<p>poetsheart - I reiterate - get two kittens at the same time - that will go a long way in stopping unwanted behavior and you will have much happier cats. They will tier each other out and provide lots of entertainment. Training is important and most people do little or nothing with regard to training cats. There are lots of helpful articles on the web about training kittens to scratch what you want them to scratch. You do have to find something they want to scratch so some trial and error is necessary. Cats don’t like to get their claws caught in things so choosing loopy carpet for a scratching post makes no sense. However, putting netting over furniture for a time will deter scratching for the same reason. My cat likes to scratch cardboard so I put out big empty boxes in the basement for her to destroy - it requires a clean up on my part but not a big deal. She has always loved to “make biscuits” so I provide a soft kitty bed and a couple of pillows for that.</p>
<p>Poetsheart- Get TWO Ragdolls. We are now a 5 Ragdoll family- 2 in our house (4 and 8 months), D and her husband have 2 (15 months and 8 months) and WildChild has one at college (don’t ask) (16 months). The two 8 month olds are siblings, and they adore each other and I hate that we separated them. We get them together for overnights and play dates. Ragdolls are like dogs (in fact, both of ours adore our Golden Retriever) and are very social. They are sweet and low-maintenance. Their coats don’t mat much at all. I am serious about getting two at a time. The cats are happier. We did that with our Maine Coons (the surviving one is now 15 1/2) and it worked great.</p>
<p>If you decide you want shelter kittens - and that would be great since there are so many euthanized every year, then go to a shelter where you can observe the kittens playing together. Pick two that play well together or groom each other. Have scratching posts - remember that they need to be secure and not wobbly - ready when you bring them home. The second they claw or knead carpet or furniture, pick them up, take them to the post and rub their paws on it. Try that first before the water gun. That worked with my kittens after only a few lessons, but I was very diligent for several days. When they would knead my carpet, I just scooped them up and put them on their carpet and soon that is what they preferred. Get them during a time when you can be with them to redirect their attention.</p>
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<p>Good god. You want to mace your kitty? I think that’s a bit extreme. Why not just go straight to the taser?</p>
<p>You don’t even have to spray them with a mister water bottle. Just the sound of it will make them move in a hurry. Hissing at them also works.</p>
<p>I strongly endorse the recommendation of two if you want to go the kitty route. We started with one. After two weeks, it became obvious that the kitty had a 24/7 supply of energy and needed a playmate chase around. That’s when I got sucker-punched by the little feral tabby who sat in my lap and purred like a sweetheart at the shelter then proceeded to spend a week under a bed and a month before it let anyone pet it.</p>
<p>The way I’ve trained them to the scratching post is a toy on a rope tied to the post and (quickly) putting a toy mouse on top of the post. Kittens will quickly learn to climb the post to get the mouse. (DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HAND THERE!) Once they’ve climbed the post, they know they can scratch it. Then it’s just a matter of reward when they use the post and moving them over to the post when they try to scratch elsewhere. You can train a cat to do anything with kitty treat reinforcements. If you work at it long enough, they’d probably hop up on the scratching post and meow a chorus of Somewhere Over the Rainbow for a cat treat.</p>
<p>On one shelter visit to choose a kitten, I had decided I wanted a solid gray or solid black cat. I had grown up on a farm full of little black and white mongrels. There were plenty of grays and blacks from which to choose so I put my purse down on the floor and proceeded to play with the kittens of the preferred color. When I turned around, a little black and white had climbed over in my purse with just her ears sticking out. I removed her and turned back to the others. A few minutes later, the little black and white was back in my purse but had snuggled down completely out of sight. She won and went home with me. She was the most lovable cat I have ever had.</p>
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<p>You can try citrus flavored water - cats hate citrus (no juice, since the acid can sting!). We taught our cat to avoid certain places by spreading satsuma peel where she was not welcome. It looked weird to have citrus skins hanging off of the TV satnd, but the house smelled nice, and the cat found better spots to hang out.</p>
<p>Some cats, like my new cat, are waterproof! Mine is not afraid of water; she regularly drops her cat toys in her water bowl, bats them around until they get soaking wet and then drags them all over the house!</p>
<p>I second interesteddad’s suggestion of hanging a cat toy at the top of a scratching post. Our kitten learned to climb and claw her sisal-covered posts by trying to reach the fake mouse attached to them.</p>
<p>I had a manx cat that loved water too. I could entertain him for hours by leaving a drip from a faucet for him to bat. When my D was little, I left her bath water in the tub while I dressed her in her bedroom and I heard a big plop and splashing around - then the sound of the cat tearing through the house shaking madly. He liked the water but really didn’t want to go swimming.</p>
<p>BB- I wonder if the Body Shop Satsuma would work, perhaps once of their spritzes or even the oils…might be more attractive than the peels hanging there</p>
<p>somemom, the peels were what we had on hand (watching TV and eating satsumas) when the cat decided to explore the insides of our TV stand. The cat squeezed into the little opening in the back of the TV stand where the cables run, turned around, and crawled into the compartment with the DVD player! It was hilarious to see her whiskered face wedged between the top of the DVD player and the shelf behind the glass door. Getting her out was not as much fun, since H had to pull the player out, then reconnect all of the cables. And a few minutes later she did exactly the same trick, but that time she got into the VCR compartment!</p>
<p>I’m sure the spritzes will be just as effective as the peels! :)</p>
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<p>God lord, no! I was thinking perhaps just enough sauce (a drop or two at the most to a quart of water) to induce a mildly unpleasant sneeze response, not respiratory failure—LOL! Of course, it’s pretty obvious that I’m completely ignorant on the subject, which is why I asked. I do plan on reading and researching as much as possible before acquiring a kitten, though. I take pet ownership extremely seriously, and I know owner ignorance can a very dangerous thing. FWIW, I never would try adding anything to the water spray until I knew for sure that it wouldn’t harm the kitten.</p>
<p>I haven’t had a cat in almost 25 years. Just before hubby and I were married, we shared a house with a couple of other Navy people. That’s when we were given two adorable 8 wk. old kittens from some neighbors whose cat had just given birth. Joshua, the rambunctious and “ferocious” yellow tabby was a laugh a minute, and his sister, Miss Kitty (yeah, original, I know—LOL!), was the sweetest, calmest, most affectionate calico kitty ever born. They did indeed keep each other entertained and happy, and never did we have a scratching problem in the unfortunately short time we got to keep them. </p>
<p>About four months after we got them, our other housemates received orders to another duty station, and H and I knew there was no way the two of us would be able to afford the rent on the house. By then, we were on a month to month agreement with the landlord (the lease having expired months earlier), so went out looking for a nearby apartment. But, non of the nearby apartment complexes (and there were only a couple at that time) allowed pets. Fortunately, there was an elderly lady living a few doors down who was willing to take Joshua and Miss Kitty (she already had an adolescent cat, and thought the other two might be good company for him). So, she ended up with both my cat care manuals, the scratching post, the litter box, the toys, all food paraphernalia, etc. It really broke my heart, because I’d really grown attached to those two, especially, Miss Kitty, my dainty and affectionate purr-box. </p>
<p>Two years later, we had D, and the budget was pretty tight for a lot of years thereafter, especially with the later unplanned conception of S.:rolleyes: So, the additional expense of a pet (with the exception of the one hamster we allowed our D to have when she was 9) was out of the question. We’ve been offered animals in the past, and many of our friends have exhorted us to go ahead and get a dog or cat, but I’ve always resisted. If I’m going to have a pet, I want to know that I can afford its total care—high quality food, any necessary prescriptions and veterinary care/treatments, all the little gadgets and toys to keep them entertained, carriers, scratching posts, condos, etc. Until now, I knew I couldn’t even responsibly consider the idea of a pet. I’ll have to seriously think through the idea of two kittens instead of one, though, as that’s conceivably twice as much expense.</p>
<p>poetsheart - perhaps the expense of the extra kitty’s vet bill will be a bargain if it saves the furniture. Over the past few years, vets have started vaccinating on various schedules rather than every year so that helps.</p>
<p>You don’t need to put any pepper spray in your spray bottle. Actually, “cat people” don’t even want you spraying the cat. There’s some miniscule risk of spraying water in the ear and causing an infection.</p>
<p>Personally, I’ve found keeping a mist bottle ready at the kitchen counter to be the best way to train cats to stay off the counter. They see you go for the bottle and jump down. Ironically, they are mostly just curious. If I pull a kitchen stool away from the counter, but where the kitty can watch the cooking, he will sit there for quite a while and enjoy the show. He gets really excited if I start doing the Japanese steakhouse routine the pepper mill and the knives. Kitties just like to be entertained.</p>
<p>I make sure that there are plenty of things around that they are allowed to scratch and then really lay down the law on those items of furniture that are important to me. Don’t declaw. The last joint of each toe is removed, and it affects the cat’s gait, often leading to arthritis later on in life. Also, and this is purely anecdotal, a friend’s declawed cat became a biter, since that was all he had left to defend himself with. Unfortunately he got out and defended himself a little too well - he is now FIV positive.</p>
<p>If your list of important items is long, then you may be correct in believing that a cat is not the right way to go. What about a cat-sized dog?</p>
<p>poetsheart, contrary to what Petsmart makes you think, cats don’t need expensive cat toys and cozies to be happy! My cat goes wild at the sight of crumpled newspaper. She can play with a wad of newspaper for hours! Her favorites also include the plastic rings from milk jugs (the dog gets to flatten the jugs :)) and bottle caps. My cats also ignored the expensive cozies and chose to sleep on our beds and sofas. If you keep your cats indoors, they will not need as many shots as the kitties who venture outside (although rabies shots will still be needed), and they will have fewer emergency vet visits as well. We never bought a carrier for any of our cats; the cardboard carriers that they came in from the shelters worked well for their annual vet checkups. A good cat food is essential, since it also keeps the volume of used cat litter down. :)</p>
<p>A cat-sized dog will be able to cause 10X damage caused by a cat! And keeping a dog in the crate for the entire day is imhumane in my opinion.</p>
<p>I had a cat whose favorite toy was an empty paper grocery bag. She would stalk it, crouch, wiggle her tail, run as fast as she could into it and slide across the floor in the bag. After several trips across the floor, she would inevitably attack the bag, tear it to shreds and strut around proudly having made the world safer.</p>
<p>My cats just had a blast with my paper shopping bag from Gap! They got in it, rolled around, and ultimately tore it apart. My sister crumples up balls of aluminum foil for her cats to chase around the kitchen.</p>
<p>One of mine chases the empty paper towel holder and then she attacks it using her back legs.</p>
<p>My cat’s current entertainment is a shoelace. He will jump into your lap with the shoelace in his mouth, drop it on your lap, and then wait for you to throw it across the room. He then chases it down, usually sliding about 3 feet across the floor, and return it to you for another go.</p>
<p>Yeah, I know they don’t need lots of toys. Just a few good ones. I also remember how my Joshua and Miss Kitty use to love paper grocery sacks—also cardboard boxes. I’m sure toys would be the least of my expenses where kittens are concerned.</p>