exploring Kitty

I have a 1yr old rag Doll named Gradey, he loves to be at the same height as us. He does not like the fact that he is so far away from us on the ground. So he jumps up on the counters, desks, dressers, anything he can to be at our level. Even on the fridge. He also loves to eat our plants, our lucky bambo is not so lucky anymore.

Is there anything we can do to prevent him from doing this? I tried repremanding him but he thinks its a game.

HELP!!!!!!!!

Welcome to the site Toph!

I will move this to our Behavior Forum where our experts will be sure to see your question.

If your issue is with houseplants, there is a good thread in Behavior called How to Keep Kitties out of Houseplants - that's a great place to start.

If your issue is with exploring high places, I suggest a tall cat tree is in order for you. Cats want to be high...it is part of their natural behavior and there is little to do to stop that instinct. Transfer them from your counters, tables, fridge, etc to the cat tree. Praise and reward them when they use the tree.

To wean them off the bad places, there are a number of tricks that folks use - personally, I use a strip of duct tape sticky side up on the counter with the edges rolled over and tightly stuck to the counter. They step on it and are not happy by it. Don't let the tape come unstuck on your kitty or you will give them lots of trauma removing it. I have heard that aluminum foil also works for some cats (hasn't worked with mine). Some claim success with apple bitter sprays and other over the counter remedies.

Best of all patience as you redirect your cat to the proper things...

Thanks for the reply, a tall tree is what i had in mind except he is an indoor kitty with his front claws removed. I am going to try the duck tape as well as the foil.

Is Gradey looking for something in the plants that his diet is lacking?

I think it's just natural for them to chew plants. The most important thing is to check the list of poisonous plants on the other thread I referred you to. If it is poisonous, just get rid of it.

If you get a tree with multiple shelves, claws don't matter. He can jump from shelf to shelf.

Well i just put the duck tape on the counters, we shall he, Gradey was very interested in what we were doing up there.... Crossing fingers.... My fiance just bought Purina indoor cat food, I think he likes it.....

LOL.....my husband says if you can't fix it with duct tape......

Keep a close eye on him for a while. We once had a cat get entangled in it and it took us about an hour to get it off of him. While he didn't jump on that counter again, it traumatized all of us. Suggest you remove it when you aren't home.

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! The Duck tape is working, Gradey is taying off the counter tops and Fishtank, he would normally like to sit atop the fishtank and dip his paws in for a refreshing drink and torture the fish, how he will not go near it.

Thanks again for the great tips...

P.S. how long do cats teath??? (spelling)....