Training cats - Neeed different ideas!!!
By sedel1027
@sedel1027 (17846)
Cupertino, California
January 31, 2007 11:57pm CST
We have our two cats, which are not even 1 1/2 years old yet. We bought 2 lovebirds that are in a cage with a slanted roof and small slats.
We have one cat that could care less about the birds and the other who is still a bit curious. So this is going on week 2.5 and we thought we would have cats trained by now. I am getting annoyed with having to put them in a bedroom while I am at work. even though I am not punishing them, I don't want them locked up either.
The problem we are having is that our female cat has managed to jump on top of the cage (even when you are looking right at her), whcih we don't want - especially if we aren'there.
Here is what we have tried (which has worked for other things:
1. Squirting with water bottle
2. Firm No
3. Swatting her bottom with a news paper
Here the thing, she will look right at you, then jump on the cage. She KNOWS what she is doing is wrong. When she jumps up, as soon as she sees anyone move, she gets down.
I don't think she means them any harm, I don't think she even wants to catch them, I think she just is curious and maybe wants to play with them like she does the fish in the tank. We are worried about her doing this when we aren't home and accidentally hutrintg the birds.
Any ideas???
4 responses
@monica1216 (509)
• United States
1 Feb 07
Maybe you have to just move the birdcage to a place where the cat can't get it? It might be really hard or impossible to get a cat to go against their natural instinct. Howabout if You hund the birdcage on a secure hook from the ceiling? Other than that I don't know.
Good Luck!
1 person likes this
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
1 Feb 07
We thought of both. Unfortunately, we don't have any good place that qualifies because the main places with no way for the cats to up up are too near fan or air events, or in a back room of the apartment which they would hate. As for the hook, we don't have many beams in our apartment that we could drill into. The two we know of are right where ever one walks. Thanks for the suggestions.
@mixey62 (305)
• United States
1 Feb 07
My mom had this problem with our old cat. She was immune to punishment it would seem. My mom ended up filling an empty peanut can with a few pennies. Whenever the cat was bad, she would shake the can and the noise would scare the cat. Finally, it stopped being bad because it did not like the can's noise at all.
Another thing you can do is put foil on any surface the cat might climb up on. It's not pretty, but cats don't like the feel of tin foil. This is great is you can't be around to yell at your cat when it's getting up on things or terrorizing your birds.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
1 Feb 07
Tin foil doesn't work with our cats. They play with it all of the time. In fact a lot of things that normally bother cats to have on their paws, they play with - like tape. Our female cat LOVES tape. I will try to pennies thing. I just need to find a solution for keeping them off when we aren't there.
@Seattle2007 (344)
• United States
2 Feb 07
Hi there...cats generally learn to avoid areas which are unpleasant to them rather than having humans directly intervene which only teaches them to either fear the punisher rather than the act of punishment. Using the tin can full of loose change only become more effective if you can catch your cat in the act BUT the cat does NOT see you rattling the can otherwise it will just associate you to the deterrent behaviour. Another possible solution is to consider balancing a piece of cardboard on top of the cage so it slips off the cage and place double-sided tape on top of the cardboard (strong enough to stick to the cats paws which isn't harmful, but not fun for them to play with either). The idea is to get the cat to learn for itself that this place is no longer secure as well as very undesirable . Cats are naturally inquisitive so you will need to repeat this arrangement for a while until the cat learns for itself this place has changed.
Source: I am an animal trainer for exotic and domestic cats
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
2 Feb 07
The cat we are having the problem with has not fear of any loud noise. Hmmm. I will think about the cardboard. Not sure how that would work though because the birdcage does have a slanted top to it. As for them not liking tape, well this cat loves tape. If you leave a piece out she will chew it up. Our cats are not afraid of what most cats are afraid of unfortunately.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
2 Feb 07
She is an odd cat. She thinks anything that gets stuck to her paws is interesting. As for her not liking it being stuck to her paws, she has walked around the house with tape, post it notes, and other sticky things stuck to her paws. Most of the time she tries to either take it off her paws and chew on it (like a squirrel would eat its food) or stick it on the other cat to get him to freak out.
@cheetah311 (343)
• United States
2 Feb 07
She might like chewing on it but many times they don't like the way it feels on their paws. It might just be the thing to deter her.
