Kitten discipline

My wife and I have a new kitten who is wonderfully loving, trusting and sociable. The only problem is that my wife can have an allegic reaction if he gets too near her face or she touches her face after petting him.

Our bedroom is in an open basement our kitty's litter is in the laundry room on the same floor. we would like to forbid him from climbing/sleeping on our bed due to my wife's allergies but there is no door to the bedroom.

Is there anyway to discipline him so he learns that the bed is out of bounds?

thanks,

paddy

Hi, Paddy! Welcome to TCS! My girls have always slept with me, but I can understand your wife's need to not have your kitten on the bed due to her allergies. An ideal solution would be for your wife to seek treatment for her allergies, hence decreasing the need for your new family member to sleep elsewhere. Many of us have allergies and wouldn't change our interactions with our cats for the world.

I prefer to not use the word "discipline" when teaching a behavior, but rather positive reinforcement. The best first step is to make a bed available to your kitten which he finds irresistibly more appealing than your bed. This is can be a difficult task and may require more than one bed. Place the bed in a spot your kitten already enjoys, sprinkling catnip on the bed may help attract him to it, and give him a treat and special love when he lies in it. If he jumps on your bed, don't make a deal of it, pick him up and place him on the floor or in his own bed.

In the effort to make his bed more appealing in teaching him to sleep in his bed, you also want to make your bed less appealing. A couple of simple means of accomplishing this are to place aluminum foil or double sided tape where he would jump up on the bed. This loud crinkle or sticky feeling on his paws will make your bed less desirable of a place to be. Another idea that some find helpful is the Scat Mat which has a static feeling and helps to encourage cats to stay off a certain area or piece of furniture, such as your bed.

Hope some of this helps and you and your kitty find a solution.

Welcome to The Cat Site!

"Discipline" doesn't work very well with cats- they are not pack oriented and don't see us as being especially superior and worthy of respect. We're mostly just can openers.
Even if you did scare him into avoiding the bed while you were watching, he'll likely find it when no one is there to run him off.

Many allergies are caused by proteins in the dander or saliva remnants on the animals coat. Some folks find relief simply by wiping the cat down with a damp washcloth every day.

Maybe keep a thick throw on the bed and remove it when the wife gets in to sleep? Of course the cat would have to be barred from the room during the night hours, but this might work.

Did you know she was allergic before you got the kitten? How bad is her reaction? Could you construct a door?