Expert: Norman Auspitz - 4/26/2010

Question
Dear Mr. Auspitz,

Please help. I am at my wits end. My cat is so defiant. It is starting to feel like a power struggle between us. I have been trying to teach him not to jump on the kitchen counters, the dining room table and dresser tops. I've tried everything: stern "no's" and taking him off, shouting and pushing him off, putting him in time out for 10 to 30 minutes (laundry room), squirting him with water guns, using Scat spray deterrents (these work until they run out of air, or we get comfortable and stop using them). He is so defiant that when I take him off and scold him, he jumps back up in the VERY SAME SPOT. When I let him out of time out, he comes back to the kitchen and immediately jumps up in the VERY SAME SPOT. No punishment matters to him. He comes right back and does it again. What he has: another same aged kitten to play with, a glut of toys, a cat tree, play time every day with me and my fiance, a spacious 14-room house with huge windows that look into meadows and forest, two cushy cat beds, high quality food (wet and dry) and water every day, all proper health care, two people who love him and stroke and cuddle him every day. My ability to tolerate this defiance is growing less each day. The other kitten is like an angel. We got them from the humane society on the same day and he has never ONE time jumped on any counter top, and if he does something wrong, just a firm "no" is enough and he never does it again. The bad cat is upsetting the entire household and causing friction between my fiance and me. I really need help. We don't want to give him away. We want to teach him. Please please please help us.  Thank you, Mary

Answer
Mary,

First off, cats tend to respond badly to negative reinforcement techniques such as spray bottles, yelling "NO" (which they tend to ignore), and the like.  Cats respond much better to positive reinforcement (like food treats). In addition, I have never found a cat repellent that really worked!!!!!!!!!!

So, you may want to investigate a behavior modification technique called "clicker training" (See Karen Pryor's web site: www clickertraining.com). This is used to train cats to do (or not do) all sorts of things using techniques based on positive reinforcement.

Meanwhile, cats tend to hate sticky surfaces, so two sided adhesive tape on the edges of the counters may act as a deterrent.  Also, cats tend to not like walking on aluminum foil, so you could try that.

I think you are misinterpreting your cats behavior. By nature, cats do not understand defiance. We tend to overlay human emotions and motives on cats which tends to make us misunderstand their behaviors.  What you see as defiance, may just be a game to your cat.  It also is a way for him to manipulate the situation and get a rise out of you as part of the game. The harder you try to keep him off, the more attention he gets paid and the more you interact with him (what fun!).

Keep in mind that when you get cats from the humane society, you have no idea of their history, personalities, or much, so it is probable that the "better" behaved cat has had a very different set of life experiences than the "badly" behaved cat.  Also, calmness goes much further in working with cats than trying to "make" the cat do something they do not want to.  We have always found that if we can "convince" the cat that the desired behavior is his/her idea, they usually comply.

I hope this helps some.

Best regards.. Norm.