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Thanks for the advice, I've been taking it. I mostly give him the cold, shoulder now and its working a little. I assume his old owner also fed him scraps, because cooking with him is HORRENDOUS but I bought some deterrent spray and just picking it up now sends him running. I never actually spray HIM with it, i just spray it over him. I know the mist hit him when he bolts. That and ignoring him, which works when I'm not cooking though.
To the person asking if he's neutered, he wouldn't live with me if he wasn't. I take fixing pets seriously, he ain't fathering kittens with me. And to those suggesting ear plugs, thanks but due to issues i won't get into i physically can't sleep with anything covering my face or in my ears. So that's why i am looking at training methods instead.
It doesn't sound as if you are treating him very nicely or lovingly. This cat needs love and understanding, and possibly more or better food, not being chased, sprayed, and ignored.
Whatever the deterrent is you are using I doubt it is meant to be ingested. And cats lick their fur, so if it's landing on his fur, he's ingesting it. Please stop doing that. Aside from any potential toxicity, it's just plain cruel.
Give him something else to do when you are in the kitchen. Give him his own spot, a little table, a shelf on the wall, something elevated, and put a treat there for him. He will soon learn that is his Spot, while you are in the kitchen together.
Since you claim to have been taking advice, have you had him back to the vet for blood work? Have you gotten some Rescue Remedy to put into his bed time meal to help with his anxiety?
Cats are quite trainable, but they do not learn anything by fear except to fear you and feel constant stress. And that kind of stress will make him sick. All you are doing is shutting him down. That's no life for him at all.
Cats learn with redirection, patience and love. And given the time and opportunity to learn to trust you, he will respond in kind.
I agree on not spraying a cat with anything but water. If the threat works, then show him the container; it's enough.
In general, he will be a good cat if he's a happy one. Catsmom is right that cats respond better to positive stuff more than negative. Meaning he might get it that you're annoyed, but he probably won't know why, so it's easier to distract him. And better to show him what you want him to do than tell him what you don't want him to do. If you scare him, he'll just be confused and freak out.
I wonder if anyone ever cooked around him before if he goes that wild about it. We think our cat never had a cat treat before because when I first bought a bag she would claw holes in my butt when I was in the kitchen trying to get me to give her one. Now after we eat, we give her a bite (unseasoned) of any protein we have or a cat cookie if we don't have anything suitable for her. So she sits while we cook and eat because she knows her treat is when we're done. And she always knows when we're done: put the fork down and she'll appear out of thin air. If we eat late and she's around, demanding, I tell her wait. The same word, wait, every time, so now she knows what it means.
I never felt like I was training her, more like I was trying to understand her and communicate with her, and I ended up feeling like she was doing the same. She's a great cat. Everyone who's ever met her tells me they want her. (As if.)
Negative reinforcement or punishment results in a cat who is afraid of you and/or resents you. Cats (and animals in general) know when they are being treated unfairly and over time some will retaliate. There are many things a cat can do to make your life very unpleasant like inappropriate peeing/spraying, destruction of property, jumping on you at 3 AM, etc.
The more effective way is to redirect unwanted behavior to something wanted/neutral and then use positive reinforcement. When the cat does something unwanted, say "no". As soon as the cat stops, IMMEDIATELY praise "good girl/boy!!!". Then redirect the cat to some other behavior. Training the cat with treats to sit in a spot or on a shelf, as catsmom21 suggested, is a great idea. The end result is a cat who trusts you and listens to you (mostly ;-), and a deepening bond between the two of you.
Give him something else to do when you are in the kitchen. Give him his own spot, a little table, a shelf on the wall, something elevated, and put a treat there for him. He will soon learn that is his Spot, while you are in the kitchen together.
If he's interested in food, I wanted to suggest trying a piece of raw meat for him to gnaw on while you're in the kitchen, like a chicken wing or a chicken heart (raw only, not cooked. Raw bones are safe for cats to eat.)
Every morning I give our Lucy one chicken wing to eat and she LOVES it. It keeps her busy for quite a while. Note: I do feed her balanced meals. This is a once-per-day treat.
OP,
While I agree, you are getting some great ideas here I just want to say I'm not going to judge you. For those of us who have never had a cat, it can be quite bewildering that they don't "train" like dogs. They don't act like dogs. This was very frustrating for me at first. We also have a cat that loves getting upon the middle kitchen island. I hate it. What we've done is give him other options. It works some of the time, but not all. I've not been firm about this though because we are doing the dog/cat cohsbitating intros and our older cat jumps to the counter for an escape. Once all the interactions are established I'll probably try to clicker train him to get off the counter when asked. We've started basic clicker training and it's pretty cool.
The other thing I've learned is these guys need play and lots of it. And nighttime is hard. I won't let Aslan in our bedroom because I really need my sleep. I have a special needs kid and sleep is mandator. I think you could do what the others say and ignore him but for me, that process is too much effort for me to deal with given my other constraints and Aslan wakes up at 6.
What I've found is figure out the top few things you feel are necessities (don't bug me when sleeping, off counters) and work on those and let the other stuff go. The things that keeps Aslan off the counters when I cook is 1) 30 minute crazy play time with him to tire him out before cooking, 2) throwing him tiny scraps of plain turkey breast when I'm cooking 3) treat ball with delicious treats that only comes out when I cook.
The only time I spray water is when I go in or out the back door to the grill as Aslan wants to come out. It's a safety issue. If he gets out, he's a goner because we live in the woods with coyotes, bobcats, and mountain lions. I'm considering stoping that in the future and training one of our dogs to guard the door from the cats when asked but we will see.
Best of luck, OP.
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