jumping problem

Hi all -

Is it possible to train a cat not to jump up to high places? My cat Annie flies through the air with the greatest of ease, up to the tops of kitchen cabinets and high shelves. She's usually pretty nimble when she tiptoes around, but today was the first day that she broke something and I'd really like to discourage this habit. More importantly than the safety of my stuff, I'm also worried that one day she's going to break a leg trying to get down. No amount of firm reprimanding seems to do the trick. Any suggestions? All of my other cats have never had the inclination to go higher than the kitchen counter, and they all easily learned to take NO! for an answer.

Thanks!

Hi. You could try putting double sided tape where you don't want her to jump...cats usually don't like it and will jump right back down. Another thing you could do (but it might scare your other cats) is to put coins in empty pop cans and when she goes to jump there, it will make a bunch of noise...so she'll be scared to jump there. It might take a little bit for her to eventually stop, but keep at it.

Do you have a tall cat tree? It could help alleviate your issues and give her another option. If you do get one, it will create vertical territory in your house and she will probably be happier.

Does anybody else have any other suggestions?

double-sided tape doens't seem practical, since I would have to put in on the whole shelf. I've tried the coins in the pop can trick with her other bad behaviors (mostly fighting with my other cats), and she was pretty oblivious to it. Unfortunately she doesn't scare easily, especially when she's up high and she knows I can't get to her. I hadn't thought of a cat tree, although I guess it would have to be far enough away from the shelves so that she couldn't use it as a platform to higher spaces (like she does now with the television).

Just as I'm writing this she came up on the desk and jumped to the top of the shelf above it...argh!

Thanks, Hissy, that seems like it will do the trick. I ordered two and can't wait until they arrive!

I'd also move your breakable stuff! Get un-breakable stuff to go where the cats go.

Cat-proofing a house is very important, even for those high-up places. One of my cats gets up onto my fireplace mantle every now & then, so I used double-sided sticky tape to take the candles & stuff to the mantle itself. Other than that, the house is fair game and anything breakable or important is behind glass doors or set on the floor.

Obviously, but breaking stuff is not the only issue here, although the reason my breakables were up high was so my other cats, who don't jump up high, wouldn't be able to get at them. I only have one glass-doored cabinet and it's already filled with the really special stuff. And there's nothing breakable on top of my kitchen cabinets; my chief concern is her hurting herself. The other day she also jumped to a shelf that is a few inches away from a drop ceiling with fiberglass tiles, and I caught her trying to push her head up against the tile and immediately was afraid she'd try to disappear into the ceiling. We immediately blocked that area off, but there's only so much more cat-proofing we can do. We rescued this cat from outside last summer, I think she's a little more fearless than most. I'm hopeful that the Ssscat will work, especially when we're not home.