Cat Behaviour Tips

Some handy tips to remember  -  especially for children

• Spend lots of time playing with your kitten so his energy is used up more constructively. Drag a string around the house or tie an object to a string on a pole and wave it around while watching TV. Remember if you play with your kitten by wiggling your fingers or toes you will be encouraging biting.
• Do not hit or strike your kitten for being naughty. This will only frighten or anger him and frequently leads to biting and clawing behavior. Punishment is the least effective training method for cats.
• Never force a kitten to stay in your lap if he or she wants to get down. Do not grab at your cat or scare him, or he may learn to bite. Rough and tumble play also encourages aggression, so play gently, using a toy and not your fingers.

Safety

• Confine your kitten to one room when you aren’t home, one that has no plants or dangerous objects. Swallowing or choking on small objects is very common in cats and kittens. Beware of things such as rubber bands, pencil erasers, needles and thread, small toys, metal objects such as paper clips, scraps of fabric, earrings etc. Anything smaller than 1” diameter can probably be swallowed and needs to be kept out of a kitten’s reach. Don’t give your kitten string or yarn to play with! These are among the most common and deadly of intestinal obstructions.
• Provide at least one scratching post for your cat to use. Rubbing catnip on the post will encourage its use, as will keeping it in a handy place where you and the kitten spend a lot of time. Cats usually prefer a larger post that they can climb up and down. Some cats like wood or rope-wrapped posts instead of carpet. The more your kitten likes his post and the more he is encouraged to use it, the less he will scratch at the furniture or rugs. Use your squirt bottle if you see him scratching where he’s not supposed to.
   
• Be especially vigilant in the laundry and kitchen areas. Laundry soap and bleach are toxic when licked off a cat’s paws when they’ve walked through it. Many cats die each year after exploring the washing machine, taking a nap in the dryer, or jumping on or in a hot stove or oven. Cats are also good at learning how to open cabinet doors!
• A collar and ID tag are a good idea, especially if your cat tries to escape outdoors. Use breakaway collars to prevent choking. Microchips are also available now to safely and permanently identify your cat if he or she becomes lost.
• To prevent litter tray avoidance be sure the pan is easily accessible and in a quiet place where your cat will feel comfortable. If your house is large it is best to have more than one box. We also recommend multiple litter trays with more than one cat in the household. Scoop the boxes daily and empty them completely once a week - many cats won’t use a dirty litter tray. Avoid heavily scented litters - cats don’t like perfume. Never physically punish a cat for going outside the litter box - they quickly learn to sneak and hide their accidents. Many times litter box avoidance is caused by a physical problem such as intestinal parasites, colitis or bladder infection.  
   

Prevention is better than cure...

• To prevent chewing on cords or shoes, use unscented, roll-on antiperspirant on these items once or twice a week. Cats don’t like the drying, bitter taste and will soon shy away.
• Try putting aluminum foil around your plant pots or lay sheets of it on counter tops or tables, especially when you can’t be home to use your squirt bottle! Cats don’t like the shiny, noisy foil and will generally avoid it. Many types of plants are poisonous to your pet, so it’s best to keep them all out of reach. Double sided sticky tape works well on couches and chairs - cats don’t like the sticky feel on their feet. Just peel the tape off when it’s no longer needed.
• Keep a squirt gun or bottle handy. A squirt of water in the face deters most kittens from doing things they shouldn’t do, especially jumping up on counters or playing too aggressively, and it doesn’t hurt them.