Why is my cat untrainable?

[Daisypaisy]

She is a nightmare! So cat is approx 10 months old, DD got her when cat was about 5/6 months as a therapy cat. Cat goes between here and DD’s fathers, so we have shared care of both!

This means that cat is a house cat as not sure she would cope with being allowed out at both houses, not get lost etc.

She’s a bit naughty, but she has learnt to use her scratch post/the door mat rather than the furniture.
She is very vocal! And will have a run around the back room and kitchen during the day, I work from home so had company. DD spends time with her on an evening. Cat is not allowed upstairs so doesn’t have free rein, similar set up at DD’s fathers house.

Issue is that she just refuses to be trained not to go on the kitchen worktops/mantelpiece/bookcase top. I’ve tried click training, water spray, firm no, tap on the nose. Nothing works. It’s driving me a little bit mad. She had down time, naps on the sofa in the day, comes with is in the lounge in the evening when we are in there.
So not lonely/bored/hungry/starved of affection.

I know she’s a cat and free willed, she and DD are made for each other! Any ideas welcome, thank you!

Jesus christ OP I'm shocked at some of this bashing!!

One thing I do have to agree with is not taking the cat back and forth etween homes, not good for any animal

Cat shelves and a cat tree should reduce the counter climbing, you need to provide the high spaces to perch. One of mine still has a go at going on the counters occasionally but understands "down" and hops down reluctantly.

As far as anyone having a go at OP for wiping the cats feet maybe she doesn't want shitty litter paws and unwashed butt hole on her counters and bed!

I must be a cat torturer as mine being sphynx are bathed weekly, nails trimmed and ears cleaned. They also have their feet and bodies wiped occasionally with gentle wipes.

They're not allowed on my bed so my bedroom door is always shut and they sleep in the living room. They are also spoilt rotten in every respect and very happy cats.

We all love cats here clearly but not all of us want to sleep or prepare our food in faecal/litter crumbs!

My cat has been trained not to go onto the kitchen units - she understands it's not acceptable and doesn't jump up there at all unless I'm out of the room which clearly doesn't count and if I catch her on there she jumps down immediately

@Daisypaisy - you may have “explained” yourself a lot, but that doesn’t change things.

Please, stop with the moving homes every week for the cat. That is not right. You might “think” that cat seems ok, but it’s bloody confusing - cats are territorial, so now it has 2 separate homes to “defend”.

And stop washing the paws. As others have said, get a ridged mat that catches most of the tracking.

This is not easy, or nice, to write. But you are sacrificing your cat for your daughter. I completely get why that thought process is there - your daughter is happy when the cat is there. But your cat is being put into situations it shouldn’t be to accommodate that.

Should a parent’s first priority be their children? Yes.

Should an animal have its existence hampered to accommodate that? No.

You need to stop ASAP with the swapping homes. As hard as it is to hear, the cat is NOT there to assist your daughter. The cat needs one home to begin with.

That's normal cat behaviour. If you can't hack jumping up on stuff cats aren't for you. And water spray & nose tapping aren't going to make her want to be around you much. The odd bit of litter stuck in her paws isn't the end of the world unless it's stuck there with poop. I'd say Google "The Cat Daddy", Jackson Galaxy , but he doesn't 'train' cats he solves real issues like aggression or peeing everywhere.

Shall I say it once more for people who haven’t RTFT, I stopped the water spray and nose tapping when it was clear that they are not effective. And the cat does very much want to be around me, so please stop with the assumptions.

Also, no, I will not stop washing her paws, it does her no harm, keeps my poo on work top yuck head at bay, and helps with the litter trail. I have bought a mat for outside the litter tray and yes, it does help so thank you all for that suggestion. Am also looking at slowly changing her litter, someone mentioned the wood pellets.

Currently debating where I can install a cat shelf area for her, and have ordered a cat tower.

Blimey, it’s a good job I’m an old timer on here, you lot can be horrid. Really didn’t expect this level of viperness in the litter tray section. Heaven forbid I should consider imposing restrictions on my cat and not treat her as an equal family member

@Daisypaisy

You should know by now that to be counted as a good owner on the LT you have to let your cat wake you up at 4am every day for food and have no quarms whatsoever when it comes to sleeping and preparing your food in surfaces that have indirectly had contact with cat shit.

😂😂

@Hoppinggreen

It’s a cat It is bored at being stuck in the house all the time and confused and unsettled at moving between 2 places I dont know what you were expecting - and stop hitting it

Exactly. Poor cat.

Oh please choose one house for her and let her settle. You can't keep moving a cat around like that, it's got to be distressing.

😂😂😂😂😂

Thanks for the laugh OP.

Would it be better for the cat if there was 2 therapy cats. 1 at each household. Then the cat would have a more stable environment.

My cats go outside and upstairs, and still won't be trained not to jump on the worktops, mantelpiece etc. I think it's just luck whether cats are or aren't a nightmare, they cant be trained out of it. I do think yours will be bored only having access to downstairs though. They need to be able to roam, chase and jump up high on fences etc to keep active and stimulated, imo.