OT: kitty QI help

the water squirter is the correct way for long distance control (rubber bands can hit rather hard for a small kitty) and for closer range stuff you can grab them by the scruff of the neck and remove - mother would just swap with a paw while the kitties are small and later with claws too. this is, of course, rather hard to do without claws and a human can swat a *lot* harder than a cat so i would advise

I had a semi feral cat to "house train" she thought that me getting into bed and going to the toilet were prime times to attack my ankles with 4 paws of claws and teeth - getting into bed became a leap from the threshold onto the bed and going to the toilet was painful. at first i used the plant spray and trie dto keep it next to the WC where i could reach it - this wroked fine till one day the bottle was AWOL. in sheer desperation (as the cat was doing the butt wriggle before attack) i grabbed what ever was behind me and sprayed... it turned out to be hairspray - not good for kitty lungs and a bad taste to boot - i let her wash the goo off herself (a bath was with this cat out of the question) and from that day forwards if I reached behind me she was off..

I have a friend who's had very good results with keeping a can of pennies nearby and shaking it close to the cat while saying no, and removing the cat physically. The cats hate to hear those pennies! Now they can just start to pick up the can and the cat stops whatever the behavior is before they have to shake the can!

Carole D. - Retired and loving it in the foothills of NW Georgia

My quilts, crafts, QIs, and more -

Hi Charlotte... I've been a foster parent for kittens for a few years for our local Humane Society. If you only have one kitten, it would really help if you got another the same age and size. They will entertain you and each other for hours.

The behavior of putting the paws on your face could be that she's a little hungry and she's trying to get your attention for some other reason. If see nips you with the little teeth, that's another side of hunger. The advice about picking them up by the scruff of the neck is good advice to keep her off of "no no" places. Never giving the kitten table food also is a deterent to the counters. Also I've found that cats are not that different from dogs, in that they need to keep busy. They need a lot of toys and they all love the sticks with the fuzzy things on the end. (forgot what they're called). Kittens are either stop or go. Not much in between. They need a lot of activity to keep them from being bored. Cuddle her a lot too, whether she likes it or not.

The water squirter is ok, but some kittens think you're playing, some will get a little hostile and in the long run, it doesn't work too well.

One of the foods that kittens seem to love is the Royal Canin for Baby Cats. I also feed them Friskies Mariners' Choice, but just a little.

Every foster kitten and cat I've had have totally different personalityies and quirks.

I didn't mean this to be so long, but if I can help in any way, let me know. Barb from S. FL

water gun and a firm "No" Pami

Water squirt. No rubber bands at all for the same reason you wouldn't shot one at a human.

For the face lunges, grab by the scruff and place kitty in your lap then hold for a few seconds. IIRC she is very young so she will eventually outgrow the banzai lunge.

Also learn how to properly trim her claws now and train her to let you do it. Our kitties don't mind it a bit because they all know once the claws are trimmed they get treats. Kitten claws grow so fast that they need trimming once a week. Debra in VA See my quilts at

If you're fast enough, I'd start with a face push. Ever watched two cats, one of which is getting fed up with kitten behavior, but is not yet to the utter befrazzlement stage? A paw goes on the errant kitten face, right about the bridge of the nose, and some pressure is applied. Humans can put an index finger there and press about 1/4" and hold. You're not trying to knock the kitten over, just issue the momcat warning. Give the face push a second or two to sink in, then pick the kitten up and deposit on the floor. Lather, rinse and repeat until you get too fed up and put the kitten in another room.

Another choice after a face push is to scruff him. Pick up the kitten by the scruff of the neck just enough to unweight his front paws... (with some cats, you need to unweight front and back, but rare, IME) paws don't have to be off the surface, just enough that you start to feel that limp kitten response start to kick in. Hold for a few seconds after you feel the relaxation, then put him on the floor and "ignore him out loud" for a bit.

Then there's the hiss... a good, back of the throat "hchchchch" like the final "ch" in Bach in German. I reserve that one for really serious offenses, or a long distance serious offense. When Lizzie was a kitten, immediately flop over onto her side and freeze when hissed. Our current "kitten", a two-year rescued feral with lots of energy, doesn't flop, but he will freeze and then head off in a different direction. I've never seen a cat not pay attention to a hiss.

Hisses can also be combined with scruffing for extremely serious offenses, like attacking the dog while he's asleep.

Timeouts also work with kittens who are not too wound up... just pick them up and shut them in the showerstall or cat carrier for a few minutes until they calm down again.

Make sure there are plenty of safe and interesting kitten toys around, too. Open paper bags, empty Kleenex boxes, empty cardboard boxes, fur mousies, milk bottle lids, mylar cat balls, etc. When the kitten toys are more interesting than the people appendage toys, this cuts down on the number of incidents you have to discipline.

Might also google for the "rec.pets.cats faqs" and "cindy tittle-moore" -- it's a pretty good collection of experienced cat advice.

Hi Charlotte: Pick her up by the scruff of the neck, and hiss at her. That's how her Mama would discipline her. Then put her on the floor, and totally ignore her. Kittens are smart. She'll soon get the idea that when she acts that way, her "new mama" is very displeased and she doesn't get the attention that she loves. You're very wise to try to nip this behavior in the bud. So many people think it's cute (and it is, of course...) but then they have a half-grown cat who can hurt you later and the habit's hard to break. Good luck with your kitty. They're so much fun.

Sherry

I haven't read all the responses (there are a bunch) but the water bottle is one of the best ways to teach a kitty not to do something. Rubber bands would work IF (and I can't stress the IF strongly enough) you can hit the cat on the rear end. You don't want to send a rubber band zinging into a little ones eyes or nose. Another good deterrent, especially for close up correction, is to have an empty metal can filled with small rocks. When the kitty does something naughty, shake the can HARD so that it makes a lot of noise and scares the kitty. Pretty soon the little one will associate the behaviour with that nasty noise and hopefully stop. One thing I always had good luck with was trying to chastise a kitten the way a mom cat would. If you've ever watches a mom cat teach a little one, she usually gives the kitten a gentle smack upside the head. Yours is such a little thing that you would have to be *very* careful and maybe use just a gentle nudge with one finger. Do this while saying NO a bit loudly and firmly and then taking kitty and putting her away from you and she should soon get the idea that the behaviour is NOT good. It's never too early to start trimming the claws and grooming the little one, too. This is good for both you and the kitty and teaches the little one early on that it's fun to sit in your lap and get messed with. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

Charlotte Hippen wrote:

This post reminded me of something which might be helpful to you - perhaps later on (when they can still be naughty!) It is the ignoring 'bit'. One of our cats is extremely clever and, therefore, naughty! He can see that, when he gets really bad he gets attention. Part of this is being picked up to be put outside the room where he is misbehaving. Being picked up and carried is attention and quite nice, after all! So, I make a great point of having two different kinds of 'carrying'. If he has been naughty and is being 'put away from us' he is picked up (often by me as my fuse is shorter than DH's!) and held, often as low as my hip level, for the short distance to the hallway, and the door is shut. This is a totally different kind of 'carry' to the one where he is picked up, settled in my arms and held close and cuddled. In fact now he doesn't even purr when he gets his 'eviction' carry.

(I know scruffing is best, but I find it hard to do that! - I'm a softie!) . n message , Sherry writes

Thank you all for taking the time read my post and respond.

Barb: Thanks for the advise about being hungry. When she first came here she was biting our hands, legs, etc. when hungry and we would place her by her food dish. She has now learned where her food dish is and that there is always food in the dish. The lunging is something she does when she plays.

For those of you that expressed concern about the rubber bands - I was in no way considering this for her. We used it with our Darius for a few reasons: it was suggested, the water bottle didn't shoot far enough most of the time, and he was stubborn enough that it took a little bonk in the butt to get him to stop many of the behaviors. We were very good shots and mainly got his butt, but occasionally we missed him entirely. He was also older and bigger when he came to live with us. With Cheetah, even if we are very good shots to hit that tiny butt, she is small enough it will hurt her more, and we don't want that.

Thanks everyone for the ideas. We will try them and see what works best with her. I can say I've already tried removing her from me when she started grabbing me and biting me like she would when wrestling a sibling. She came right back and attacked my feet again, she was removed again, and then she started getting mad about it, and kept trying. DH who was watching decided to grab her and pinned her for a few seconds. She calmed down and got distracted so it worked. Perhaps some hissing or one of the other discipline methods is going to have to be used on her. Just like kids I guess, they all have their own personalities and what works on one doesn't always work on another. Anyways thanks for the help. There are enough ideas, I'm sure we will find one that works on her.

No one has mentioned clapping your hands - they hate this. I have even stopped cats fighting in our street by clapping. Joan