What to do with this naughty kitten!!!???!?

Question

This cat was purchased from a private home when the kitten was 7 weeks old. I have now had him for 9 weeks. This cat will not stop climbing onto kitchen counters in search of food, even when his bowl is filled with food. I even had to throw away a portable island that I usually keep my bread because he woudl get into there and tear into the bread and eat that! Sometimes my son would leave a plate or bowl on the dining table and the cat would get into that too. I have left food out to cool off after being in the oven and he will get into that too. I have tried spray bottles, putting the cat outside when we eat, even makign surethe cat eats before we do to no avail!!! I am losing patience with this cat!!! I have had cats all my life and usually after a few squirts of bottle water they learn their lesson but not this one...I shoudl be able to to leave a empty plate in the sink once in a while without worrying about if the cat is going to get into it. Any suggestions??

FYI I have tried blocking off the kitchen with fencing used to keep infants out of similar situations, but this cat will climb right up the fencing...
This cat is truly ADD on crack...

I never gave him people food. He likes his food because he does eat it all. I came homes yestrerday and he did it again. And he woke me up last night rattling a dish in the sink. I have my fish tank adjacent to the counter and I think thats how he gets up there. It's a huge tank (75 gal) and honestly there is nowhere else to put it. This cat just jumps and runs around constantly all day long, I don't think he ever sleeps. I was told he was fixed but I dont know what to look for if he is or not. He isn't spraying or anything like that. This cat is hyperactive and crazy.

Answer 1

my cat when young did something similiar, guess coz she's a stray cat, and have suffered hunger before, so after when we adopted it into our house, she tends to snatch our other cat's(which is more older) food, no matter she's hungry or not. Worst, once you put her on the floor, she will rush to the kitchen (where her foodbowl lies), again, no matter she's hungry or not.

Now she's older, the habit had gone away

whenever any of my adult cat's near to smell the food I am holding, I will show a serious face to them, and said :NO, they tends to look at me for a while, and if they still come closer, I will turned them away from it. Nowadays, most of time when I said NO, they will sit and look, not coming near me

seeking's vet's advice might be good, they might have more professional reasons into suggesting why ur kitten is doing this (maybe the kitten had gone through hungerness when in the private home? I don't know) , or maybe introduce new and effective ways to stop him for behaving like that

but yes, patience is a must, especially for a kitten, but if you can train him gd while young, you won't face much problems when they get older

Answer 2

You have to remember it is only a kitten and 9 weeks old is still very very young. Kittens take an immense amount of patience as I have a 6 month old and was 4 weeks when I got her. I have nicknamed her Monster if that gives you any idea how well behaved she is ;) And she does not respond to squirts from the water bottle either. I fortunately have a spare room that I keep her food, water and litter box in and when she is misbehaving I stop the behavior, firmly say no, and place her in her room for a few hours.
I'm actually quite surprised a 9 week old kitten can get on the the counter as my 6 month old is not able to and definitely has made numerous attempts to do so. Make sure you are not contributing to the issue by providing some sort of access that is enabling your kitten to get up there.
Otherwise do what others have suggested and talk to a vet for training tips.

Answer 3

dont spray him this will only make him worse honestly get him neutered he will defiantly calm down.partly his behavior is due to his age but kittens need plenty of toys as he maybe bored. next time you hold him and he does go to bite you or climbs the curtains or does anything that's naughty as you have to accept he is a kitten then just say no then put him in a room on his own for just 2 Min's then go get him and let him in the same room as you don't give him loads of praise or attention otherwise he will think going into that room will bring attention after. eventually he will realize that biting is not acceptable.this will work good luck

Answer 4

You might try to trick it into stopping; Intentionally leave something extremely bitter or unpleasant out on a dish or bowl (Though certainly nothing that would harm him) and see how he reacts. If he has a particular liking for bread, you might putting some vinegar or lemon juice on a few bits of bread and leaving that out. Hopefully, he'll learn a lesson that not everything on the counters is worth getting into.

Keep in mind, though, as far as age goes, he's still a pretty young kitten. Hopefully this method will teach him, but it might also just be something that comes with age and persistence.

Answer 5

I'm not sure if this will help, but your kitten is still young enough it might work. When my cat was young I would have him on my lap while I ate. The whole time I would let him get close enough to smell the food but I would hold him back so that he couldn't eat it. (keep in mind cats are harder to train than dogs, so you'll have to do this quit a few times) By the time he was 1yr I could leave a pizza in the box on the floor and he would smell it but then just walk away. I hope this helps.

Answer 6

Every time you see him go somewhere he must not, take him softly from his neck like his mum and say No and put him where he is allowed. But a cat is a cat, the first year of their life they are very naughty. Then they get more serious, have patience. And don't let him in the kitchen. We keep our kitchen door closed, otherwise if the cat gets in, we always hear noises like someone is digging in a cupboard. Once I left the door open and a chicken in the pot: Later, I just found a half eaten chicken on the floor. They are animals! It is kind of cute though, how cunning they are to get food!

Answer 7

Please be patient. Your little kitten may have been food-deprived before you got him so he feels like he has to eat like there's no tomorrow whenever food is around. My cat Milo was a stray off the streets when I first got him and no matter how much I fed him he would still knock over the kitchen trash can and eat scraps! He eventually stopped doing that. Just show him a lot of attention and play with him a lot.

Answer 8

That's a hard one. My cat was also doing that. Unfortunately, it took a while to remedy and we had to take a newspaper and smack him just a little. (Not enough to hurt it just enough to get its attention). However, we could only do it while he was in the act. If he got down there was no point because he didn't understand. At the same time we would yell no. Eventually he began to associate the no with it, and we no longer had to use the newspaper. I know that that is a little drastic and some people may not like that idea.

Answer 9

Has this kitty been given people food before you got him?
I have two cats that have never been interested in people food. I have had the one since it was born and the other I got when she was tiny.
I think people make the mistake of giving them "treats" and then wonder why they won't stay out of the food!
The only thing that will attract my cat's is tuna fish, but even still, they never try to get into our food.

Answer 10

Ha! Ha! Ha! My 14 week old kitten is going throught the same faze. It's king of like teens going through growth spurts...they can't get enough food!!! Your kitten is about to go through a growth spurt. I always know when my foster kittens are going to be going through this because I have to double the amount of food I give them!

All you can really do is keep all food that the kitten shouldn't eat in cupboards and make sure it's eating it's kitten food. Oh, and get ready for it to grow a bit bigger!!!