Expert: Norman Auspitz - 5/1/2011

Question
Hi,
  I have had a cat I saved about 6 months ago.  At first it was wild but it is amazingly smart and took up the litter box right away and turned from being very nasty to often very nice and affectionate.  I read a book on cats and saw how they see us as managers feeding and cleaning litter boxes etc.  This cat was first in our garage, then basement and for about 3 months I let it come upstairs with us where it play fights with our dog and drives us crazy.  I thought we had it trained not to go up on the table or counters but kitty only waits till we turn our backs or are out of the room and it is up stealing food.  I don't even have to yell, it knows it does wrong and runs to the basement.  My wife wants to put kitty out but I know he won't last long where we live. I don't want to keep it in the basement all the time but that naughty cat will always be sneaking around doing unhygenic things in the kitchen sink or scratching our furniture.  The only thing the cat now knows is when it is bad and how to be sneaky about doing bad.  Do you have any ideas how to keep it off counters or is it a losing battle?

Answer
Dan,

Generally, when you are not around, the cats are going to do pretty much what they want!!!!!!!

However, what you might try is using two sided sticky tape.  Cats hate walking on sticky, so, if you put enough of it on the edges of the counter, they might think better of jumping up there. No guarantees, but it is worth a shot.

BTW, to keep the cat out of the kitchen sink, leaving about an inch of water in the sink will usually stop the cat from getting into the sink!

As far as scratching furniture, with a sturdy, proper exercise post, the cat should leave the furniture alone.  You need to get something that is tall enough for the cat to stand on hits hind legs and reach up as high as it can go with its front paws.  It must be sturdy and not wobble.  Usually a 4 X 4 on a very sturdy base will do the trick. The 4 X 4 and base must be covered in a closed loop carpet and/or sisal. Having additional shelves and/or cubby holes (covered and/or lined) with closed loop carpet) is also a plus.

Often these can be bought for not too much money at a local cat show. The pet stores tend to charge quite a bit, and, often, the pet store ones are not sufficiently sturdy.

To entice the cat to use the exercise post I would spray it with catnip spray (available from most pet supermarkets).

Good luck and best regards... Norm.