Issues!

Unfortunately, my kitten, Pugger, and I are having some issues seeing eye to eye. A lot of it is typical kitten behavior, which is reminding me why I had wanted to adopt an older cat!!! However, I chose a kitten because of my dog, as I thought a kitten would adapt much easier to my pug than an older cat. I recently needed to move Pugger's litter box into the basement because one of our foster pugs was eating out of the litter box. I moved the box to the basement because that particular foster cannot do stairs because of nerve damage in her hips and spine. It seemed to solve the problem. However, it seems that Pugger has become lazy about the litter box. He used it to start with, but now has discovered the houseplants upstairs. He was only using one of our large potted palms, and I moved that outside intending to repot it, and hoping that Pugger would return to the litter box. He did for about a day, and has now discovered another large potted palm behind the couch, and is using that. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get him to stop using the plants!!??!! I am most likely going to move the litter box to its original spot upstairs, and put up a baby gate in the doorway to keep the dogs out, but I don't know that he will stop using the plants since he has now developed the habit.

Also, does anyone have any ideas on how to keep a cat off the counters!!?? This cat is the worst cat I have had regarding this issue. I have never seen anything like it! He is also extremely hyper! I know kittens are hyper, but he seems a bit excessive! I am able to deal with this, but I live with my sister and her husband, and I am afraid her husband will not put up with it very long. Pugger was fairly well behaved when I first got him, but as he has gotten used to the house, he has gotten very bad! Luckily my sister and her husband are on their honeymoon, so they have not seen this behavior change. However, they are returning Monday, and I don't know how long my brother-in-law will put up with him acting the way he is. I adopted Pugger from my vet's office, and he had been returned to them once already because of his behavior, although the woman had said he was sick. We now know why he was really returned. I do not want to do this to him again. Unfortunately, I see this kind of thing all too often with our pugs, and I don't want to see the cat bounced from home to home, as eventually it affects them mentally! Any ideas??? Anything would be appreciated.

-Becky

Kittens will be wild at times and go thru stages just like real kids. You need to be prepared to 'go' with it, or shouldn't have one. You can't expect them to be 'furniture', and they will be kinda crazy til they outgrow things (up to a year, and they'll still be active then). You can't keep them off the counters or anywhere else very well, just remove problem things for a few mos., safety-proof others (like open toilets), and play with his toys with him. Cats don't 'train' very well, just naturally become more civilized as they get older, and any attempts to train them like dogs (with screaming, or newspapers-to-nose, or even clickers except when older for one specific behaviour if you're lucky) or they just react even worse.

Can't really help with the counters, ours are allowed everywhere except on top of bird cages or the aquarium.

For the houseplants, try large, tumbled river gravel (pingpong ball sized).
Kind of dificult for them to dig in and it has the added benefit of being decorative

you might try using a domed litterbox. My sister had the same problem with her dog eating the cat litter so she put the litterbox in the closet and rigged it so the cat could open the door with his paw and the dog never figured out where the litterbox went to.

Hehe my kitties are allowed to lounge all over the counter tops. If I wash it before I prepare food, what is the worry?

Originally Posted by WellingtonCats

Hehe my kitties are allowed to lounge all over the counter tops. If I wash it before I prepare food, what is the worry?

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I don't mind it too much, but my sister and brother-in-law won't like it. However, I just pick him up and put him down with a stern no, and he walks away like "fine then!" LOL.

As far as the litter box, I am going to eventually invest in an automatic box I think. Until then, I am going to try a baby gate, and move the box back to where it was originally. I just hope he is not too in the habit of using the plants, and that I can break him of that with the litter box upstairs. I honestly think it is just a matter of him being too lazy to go downstairs to use it.......

As far as the plants, I am going to try the river rock, another friend of mine who runs a cat shelter suggested that.

Thank you all for your advice, I will keep you posted!

My cats are allowed anyplace. Except the kitchen counters. My new kitten who I have had about 7 weeks now .Runs for the counters as soon as she hears me doing anything there. She loves to watch me wash dishes.
As soon as she jumps up I put her down back up she comes back down she goes! In time they will learn that the counters are a NO. I don't mind her on the counters but hubby doesn't like them up there he says they dig in the litter boxes and then walk where your preparing food! So its just something you have to work on .Kittys will learn that they aren't alllowed there. It just takes time .Kittens are curiouse. i don't make a big deal out of it I just keep putting her down.

Regarding the counters, the best thing to do is to give the cat a tall place that is next to the counter to sit on. A tall bar stool or tall plant stand would work. This way the cat can watch what you are doing and she can be up high (which cats love) and she won't be breaking the rules.

You can stack some empty aluminum cans on the counter where they will fall and make lots of noise when landed on by a leaping cat to help Pugger learn to stay off the counter. Also, make sure you never leave food or anything else interesting on the counter that might make her want to jump up there.

Good luck!

It's lucky for me my adult cat doesn't jump up anywhere except her scratching post. She's admirably well-behaved. Her son however....

I'd say close the kitchen door when food is about to be prepared, and clean the counter religiously! Some cats have a hard time learning "No", you'll get a crick in the back carrying them down over and over again while they keep springing back up like a jack in a box.

You could try having another high place near the counter area, but there's no guarantee they'll actually abandon the counter in favour of that place. Maybe the trick is to shoo them away from that new perch, then it'll look really enticing!