Some cats are finicky and standoffish. Others exhibit behavior that makes them less than perfect. If your at is one of these, you can work with him to change his bad behavor.
Cats will not always do what you want them to. When you are trying to change a bad behavior you need to introduce one good behavior. Redirect them into a behavior that is more acceptable for the both of you. Make sure that you reward your cat for any good behaviors that they may show. Use treats, praise, cuddling, hugs, and games.
When you spot, you cat doing something undesirable you should redirect them to something else. For instance, if you catch them scratching at the couch you should get them a scratching post. There are some things that you should remember, do not ever hit your cat. This can make your cat get extremely irritated and skittish.
Here are some ideas that can help with deterring your cat from doing things that you may not want him to.
You can use water, try slyly squirting your cat with water, naturally they do not like water. Try using loud noises such as: shaking pennies in a soda can. Use a compressed can of air to make a loud hissing noise. All of these can be used for a quick stop when your cat is expressing a bad behavior. In addition, with some success hopefully you can catch them doing these bad behaviors. The discipline can be used to help them realize that these bad behaviors are not going to be accepted. On another note if you have gone away and you come home to find your trash can tipped over. You can not punish them for this. One, they will not remember doing this; secondly, they will not know why they are being punished.
Here are a few things to try if you want to keep your cat from jumping on your counter tops. You can use things such as double sided sticky tape, aluminum foil, plastic wrap. The double sided sticky tape is to be put wherever you don’t want your cat. If the cat goes near it and puts one of their paws on it, they will stick to it. As we all know cats do not like having sticky things on their paws. This goes along with the plastic wrap, it has the same effect. The aluminum foil can be used like a mirror. This will give off a reflection of the cat. Typically cats do not like reflection they believe they see another cat. Or even at the most extreme you can put an electric mat on the counter; most of the time this can be purchased at a pet store. This mat will give off slight shocks to keep the cat from the counter.
There are some things that you can buy at local pet stores, to keep your cat from biting on plants, and electronic wires.
You can get some bitter tasting and bitter smelling things to put on the plants and wires. You have to be careful what you put on these items. You can look on the back of the product to tell if it will harm your plants. You should also monitor how much you put on these. Your cats need toys to play with; they need to keep themselves occupied. You can also take the time and grow them their own plant or grass. Just be careful and find out what type of plants that can be harmful to your cat. One more idea to keep your cat from getting into your plants is to get plant hangers and keep your plants out of the cats reach.
Just a few reminders that you love your cat and you need to be patient. All cats have at least one bad habit, there is always some way of dealing with this. When you want your cat to behave just treat it fairly. They need time to learn new things, just like you would. They also need time to break bad habits. Don’t forget they are not trying to make you mad they just want love and positive attention.