How to Stop Your Cat’s Bad Behaviors

Cats like to jump on tables, climb on areas with expensive knick-knacks, and anything else that can be leapt upon. Yelling at your cat won’t work, so you’ll need to try other methods that won’t make your cat think you are angry at them in general.

Tactics That Don’t Work

One of the best ways to know what works is to first know what doesn’t work. You might think that an angry yell or clapping of hands will frighten your cat away from bad behavior, but your cat won’t learn from this. Anger and loud noises to your cat do not mean a specific action they did is undesirable – it just means that you are being angry and loud or unhappy in general. Cats do not see your anger at them as a direct correlation between what they are doing and your response. They need to have a more specific response that creates an unpleasant experience based on what they are doing.

Spray Bottle

Never underestimate the feline hatred of water. Have a spray bottle in different rooms with clean water in it so that if your cat does something like jump on the refrigerator or kitchen table that they recognize doing these actions will lead to getting wet.

Lemon for Furniture

Spraying your cat with water when scratching on the furniture won’t have the same effect. You should instead use natural scents like products with lion pheromones or lemon to dissuade your cat from using the sofa as a scratching post.

Reinforce Good Behavior

Reward your cat and state “good kitty!” every time they use the car scratching post. This will encourage your cat to use the scratching post more often and make them less likely to go elsewhere for claw sharpening.