Pushing stuff

One of my cats, Selana, is a mischevious little one. Lately she's been pushing stuff with her nose, usually small things like cups. But just now, she pushed off two small plates from the kitchen counter off and they broke.

I know it's bad to punish a cat, I don't want my cats to be afraid of me, but does anyone know why she does that and how I can stop her from doing that again? Those plates are going to cost me some money to replace

Thanks in advance

-Jesse

Put your breakables away in a cupboard for now and give her soft cat toys to play with. There is no way of telling why she is doing it, she could be bored. But put the plates and cups away and bring them out when she gets older and has gone on to another type of behavior.

Originally Posted by hissy

Put your breakables away in a cupboard for now and give her soft cat toys to play with. There is no way of telling why she is doing it, she could be bored. But put the plates and cups away and bring them out when she gets older and has gone on to another type of behavior.

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Yeah, she's still kind of young. Just over a year old. I'm a single guy, so they were actually dirty dishes that were on the counter, this was the first time she's pushed something that heavy over. I've got lots of little mice toys around, and one of those bars with a piece of fabric at the end they love to play with.

But maybe that's a good idea...keep my counters more clean, so less chance of giving her opportunites right? lol. Thanks for the suggestion, if anyone else has more, I'm all ears. These are my first cats, I still have a lot to learn

lol, i watched mine the other day push off some paper and couple of pens off the desk at home, the whole time she was doing it, she kept glancing up to look at me.
hehe like to say stop me. after it hit the floor she would meow at me,

maybe they are just testing gravity to see if is still up and running normal?

One cat i had would tease me with getting on the table, she would get in the chair, put her paws up on the table and then just look at me. I would say NO, then she would meow and just stand there, i would say no again, and meow again. Then if i acted like i was about to get up she would take off running

cats are going to explore, that what they do. so like was already said, put things that break away.

Get yourself some treat balls. It's a hollow ball with a hole in it. You fill it with treats and then a cat will shove it around on the floor with its nose, or bat it around with its paws, and every so often a treat will fall out. That ought to satisfy your cat's "pushiness"

My Pepper likes to push the feeders around. It is so funny to watch. I put them on a tray to keep from getting much food on the floor. and I try to keep it up against the wall. She dediced she did not like it in the back room, and wanted it returned to the dining room. I heard a scraping noise, and she was pushing the tray with 2 feeders on it down the hall with her nose. The water dispenser is in a plastic shoe box, and she will stand on her hind feet, and push it around with her front ones.
Fluffy will push stuff of the kitchen counters just because she wants to, I guess. She has finally stopped getting on my book cases and pushing stuff off. She tried to push a lava lamp off of a 7 foot book case. What a mess that would have been!

Sheba (RB kitty) would push potted plants off the cabinet when she was mad at us. First it was the small 2-3inch pots, then one day we caught her with her back to the wall and all four feet pushing a 9 inch pot. Luckily we got there before she succeeded.

Other cats we've had seem to like pushing things off as a way to get our attention. Heaven forbid you ignore the kitties!!

Then there are the items that are in the way when Aristotle (aka "The White Tornado" ) is on one of his high speed trips through the house.

Well CR, sounds like she's trying to tell you to clean up the kitchen!

It's great fun to watch stuff fall...ever dropped water balloons off a roof? My bet is your little girl is just amusing herself. Sounds like an interesting distraction is needed here....or use paper plates!

I used to have a cat that knocked things off tables and counters on purpose. It was a way to grab my attention.

As with some people, cats will do anything to get your attention, even if it involves negative behaviour and negative attention.

Start playing with your cat more. Get a good brush and spend time brushing it while you are watching tv. If you spend loads of time on the computer, take 30 minutes to just sit and watch tv and spend time playing and paying attention to your cat.