't "tolerate" this type of behavior, it won't be long before he/she finds other types of behavior from your cat "intolerable".

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Exactly. Let's face it - this behaviour is fairly benign as long as you take precautions. If this is a deal breaker, even if you manage to deter this habit, I am sure they will find something else that is a deal breaker.

My Tiny loves it. It's cause and effect; he loves how if he does this, that happens. Just like a human toddler.

I don't have any breakables, so I'm not worried about his pushing things off tables, and I generally buy plastic tumblers to drink from. I suppose it could be a problem for someone who liked knickknacks. I suggest a glass-fronted curio cabinet, in that case, and a reminder to put glasses in the sink when one is done with them.

pookie will jump up on top of the big speakers in our living room and attempt to knock down a glass duck thats up there all the time...one time she succeeded and broke its head off so we took the duck and superglued its head back on and put it somewhere else...but then she went downstairs up on the mantle and knocked down a valuable glass owl that belonged to a set thats been handed down from my dads side for a long time...and as soon as it hit the fireplace bricks it instantly shattered...my dad was really mad cause now we only have one..she knocked down the female owl and we still have the male one...she'll knock down things that make a huge noise when they fall to the ground (to get our attention?) she knocked down my dads jewelry case and wll his watches and stuff crashed to the floor and made a huge mess not to mention the case fell on some of the watches and broke them...shes kind of grown out of it but not completely...and when her and blue have one of thier "episodes" they run all over the house after each other and stuff comes crashing down all over the place and carpets get ripped up by thier claws...their tails go flickering and they jump on each other..sometimes it looks like playing but sometimes its clearly fighting...i think its an attention getting think when they knock stuff down...because once i come to see what the heck i just heard crashing down...pookie comes rubbing all over me and meowing and she only does that when she wants food and once she gets it shes ok...she settles down and doesnt knock anythin else over until she wants extra food the next time

Originally Posted by luvmycat1

This sounds like attention getting behavior to me. If my cat tries to wake me up at night and I ignore him, he will start pulling stuff off my nightstand. It works too because I always get up to feed him, which is what he wants.

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My Mau Tsekani does this exact thing. In the middle of the night when he wants attention he'll start pushing things off the nightstand. He does not get what he wants however. I'll react by nudging him off the nightstand onto the floor, and if he continues, he'll get nudged out the door and the door to my room is closed. Luckily, he doesn't spend the rest of the night trying to get back in.

Both my cats do this. All the time. It almost bothers them if something is on the counter. Me being an animal lover and owner since I was very young just got used to Kitty/Doggy proofing the house. There is nothing breakable on tables, things that are, are on places I know for a fact my cats wont get too. I pretty much know now that if I am missing a pen I should look on the floor, same goes with paper, batteries, car keys, straws, anything else they can easily move with their paws.

What is she pushing down that is such a hassle? I really cant see a cat pushing something like a TV or coffee maker or something that would make them pushing things off a hassle. Seems like such a small problem.

when pookie is trying to get my attention she pushes something down and it crahses to the floor making a commotion so that i come to see what made the noise and shes always there looking at me all pretty like "come play with me mommy" and i do (although i know i shouldnt because thats encouraging her bad behavior) and if she wants to come in a room where somebodys closed the door so she cant come in and rub and pester us (this is usually done for blue when she is in heat to block out the noise and keep her from being overly affectionate and rubbing all over everyone trying to coax us to let her go outside) but pookie is affected by it to and she pulls at the bottom of the door...and the doors in our house are cheap so now shes broken them (they have splitted on the bottom) and some of them dont close properly...and one doesnt close unless you REALLY fool with it to try to get the split piece from catching on the door frame...this seems to be attention getting to me