Hello, everyone. I have two indoor-only cats -- Blackie, a 4 year old
neutered male, and Ebony, a year old spayed female. Has anyone found a
way to keep my untrainable cat off horizontal surfaces such as the
kitchen counter? Here's how Ebony's mind works, as described by a
human. "Plan Zero = No Plan -- DO SOMETHING. Pounce on something, etc.
Plan A: if thwarted by someone from doing No Plan Zero, Plan A is 'do
the same thing again. Repeat Plan A 2-3 times, every time thwarted.
Plan B: find another route to get at what I want to pounce on, then do
it all over again till the human gives up or locks me in the other room
till she's finished up with the thing I want to invade." Our situation:
I'm home most of the time, pay lots of attention to them, play, pet
them, have a terrific cat tree they love, a 3-foot high scratching post, windows the like to look out of, plenty of food and water, and really everything a royal pussycat would ever want or need. Blackie is very
laid back, very sweet, and has overcome his rather shy ways, and is
learning to cuddle more than he has been. Ebony is also a sweet kitty.
She's never mean or aggressive. But she is curious about EVERYTHING.
She literally "sticks her nose into everything." I've listed the various deterrents that work for different purposes, but have not found ANYTHING
to keep her off the kitchen counter and the eating table. I tried the
Ssscat device, but both times I got it, it was a dud and never would
work. I got refunded. I bought an adjustable cat fence and it blocks
access, but she immediately found a way to circumvent it. I plan to
get a "clicker" but I can't be vigilant over the horizontal surfaces 24
hours a day! It's beginning to "get to me" and irritate me. I have
found three good deterrents, and have bought a small indoor cat fence.
These three deterrents are: Comfort Zone Feliway Spray, Stress Reducing Pheromone. This is astronomically expensive for a small container! I
hope to find an alternative that works as well as it does, due to cost.
It works great for most soft fabrics like chairs and carpet. The
second one is Bitter Apple spray. This works great to keep Ebony away
from her love of chewing on electrical cords. (I have her a long piece
of electrical cord for her very own – but she pays no attention to it.
Sill, because of Bitter Apple, she leaves the “live” cords alone now.)
A commenter on this site, or maybe another cat forum, recommended
spraying lemon juice on my house plant. (I have a large list of
non-toxic plants to cats and dogs). I tried this on my new shrimp
plant, which she loves to eat and tear apart, but when I remember to
spray it with lemon juice daily, the plant is saved. There's another
great product which calms cats way down. I haven't tried it with Ebony,
but I will. It's called Animals' Apawthecary Tranquility Blend. I've
used it on another cat that was overly active, and it worked great. One
full dropper on her side, which she loved to lick off, kept her calm for
about 4 hours, and so I repeated the dosage 2-4 times a day.




--
My2Kitties

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