How To Stop A Cat From Climbing Places You Dont Want Her To ?

[motylek]

Hi,
Before any one wants to judge, i grew up with mostly dogs and not cats, this is my first cat. and I was raised that dogs, cats and other animals are pets. we love them but there is boundaries to where they can and can't go.

So me and my boyfriend adopted a 9month old cat, we have a small 1 bedroom apartment. we are planning on getting her a tree once we get rid of our christmas tree but for now she doesn't have one. and we are trying to teach her not to climb on countertops and our coffee table, we tried the lemon and water but I guess the smell evaporated to quickly because that didn't work, so we are trying the baking sheet method. but here is what i don't know what to do..
we don't let her into our bedroom because we honestly don't want her on our bed, I don't mind her on the couch but the bed is a no for us. and it's getting harder not to let her in because every time we go into the bedroom she meows which usually doesn't last long but it still hard. is there a way we can let her in the bedroom but not on the bed?
should I spray lemon and water on my sheets before putting them into the dryers?

and also, we got her a bed which kd kinda closed and she has never gotten into it, we even tried putting some catnip in it but she just went half way and that's it.

Any help would be nice.
Thank you.

 

[midnightsun]

When my cat climbs somewhere she's not allowed I just pick her up and put her down and repeat it if she tries again. After a few times she usually stops trying. Or sometimes I make a loud noise, that also works quite well for me. I'm not sure if there's any way to keep her permanently off your bed/other places though, I don't really know if cats can learn to absolutely never climb on someplace. Maybe someone more knowledgeable will pitch in soon.

 

[gaogier]

Cats are 100% trainable. Just need a little know how.

First, your bed is too inviting, no offence but it smells and no matter how much lemon you put on your bed, they will still get on. The bed smells like you, your cat wants comforting and the smell does that. Now you know smell of you is important, sleep on a dressing gown for a few weeks, do not wash it, the smellier the better, obviously not sickly smells. Keep washing your bed sheets as normal.

Have a dedicated cat sleep area in your room, the next step is to put your smell on that area by cutting up the dressing gown to fit the area, make it super comfy by using soft, bouncy pillows, make it warm in winter months, cool in summer. Keep your bedding as smell free of you as much as you can. My cats hate it when I have clean sheets and sleep on the floor or their bed that night.

This should entice you loved cat to sleep there.

To stop your cat climbing up onto furniture, say your table... make it very sticky I used upside down duck tape, now my cats won't get on the table, but do sit on the chairs as if they are apart of the humans eating at the table lol

 

[Kieka]

It takes up to two weeks of firm and consistently enforced boundaries for cats to learn an expectation. Even one slip can tell that cat that the behavior is semi-acceptable. If you take her down every time she is somewhere she shouldn't be she will get better and (mostly) stop the behavior. My guys are good 95% of the time on not being on counters. There is that 5% and it mostly is one offender but they know if I see them they will get taken down.

Once you have the cat tree up (and any window perches or shelves you can put up would be good too) a higher vantage will probably stop some of that behavior too.

 

[gaogier]

I did not know how long it took, knew it was at least a week.

My cats only jump on the counter if I am late feeding them due to them being extra hungry, I can't place them for that. I know the duck tape idea works, but as Kiera said not having it even for a little bit when they jump up, will put your efforts back a while, I know the sticky duck tape works but it's hard to keep it from getting annoying as it sticks to everything

 

[motylek]

Thanks for your reply.
We did the double sided tape on the fish tank and she hasn't touched it even once and she actually doesn't seem to interested in the fishes. I don't want to put double sided tape on the coffee table because I am scared its going to get ruined from the tape, so far from what I can tell the baking sheet seems to be working on the coffee table. the counter tops we only put the baking sheet on the oven since she jumps on the oven first and then walks on the counter top but we ran out so we just put a small piece but she just walked around it lol.
we are also gonna try the double sided tape on the counter tops.

And its so weird because I got her 3 different types of treats and she doesn't seem to like any of them, she will just sniff them and walk away from them.

 

[gaogier]

Cats like smelly foods, cat nip smells, but maybe try dried fish treats...

To protect your table, what we did was to use a table cloth, a nice big one, then you can lay the tape on the cloth and not ruin your table, my table was my granddads and is close to 40 years old. May want to get a padded cloth maybe towels to stop claws from going through the cloth onto your table.

 

[motylek]

The baking sheet seems to be working for now, and I tried fish, chicken, I think beef treats and she doesn't seem to like any.

 

[gaogier]

What fish treats, can you send me a link?

 

[duncanmac]

I did not know how long it took, knew it was at least a week.

My cats only jump on the counter if I am late feeding them due to them being extra hungry, I can't place them for that. I know the duck tape idea works, but as Kiera said not having it even for a little bit when they jump up, will put your efforts back a while, I know the sticky duck tape works but it's hard to keep it from getting annoying as it sticks to everything

I put painter's tape on a piece of cardboard - they can knock it away, but it was a good compromise, because I could move it out of the way easily

 

[gaogier]

I put painter's tape on a piece of cardboard - they can knock it away, but it was a good compromise, because I could move it out of the way easily

Does the cardboard work? We made a huge table cloth out of old towels, still easy enough to take off table, but hard enough the cats don't knock it away

 

[motylek]

What fish treats, can you send me a link?

So I have gotten a couple here at links :
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/cat/feline-greenies-savory-salmon-flavor

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petco...ix-ups-backyard-cookout-cat-treats-5005915--1

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petco...-grill-crunch-party-mix-cat-treats-5004357--1

 

[gaogier]

I thought you may of chosen that type of treats.

Try 100% real meat... if you can't get some, get things like tuna jerky, try using thrive treats, they are 100% meat and should smell great to any cat

 

[motylek]

I thought you may of chosen that type of treats.

Try 100% real meat... if you can't get some, get things like tuna jerky, try using thrive treats, they are 100% meat and should smell great to any cat

Do you think you can send me links to ones that are good?

 

[duncanmac]

Does the cardboard work? We made a huge table cloth out of old towels, still easy enough to take off table, but hard enough the cats don't knock it away

We were only covering a small area - 1 ft x 3 ft or so (with a little piece of tape on the back to hold it in place), it worked well enough, but we eventually gave up on keeping the cats off of certain areas. For areas we absolutely don't want them on, we use the air sprayers. Takes about 2 or 3 sprays and then we just leave the can turned off in the area.

 

[gaogier]

Do you think you can send me links to ones that are good?

Not possible I am afraid, I get these treats from a local pet store who are independent and don’t have a website, they make the treats themselves, when you go in you can really smell them and dog Food that’s made instore.

Look at amazon for thrive cat treats, they are basically the same, not knowing where you live I don’t know what other type is available.

You could use human treats, jerky any meat might work, to use them for cat treats use scissors and cut them up into small pieces, and if your cat turns his nose up to them you can eat them lol

We were only covering a small area - 1 ft x 3 ft or so (with a little piece of tape on the back to hold it in place), it worked well enough, but we eventually gave up on keeping the cats off of certain areas. For areas we absolutely don't want them on, we use the air sprayers. Takes about 2 or 3 sprays and then we just leave the can turned off in the area.

Ah, a small area then, my table my table is 6ft wide, 20ft long without the extended parts