Your kitchen counter, dining table, your bladder in the middle of the night: There are many places you'd rather your cat was not.
However, cats do not respond well to "get off, because I said that." Does that mean you're condemned to the kitten hair in your quiche or 2 a.m. Calls to wake up every night?
No. WebMD turned to Behaviorists, veterinarians and loving members of Webmd's Pet Message Board and gathered their tips to impose their non-cats.
Food For Cat Weight Loss - 5 Tips for Enforcing No-
Of course, we said non-cat zones, but when training your kitten, you really need to come from a place of "yes".
Positive reinforcement "is the only way to go," writes Feline Behavior Consultant Pam Johnson in her twisted book mustaches: Solving your cat's behavior problems. Positive reinforcement will help your cat getting what they need - but the way you want.
This means never hitting your cat, which is "worse than meaningless", say Paul D. Pion, DVM and Gina Spadafori in your PET article "Changing Behavior". Hitting your cat just makes a bad situation worse "making your cat stressed and afraid of you."
along with positive reinforcement, you probably also need remote control training tools (also called adverse training) to apply zones without cats. This can mean putting hot pepper sauce on those electric wires kittens like to chew, or put aluminum paper in the claws of the couch corner kitty. In your heart this is negative training, but it is a kind that your cat will not connect with you, the person they love and trust.
Now, armed with time, patience and the following tips, you should be all able to train kittens to respect your zones without cats and live in a closer harmony with you.
. First, check the obvious causes. If a normally compatible cat has recently begun to urinate in bed - despite a clean box - kitty could have a urinary tract problem or bladder stones. If you started finding Kitty Snoozing at the top of a clean laundry basket, heated by the dryer, your cat may be cold or deal with arthritis pain. Before going through the effort to impose non-cat zones, make sure your kitten is not trying to tell you something. Ask your cat with the vet, so start training with a clean slate.
. So, be reasonable. Some temptations are great for any cat - just like that chocolate cake in the refrigerator is a temptation for you. If your feline usually behaved thawed steaks from the kitchen counter, find another place to defrost these steaks. If Kitty keeps rejecting a dirty sandbox, she compromises to keep her clean. Being reasonable helps your cat help you.
. Give kitten alternatives, also called redirection. Cats need to scratch, rise and curl up; It is in your nature. So leave them, but in their terms.
. Be consistent. if kitty is allowed on the dining room table when no one is eating there, but this point is verben during dinner, guess what? Your cat has no way to grasp the difference. So be consistent. If you want a place to be a non-cat area, it should be a catless zone all the time, writes the feline Pam Johnson-Bennett's Book in her book, think like a cat.
. Use water, tall noises and other aversive training tools. If Kitty does not stay off your desk or continue crossing the counters, it's time to bring your outflow training toolkit, let's say professionals at the Humane Society of the United States, including bad smells and tastes, unpleasant textures And surprises like high sounds or water.
Some cats simply do not care about strong smells, so use their natural aversion to help their cause without cat zone. To help keep your feline friend of scratching the sofa or jump into counters, squeeze a little lemon or orange shavings on those stains, or sprinkle crude citrus citrus around the area. You can also dive some cotton balls into something strong - smelling, nudges some holes in a margarine container, and put that container where you do not want Kitty to be.
Be careful with strong smell products that you use as detachors; Some citrus extracts, for example, can be fatal to cats.
To keep the Kitty's white whites, where they belong - in food, catnip and toys - and away from electrical strands and others in us, try to dive these areas with a little hot sauce, peppermint oil ( Do not extract) or a bitter apple. The senses of your cat are sharp, so you do not need to use a lot.
It is not the most elegant solution in the short term, but you can also impose zones without cats, covering surfaces with cat textures do not like. Experience the mounting sheet or the shelf (sticky side) in the corners of Kitty's favorite furniture. When your hairy friend no longer claws there, remove the impediment. Not everyone is a fan of leaf or plastic as a way to create zones without cats, however. Johnson sites The possibility of a cat swallows these, resulting in severe intestinal damage. Caution If you know your cat likes to chew these items.
Sometimes textures can be the source of your problem. If your cat wakes up every night jumping on your bed (or bladder), for example, it may be the nubby softness of your comforting that Kitty loves. If this is the case, try another comforter, or just give Kitty Yours - preferably somewhere else!If your cat is a counter cruiser, you may surprise them the next time they start jumping by confronting them with a lot of noisy pot eyelids unequally balanced on the counter in their handles. You may also be waiting for your next jump and scare them with an explosion of an air horn, an abandoned book, a squirt of water, or a vigorous shake of a can of pebbles or cents. Be sly, you do not want Kitty by associating these unpleasant surprises with you.
Note: Never sprinkle the water on the face or ears of kitty. And it is not saying that if you have a nervous cat, surprises are not a good way to prevent unwanted behavior. In the end, a skittish cat can get so nervous that they can not just prevent zones without cats, but from entire home rooms.
When you have your feline friend with big smells, ask Kitty to stop being cat, or are inconsistent, your cat will misunderstand your intentions. But armed with kindness and persistence, you can clarify these misunderstandings and re-coexist in harmony.
