Cat help!

MrsFarrow
MrsFarrow Posts: 326 Member
in Chit-Chat
Our cat is a little over a year old. She's getting fixed in a month. We're having issues with her behavior, and I really doubt it will be solved with her spay. But I could be wrong.

We have a HUGE issue with her getting on the TV stand. We've used a water bottle in the past, and it's worked. Unfortunately we can't use one in this instance. She gets up on the TV stand, in front of the TV. We have a flat screen 3d, and she stands up and claws. I'm scared to death she's going to claw the screen and I'm going to lose my crap. I don't even know what to do anymore :( We can't watch television barely ever because she interrupts every show, every 5 minutes she's up stretching trying to eff things up. I don't know how to handle her. We have to stand up to get her to move, so it's constantly standing up. Meh :(

Replies

  • maidentl
    maidentl Posts: 3,203 Member
    Maybe you could get a can of pennies and shake it at her to scare the crap out of her when she does it?
  • MrsFarrow
    MrsFarrow Posts: 326 Member
    Hah! Didn't think about that!
  • koosdel
    koosdel Posts: 3,317 Member
    Chihuahua.
  • mommared53
    mommared53 Posts: 9,543 Member
    Another option would be to put the vacuum cleaner next to the tv stand and have the vacuum cleaner turned on but not plugged in. When the kitten starts to climb on the tv stand, plug the vacuum cleaner in just long enough to scare her. We do that with my male cat so he doesn't stand outside my son's bedroom door and scratch on it in the mornings.

    Of course you may not want your vacuum cleaner sitting out all the time.
  • AmandaRingley
    AmandaRingley Posts: 20
    Pennies in a can is a great idea. Also, put some type of scratching post near the tv that she will enjoy? Personally my cats enjoy wicker baskets to scratching posts but it helps distract them from stretching on furniture they aren't supposed to.

    Also, whatever surface she uses to jump up to access the tv maybe put some sticky paws on it?
  • bens_mommy
    bens_mommy Posts: 219
    Maybe you could get a can of pennies and shake it at her to scare the crap out of her when she does it?

    THIS. We had issues with our cats clawing at the furniture. Within a week there weren't any problems, there haven't been since, and that was...eight years ago, haha.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
    How about a motion sensor can of spray air? Like what you use to clean your keyboard. I saw it on "My Cat From Hell". Alternatively, you could mount your television to the wall.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
    Or you could just use a can of spray air manually, in place of the water bottle. Make sure not to spray it too close to your cat's face though, since it can freeze stuff it gets too close to.
  • SueGremlin
    SueGremlin Posts: 1,066 Member
    Put some double sided tape on the surface she stands on. Cats hate that sticky feeling. Also yelling "NO!!!!" when she does it and clapping your hands will deter her. You have to really mean it and chase her off eveyr time.
  • DannyMussels
    DannyMussels Posts: 1,842 Member
    Can you put something where she jumps, so its not really a nice ledge to stand on?

    Something awkwardly shaped, sorta blocking it.
  • DannyMussels
    DannyMussels Posts: 1,842 Member
    Put some double sided tape on the surface she stands on. Cats hate that sticky feeling. Also yelling "NO!!!!" when she does it and clapping your hands will deter her. You have to really mean it and chase her off eveyr time.

    Actually, this just reminded me!

    A friend of mine was watching a cat before, when her family was outta town, she put newspaper on the couches, with double-sided tape...and I guess said, they'll get stuck to it, and sorta freak, then run as the paper/noise sticks to them, ultimately scaring them off and keeping them from tryin it in the future.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    Can you wall mount the tv?
  • _gwen
    _gwen Posts: 501 Member
    Put some double sided tape on the surface she stands on. Cats hate that sticky feeling. Also yelling "NO!!!!" when she does it and clapping your hands will deter her. You have to really mean it and chase her off eveyr time.

    +1

    Or plastic wrap, or aluminum foil, or even mesh.

    +1 for the alternate scratching post/perch idea
  • tam120
    tam120 Posts: 444 Member
    I used plastic wrap to keep the cat off of the office chair (every time I sat down I got up with a butt covered in cat hair!), it worked for a while - until he realized it wasn't there anymore.
  • MrsFarrow
    MrsFarrow Posts: 326 Member
    She has a $200 perch/scratching post/tower right next to the TV. Unfortunately we live in an apartment and I refuse to wall mount the TV. However, I'm also a firm believer in not changing things like this for an animal.

    Let me explain though, before I get flamed! I love my cat, and I will do anything, pay anything to make her happy. However, I'd rather amend the behavior then change everything around to simply avoid her doing it. It's the same with our dog. I'd rather train him then change everything around so he can't do bad behavior.

    That in mind, we are looking into the double sided tape and pennies. She hates both! Unfortunately, shouting "NO!" at her and getting up does nothing. It's the weirdest thing. It's almost like she likes us yelling at her. It's getting to the point where during a half hour show, we'll get up 10-20 times. She's so strong willed. At first we thought it was for attention, but it doesn't seem that way anymore. At this point we're also reading up on training for cats, how to train them, helping to bond etc. I wish I knew why she was doing it, you know? I have no idea! So for now we'll try the newspaper and sticky tape, and the jar of pennies. Hopefully that will work! We tried the bitter spray, and that didn't work. She doesn't seem to mind the smell as much as she minds the taste, and since she's not licking the stand, I guess it doesn't bother her! Little butthead :)
  • alcon79
    alcon79 Posts: 193 Member
    Our one cat is the same way - she jumps on everything - tables, counters, television stands, my bedside table, etc. Spraying her with water or charging her with a menacing stomp seems to do the trick when we're watching her. Problem being, when we're asleep or gone, she clearly knows she's alone and jumps on everything, so our punishments aren't really sinking in. The worst is when sleeping, she'll jump on my dresser that has a mirror and then scratches the mirror which makes the most awful sound. If she's feeling perky, she'll do it 5-10 times in a row and the only way she'll stop is if you physically get up out of bed.

    She hasn't permanently ruined anything, so that's the positive and we've kind of just learned to live with her annoying habits. She's very lucky she's cute and gives lots of kisses when she knows she's been bad!

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