cat - jumping & climbing

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jumping & climbing

I need suggestions to stop a kitten from jumping on and climbing on
shelves, counters and tables - expecially those with fragile items,
cd's, photos, radios & cd-players,etc.

To date, i have tried the following to no avail:

loud noises, water pistol, bitter apple spray, aluminum foil sheets and
aluminum pie pans.

thanks

Ken

On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 10:07:16 -0800, ken wrote:

I need suggestions to stop a kitten from jumping on and climbing on
shelves, counters and tables - expecially those with fragile items,
cd's, photos, radios & cd-players,etc.

To date, i have tried the following to no avail:

loud noises, water pistol, bitter apple spray, aluminum foil sheets and
aluminum pie pans.

thanks

Ken

Good luck for whatever you try. My suggestion: Kitten-proof your house
-- put all breakable stuff and stuff dangerous to the cat away. After
all, it is just "stuff". You then can watch the kitten's antics and enjoy
them. MLB

Hi Ken.

You are very lucky to have the joys of a lil kitten around the house. They
are amazing lil creatures and full of joy and fun. However this time does
pass fast, so by next year this time, s/he will probably spend most of time
sleeping and you will only wish it was more playful.

Cats love to climb. The higher the better. They would live on a ceiling if
they could. Hence the need for climbing the curtains and shelves. They also
have to scratch. So scratching posts are a must and 2-3 if you have bigger
house. Otherwise they will scratch the sofa or bed. Or carpet.

Cats are like kids. They like to investigate, sniff, play and have fun. Just
like with kids, you have to supervise them as well, and like the other
poster said, cat-proof the house.You wouldn;t keep glass and other breakable
items in the house with a 2yr old kid around, why do you expect you can with
a tiny kitten? That means moving the above mentioned subjects in safer
enclosure or nearer to the wall, where they can;t be knocked over. Its
really a must, or your items will get broken. At the end of the day, you
have taken on a baby, and its your responsibility to look after his/her
safety first and his best interest. Cats have needs to.

Things you have are certainly important to you, but just like with kids,
you'll soon realise that this lil creature is far more important then any
broken CD/scratched sofa/vets cost. But you must understand that its not
fair of you to ask a kitten or a child to just sit down and do nothing. You
are now a proud parent, and you must look after the cats best interest
first, then yours. Its a fact of parenthood. They are the ones that will
give you much more joys and laughs then any CD, trust me! Let him/her climb,
why not, its in their nature.You have done a wonderful thing by giving
him/her a home. Don;t take it away now, or shrink it. Move fragile items to
places where they can;t get to. At least for a few months, cos soon s/he
will stop being so energetic, will have explored surroundings enough and
have settled down.

Why not just move the CD's in a box/CD unit. Put frames and any glass items
in a closed unit, or shelf they cant reach. I had to and so did many
parents. I'm not sure how big is radio and CD player, but if they are
standard VCR size, they'll be fine for cat to climb on them.In fact cats
love anything that produces heat. If they are smaller however, they gotta
be moved somewhere safe.

And if kitten is biting cables, just spread some hot pepper sauce on the
cable, it wont bother anymore.

Try and enjoy your lil baby more. Kittenhood passes SO fast, you will soon
get to miss it. So instead of worrying about climbing, make it more possible
for him.her and start enjoying your lil sweety.

And get a camera, cos this time passes fast! :)

Gee

"Gee" wrote in message
...

Hi Ken.

You are very lucky to have the joys of a lil kitten around the house. They
are amazing lil creatures and full of joy and fun. However this time does
pass fast, so by next year this time, s/he will probably spend most of
time
sleeping and you will only wish it was more playful.

Cats love to climb. The higher the better. They would live on a ceiling if
they could. Hence the need for climbing the curtains and shelves. They
also
have to scratch. So scratching posts are a must and 2-3 if you have bigger
house. Otherwise they will scratch the sofa or bed. Or carpet.

After getting my first kitten, I discovered that most of my stuff isn't
breakable. I have a major problem with wires however. Kitty is still
alive, but I don't know why. I think part of it is that she likes to
practice picking things up which is different from biting through things.
Last week, she picked up a nickel which surprised me. She held it between
her paws and examined it. I didn't know cats had that much dexterity.

She does like to chew through shoe laces. This morning, I was having
trouble tying my shoes, because of the cat, so I decided to wait until I
left and tie them on the patio. I was walking around with untied shoe laces
and the cat was chasing my laces and hooking them with her claws.

Samantha: Five pounds of fiendish fury.

"ken" wrote in message
oups.com...
I need suggestions to stop a kitten from jumping on and climbing on
shelves, counters and tables - expecially those with fragile items,
cd's, photos, radios & cd-players,etc.

To date, i have tried the following to no avail:

loud noises, water pistol, bitter apple spray, aluminum foil sheets and
aluminum pie pans.

thanks

Ken

Hi Ken: I'm new to this group... But, here's my thought: Buy a cat tower,
keep doing what you've allready been trying & give the little furrbals
praise & treats when they play on the tower.

Good Luck
Mathew, butler to 2 kittens: 5 month old Chablis & 3 month old Muscat

I like to get an old magazine and put pieces of duct-tape upsidedown over one
side, and set it on places where kitty shouldn't be. he'll avoid it like the
plague after stepping on it just once :)

On 16 Dec 2004 10:07:16 -0800, ken wrote:

:I need suggestions to stop a kitten from jumping on and climbing on
:shelves, counters and tables - expecially those with fragile items,
:cd's, photos, radios & cd-players,etc.
:
:To date, i have tried the following to no avail:
:
:loud noises, water pistol, bitter apple spray, aluminum foil sheets and
:aluminum pie pans.
:
:thanks
:
:Ken
:

Booby trap them with 16oz beer cans tied together with line, put pennies
inside the cans for good noise.
When one goes over they all go crashing to the floor.

Those pumpable "Super Soaker" water cannons are good for cats that laugh at
pistols

"ken" wrote in message
oups.com...
I need suggestions to stop a kitten from jumping on and climbing on
shelves, counters and tables - expecially those with fragile items,
cd's, photos, radios & cd-players,etc.

To date, i have tried the following to no avail:

loud noises, water pistol, bitter apple spray, aluminum foil sheets and
aluminum pie pans.

thanks

Ken

You've already gotten some good suggestions. The best is to just wait it
out. Kittens are a little clumsy and tend to knock things down. Grown
cats are amazingly light footed and hate to knock things down (except
when they do it on purpose, just to see what happens.).

I just watched one of my cats chase the other one across the top of the
entertainment center where we have about 30 christmas cards sitting.
They didn't knock a single one down. I don't know how they do it.

Enjoy your kittens.

Minus

I need suggestions to stop a kitten from jumping on and climbing on
shelves, counters and tables - expecially those with fragile items,
cd's, photos, radios & cd-players,etc.

To date, i have tried the following to no avail:

loud noises, water pistol, bitter apple spray, aluminum foil sheets and
aluminum pie pans.

thanks

Ken

"ken" wrote:

I need suggestions to stop a kitten from jumping on and climbing on
shelves, counters and tables - expecially those with fragile items,
cd's, photos, radios & cd-players,etc.

A carpeted 2x4 leaned up against a corner might give your cat
something else to climb on. When it does, stop what you're doing and
give it some attention. Another method is to lean that up against
something and place the cats dry food up there. That way they get
lots of exercise and tend to eat less too.

It doesn't keep them from getting into trouble, however it does help
reduce their need to scratch other things.

Every once in awhile, smell their claws to check for infection (make
sure you have a good grip on both front paws while doing so). Such
vigorous exercise can be too much of a strain especially at first.

By the way.

There is an easy way to carpet a 2x4 for cat climbing.
.... get a 2x4
.... get some carpet
.... cut a 9 inch to 1 foot strip of carpet by however long your 2x4
happens to be
.... use a full-size glue gun to attach the carpet to the 2x4, don't
worry about wrapping the carpet around the 2x4, just let it hang over
on both sides equally along the length of the 2x4
.... that's it, super easy, and the cats have no trouble whatsoever
exercising and climbing on it

Have fun.