Jumpy cat needs outlets for playfulness, not scolding

Q: We love our calico cat but she is a problem child. She is a rescue and we have had her for almost nine months. She is crazy. She runs all over the house from room to room, sliding over rugs and up and down furniture. She loves to play, but is always climbing on something she shouldn’t including window screens, the kitchen counter and window sills. We have tried scolding and spraying with water, but neither works. Does anyone obedience-train cats?

A: The first thing that you need to do is to get the idea that the cat is doing something wrong out of your head. Cats have no idea of right and wrong. Spraying the cat with water just reinforces the cat’s idea of how ridiculous and random humans’ actions are.

You have to get the cat a couple of those big cat trees that have shelves and tunnels on them and put them in her favourite rooms. Make the cat tree even more attractive by rubbing catnip all over it. This is more fun for her to play on than your couch.

Another thing to try: get a big cardboard box and tape the top closed and then cut a few holes in the sides so that she can crawl in the holes and explore the inside of the box. Something like this can keep her busy for a long time and thus tire her out and divert her attention away from the other household objects that she is knocking over.

To keep her from jumping on the kitchen countertops, put a few strips of double-sided tape on them so that when she does jump on the counter she will feel the sticky tape touching her paws and decide for herself that this is not a nice place to be. If she likes to jump on the windowsills, get a couple of those cat window seats and install them in front of her favourite windows so she can lay there and look out the window as long as she wants and thus leave the curtains alone.