Conference misery::feline_v1

    Cats love to jump and climb.  We just let them.  I know that
    doesn't help you, but we just clean the counters, etc, before
    eating and don't worry about it.  
    
    Karen, Tristan and Tenzing.

    I'm as guilty as .1.  It doesn't bother us but when there is company
    it bothers me, unless the company is family or good friends (then
    I just try to keep them off, usually with luck).  Others have stated
    that using a squirt bottle with water works to break the habit you
    could try that.
    

    I don't know if this works but I had read about it somewheres? 
    
    Line the counter/table with empty 8oz cans.  When they jump up the
    cans go flying and it suppose to scare the heck out of them.  I
    have been meaning to try it but keep forgeting to save the tin cans!
    It sounds like it just might work after a couple of times?
    
    Corine

    I guess I am the exception, I do not let our cats up on the counters
    or the dining room table.
    
    When Mocha first came to live with us, he was taught immediately the
    house rules. When he disobeyed he got a spanking and a sharp loud
    "NO". We had no problem after two weeks.  Ming caught on right away
    and in less than a week she has learned the house rules.
    
    They are always allowed up on any of the beds, powerroom and bath
    room sinks and counters. They have no problem distinguishing what
    they can get on and what they can't.
                                          
    I'm sure many people will disagree with this proceedure, however
    they are our cats and our house, and our system works for us.
    
    Barbara
    

    Barbara you are not an exception, I do not allow my cat up on the
    counters or the table. She knows what she can get up on and what
    she can't. I had to discipline her very young because I was living
    in an apartment when I first got her and I was not suppose to have
    her. BUT what do you do when this little scrawny kitten comes wandering
    into your yard looking like it is starving to death! I ahd to hide
    her everytime the landlord came to the house. Fortunately she was
    shy around strangers so she ran under the bed when someone came
    to the door. I had her get all her shots and had her spayed and
    she is really filling out and becoming very pretty. From what I
    read from your decription of a tortoise, I think that is what she
    is. She is very loving and gentle. Her noise was out of joint for
    awhile because we got a peekineese(sp) from buddy dog and they hated
    each other. She would stay upstairs and sulk. Finally I brought
    her down one day and shut the door and let the two of them go at
    it because toto my dog hated cats. Well not to go into all the boring
    details it took about a week of fgighting before they finally calmed
    down, now they sleep together, eat together and chase each other
    all over the house. We moved into our own home.
    One thing we did try the cans with the dog to see if we could get
    her to stop barking when she was out in the yard but it didn't to
    any good. Sorry didn't mean to go on and on.
    
    Jan
    

        
        I'll agree  with  the spray bottle method.  Our calico learned
        very quickly.   Tas,  the  oldest Siamese, is being a bit more
        difficult, but I'm still  working  on it.  The hopeful part is
        that the kitten knows that  what he's doing is wrong, and will
        learn eventually that the counters are off-limits.
        
        Good luck,
        
                   Sandy
        

    I guess I'm lazy - I know that they will do it when I'm not
    there, so why chase around after them when I am there.  They
    are gonna do it anyway.  A friend of mine used the cans - he
    said that his cats got VERY GOOD at jumping up and not knocking
    the cans over !!!  Little hairy demons!!
    
    E.T.

    Be careful about the "spanking", as their bones are very fragile.
    .0, you sound like things are in a bad state?  Do you think you
    two can adjust to each other, or would it be better to look for
    a new home for the kitten?
    

    When we first got Elmo, I tried to teach him to stay off the counters
    when I was washing the dishes.  He loved to walk through the dirty
    dishes and then trot all over the house with hiis spaghetti covered
    paws.  So, thinking of the squirt gun, I took the sink sprayer,
    and blasted him one day.  He absolutely loved it!!!!!
    
    Now he gets locked in the bathroom when I do the dishes.
    
    

         We used the squirt gun method on Lucky 6 years ago.  We would
    hide out of sight(not out of range) and when he jumped up on the
    kitchen table he would get blasted.  Couple of days and he was cured.
    He is fed on one end of the counter but he knows he can never go
    past/around the corner to the long part of the counter.  Now that
    we have an 8 week old Kitten training will start all over again
    with the squirt bottle.  I use a plant watering bottle.  It has
    a large quanity bottle, shoots a bigger stream, and shoots 20'
    with accuracy.  Only problem I've come across is my wife thinks
    it funny to shoot it at me when I'm not looking and I'm not even
    on the table!! ;-)
            Good Luck,
               Ken

    My .02 cents.......These little critters are very smart.  My little
    guy has us both conditioned.  He knows (after many squirts in the face)
    what is acceptable behaviour and what isn't.  The counters and table
    are off limits WHEN I'M AROUND.  I know that he's having a grand
    old time when I'm not because I see clues of his activities.  He's
    like a kid.  He doesn't realize that something out of place is a
    clue to having done something he knows he's not supposed to do.
    But you can't scold them after the fact.  He knows what the water
    bottle means...so much so, that all we do now is hold it up and he 
    flinches and shakes his head.  It's so hard not to laugh at him.  So, 
    bottom line, I think we're both trained!!!!   I have learned not
    to think about what happens when I'm not there, but concentrate
    on making life amiable when I am.   
    
    I'm sure that like people, some cats are plain stubborn.  You may
    need to consider whether this cat is the cat for you.  The only
    problem is when picking out a cat, you can't tell what he/she will
    be like to live with.  Sounds like a marriage, doesn't it??
    

    I also have tried the squirt gun method, I have a water gun that
    you have to cock the gun before it will shoot a stream of water,
    and when the little ones hear that cocking noise all four of them
    scatter.
    
    But, like you Ken when they do get wet, they come back for more.
    And they like they dirty dishes too, so now when I do dishes, I
    fill up the bathtub too, and let them play in that water so I can
    do the dishes in peace.
    
    Kathy
    

    My two were the most inquisitive monsters for the first two weeks.
     Then.....
    
    Last week, one of them tried to jump up onto the chest-on-chest
    in my bedroom.  The jump must not have been within feline olypmic
    standards.  Whoever did it fell just short of the top, hooked their
    claws in the bureau scarf and VOILA!  Thump--cat hits floor;
    crash--lamp falls behind dresser; caching--loose change all over
    bedroom; and the grand finale smasho, tinkle, tinkle,
    tinkle--anniversary clock (complete with glass dome) never to tick
    again.
    
    The cats have kept a wicked `low' profile since then.
    
    SO, find that unwanted breakable, and place it precariously on the
    edge of your cat's favorite aerial perch.
    
    P.S. My mishap was unplanned.