Beligerent Kitten

My cat has grown belligerent.

Cider is my tortishell kitten, I rescued her mom off the streets, and after she had her kittens, found a home for the mom, and kept Cider as my own. She is our second cat, friend now to Leo, our orange tabby and first cat.

Cider is an incredibly friendly kitten, loves people and cuddling – and her full name, christened by my husband, is Cider Baby. Spoiled? A wee bit, but she is very mindful of her manners, so training her to be a good cat has proved to be a simple thing. Until last week:

She discovered that she could easily jump up on the kitchen counter and check out what I was doing when I was preparing meals or doing dishes. This is not sanitary, so it’s rather important to me that she does not continue on in this practice. I can push her off, pick her up and set her down, squirt her with water, soak the counter so it’s not that fun to be on – and she will still jump right back up, unfazed. Greg went to extreme measures the other day. She was in the sink, and he turned on the water, hoping to startle her off and really begin getting it in her mind that she shouldn’t be doing this. Full throttle, the water came out, I already felt horrible, but knew it must be done. The result? Nothing. My kitten sat there mildly interested in the fact she was getting wet, but not really concerned about it.

We were astonished.

And decided that water is obviously not a motivating factor for her.

So at this point in time, we are at a stalemate. Cider has agreed to not walk anywhere on the counter but the back part of the sink – where no food goes, as it faces out into the living room. So she will curl up there and watch me cook, happy as a clam, and keep her end of the bargain perfectly, but she refuses to not jump on the counter at all. I’m a little bewildered that I’ve been able to confine her to that area, but not teach her the counter is off-limits. I can only guess that she has her own idea of where she belongs, and as long as she can keep me company and see what is going on, it’s fine with her. So I’m at a loss at this point, and I suppose it’s not too terrible, but it’s the principal of the matter. My kitten has found something she likes, and I can’t seem to get it out of her system. And all this time I thought I was HER owner, not visa versa.