Bad kitty behavior -- suggesstions?

[zoebartlett]

We have two kitties and one of them has gotten more and more naughty over the past few months. I''m sure it might not help that we moved twice in three months (maybe he''s resistant to change?). Our male is very curious, and if there''s anything to get into, he''ll persist until he does. I''m not sure what to do, but here are our problems (none of which were problems until we moved, oddly enough):

* Kitty has been jumping on the kitchen counters.
* Kitty has gotten into things he shouldn''t (items from drawers in the bathroom, etc.)
* If he does find food or happens to grab something off our plates if we''re not quick enough to stop him, he''ll slink away and growl. If we try to take the food away, he hisses and growls. Actually, he even did this the other day with a clean Q-tip, so it''s not necessarily food related. Most of the time, it is though.

Any suggestions on how to curb the naughty and aggressive behavior? I''m pretty sure this has to do with the amount of food we''re giving him and our other kitty. When we moved, we cut their daily food portion in half, per our vet''s recommendation. We had been feeding them each 1 cup per day, spread out throughout the day in 4 feedings. Our vet said that it was too much and both kitties needed to lose weight. He told us to cut back and eventually get down to 1/2 a cup daily for both cats.

We''re at our wit''s end!

 

[zoebartlett]

Misspelled the title -- sorry ''bout that.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Hmmm....sounds like my cat

Is he fixed?

Assuming he is here are some things I tried, they may or may not work.

First, I decided to choose my battles because the only way a behavior is going to change is with consistent negative reinforcement. And I know I don't have the time to be consistent with everything.

For the food issue, if my cat goes anywhere near the food, I pick him up and put him in the bathroom. I do it as he is going for the food so that he knows why he is going to be locked in a room. It has taken well over a year, but he does not jump on the table anymore during dinner (he will try to sneak food if he thinks we are not looking, I can not leave food out with him).

When I do give him food, I always put it in his bowl. This reinforces that this is the only place he may eat from.

Also, have you tried a squirt gun when he does something you don't like? Cats usually hate water.

As for the getting into things, I find that my cats like to explore. I don't fight them too much, I just make sure the cabinets that I really don't want them getting into (like the one with the cleaning supplies) is always closed tight. It is kind of like having little kids, except most cats (but not all) don't need the cabinets actually childproofed.

For the counter tops, have you tried double sided tape? They hate that stuff.

Hope this helps

 

[swingirl]

Maybe you cut down on the food too quickly and the kitty has a rumbling belly. Aren't we all cranky when hungry? Try going back to fuller portions and cut back a very small amount at a time. Moving, of course, is disruptive too. I am not a kitty expert but cutting one's food in half seems very drastic.

And how does the cat even get close to your plate?

 

[wolftress]

Oh dear, it really does sound like kitty is hungry and cranky.

With regards to jumping onto things and into drawers, you would need to teach him again not to do this because all the previous lessons were taught at your old house, and these are new exciting places to explore. DH and I were never able to successfully train our cats not to jump onto tables and counters because we have moved house every year for three years in a row, but they know they''re not allowed up there if we''re eating or preparing food.

Some cats are more responsive to training than others. Mika and Mochi are both quite responsive and learn very quickly, but we still need to move Mako into the ''timeout room'' when he gets excited at food smells and jumps onto the dining table.

Good luck with your cat and let us know how it goes!

 

[zoebartlett]

Thanks so much for the suggestions LtlFirecracker! Yes, he''s fixed. He''s about to turn 3, and he was fixed a long time ago. We keep their bowls in one of our bathrooms (the one we don''t use much). That''s the only place we feed them. We used to have a squirt bottle but it broke and I keep forgetting to buy a new one. I seem to remember that only when I''m about to reach for it to spray the kitty for doing something naughty. The thing with the bottle though is that when we''re spraying him, he squints and scrunches up his face, but he takes it like a man.

Then he goes on to lick himself in the spot we spray as if it didn''t phase him. I don''t mind the cats exploring -- it''s funny, actually, to see what they can get into at times. It''s just a pain when they get into things they shouldn''t. I haven''t tried double sided tape. Maybe I will though.

Swingirl -- yeah, I wondered if I cut down the portion too quickly. I just thought that if we were going to change one thing (moving), we may as well change the food as well at the same time. Maybe I shouldn''t have done that. I don''t want to create a monster! We don''t have a dining room table at the moment, so we eat while sitting on the couch. The cats sniff around looking for food, and if he can get away with it, our male kitty goes after whatever he can get his paws on. It''s like having a dog, I swear.

Wolftress -- How I handle the jumping on the counter thing may not be the most mature way, but it sure gets a reaction. I basically walk up to him and hiss loudly. Man, it spooks him and he flies off the counter really quickly!

 

[lulu]

I don''t care about cats on counters. We feed them there because of the dog. But I think I''ve heard that if you put aluminum foil or saran wrap on the counter they''ll stop because they don''t like the texture. There is also a product called sticky paws that is like double sided tape that may serve the same purpose.