My cat knocks things off tables and breaks them. Deliberately. What on earth can I do?

[crispini]

Last night he knocked a candle (in a glass holder) off an end table. At 5 am. He seems to have a knack for glass. It's deliberate, too, because I've seen him do it. He's so funny when he does it, he sort of looks at me, and then takes his little paw and WHAP, off goes the glass or the beer bottle or whatever. I mean, it's funny, but it always creates a big mess. I really think he's doing it just for the big noise and big reaction it makes. He's mostly fond of knocking off glasses that I leave on end tables or coffee tables .... which I have subsequently stopped doing. Mostly. He only does it every now and then, so it's not a huge issue, but the waking me up at 5 am thing is really a bit far. Anybody else got a problem cat that does this? He's such a cute fuzzy little devil.... :D

[Chan790]

1. Move all your possessions to the floor.

Viola! Problem solved.

[crispini]

2. Bow to the will of the fuzzmeister. It may come to that. :)

[Rambis]

3. Cat stew

[Bertha Venation]

4. Call him Mr. Knock-Shit-Off-All-My-Life, like we do.

Not much you can do. That's a hard habit to break.

[crispini]

6. It's not even a habit! It's like a hobby or something.

Scratching is a habit. Jumping up on the kitchen counter is a habit. Knocking things off for the sheer joy of watching them break and making your human get up and clean things up is like .... a fun, wicked little game he's made up or something. :D Good thing he's so damn cute, and I'm not all that fond of knick-knacks.

[Bertha Venation]

10. LOL I know, right?

They love it! I've got one who gets on my night table in the middle of the night and does it. He wants attention. Or someone else's spot on the bed.

PS They've only been allowed in the bedroom since Mrs. V. has been in Tennessee. Shh... don't tell her.

[demmiblue]

5. If it is not expensive furniture... velcro!

Well, maybe not the beer bottles/glasses! :P

[crispini]

7. Actually, you have a very good point. I have that Museum Putty stuff

and if I want to put things on tables, maybe I should start using it.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

13. I use the earthquake putty...

for all my breakables and damn it works! I have a household full of vintage glass and ceramics, and 6 cats that like to play with vintage glass and ceramics.

I finally started using the stuff when I came home to a formerly exquisite/now badly chipped lead crystal bowl on the floor next to my coffee table. For some reason, several of my cats like to lounge on flat surfaces like the coffee and kitchen tables, preferrably against some breakable object they can push off with a good, long stretch. :mad:

The putty is pretty unobtrusive visually, and you don't need much of it. I have a vintage, glass chip and dip set that has remained firmly in place on my kitchen table despite the very best attempts to dislodge it by an 18 pounder named Jack.

Use the putty -- you will not be disappointed!

[Orsino]

8. Manage around the kitteh.

Don't leave breakables on tables. Don't let kitteh into rooms where breakables can be knocked to the floor. Give kitteh other toys. Consider giving kitteh another kitteh to play with.

[crispini]

14. Kitteh has two other kittehs to play with.

Thankfully, he is the only one with the extra dash of devil in him. :D

[Orsino]

20. Ah.

Has something in the household changed recently? Could the urban renewal be editorializing?

[leftyladyfrommo]

9. Just get a spray bottle.

Spray him with water when he starts to knock something off. They hate that.

[surrealAmerican]

11. Super glue?

That ought to give him a challenge.

[grasswire]

12. Every piece of pottery in my house is repaired.

My darling old tabby Chester (RIP) knocked every one of them to the floor at one time or another. He would also get up close to any picture hanging on the wall and swing it back and forth, in danger of crashing down. I finally learned to keep furniture away from the walls, and to put pottery/doodads/whatever where he could not knock them off.

I did have a funny realization, though. I used to holler at him "Chester! Knock it off!" when I wanted him to stop doing something. Perhaps he was just following my instructions literally!

[RandomThoughts]

15. A couple ideas

Have you considered the possiblity that he is not your cat. But instead you are his human? or maybe he doesn't likes being called a devil, maybe thats the problem.

:)

[TZ]

16. Lock your valuables in a case.

I have a cat that LOVES this game too..especially to wake me up in the morning..Even spray bottles don't work..cause you aren't always around...

[crispini]

17. Exactly. Spray bottles are as naught to him.

I guess I will just not put glass things on countertops anymore. Cat wins.

[AirmensMom]

18. Museum wax.

It's the only way. My male Aby does the same thing when he wants attention. He even looks at me first to see if I'm watching. Had to sort a big pile of papers last time. But for fragile things, it's museum wax all the way. First time he tried to shove a music box off the dresser and it stuck ... well, the look on his face was priceless! :rofl:

[JitterbugPerfume]

19. my Lilith does that too

I thought it was because she is just a kitten and will grow out of it. She is a calico , so maybe she is just inherently evil .

DAMN

[onlyadream]

21. He wants to wake you up so he can be fed...

The best thing to do is ignore him. You can also put sticky paper down on your table and that will freak him out so he won't go on there again.

I had a cat that did the same thing - he's dead now.

[pitohui]

22. i read on a survivalist forum (god help me!) that cats make good mittens

i have no idea if this can possibly be true but even attempting the experiment should put an end to cat knocking things off tables

[krispos42]

23. A squirt bottle full of water and set to "jet stream"

My formally aerobatic kitteh now knows not to go on anything higher than a chair.

I got a few of the small ones that hold a pint or so and had them kicking around the house. Kitteh does bad thing, squirt squirt squirt in the face or the butt.

And don't yell a warning, either. Just give'em a jet of water to the face or butt.

[Mojambo]

24. Throw his ass outside. n/t

[CraftyGal]

25. When I first read this, I thought it was TrogL complaining about our newes feline addition.

Poor Yoda, he is having a tough time fitting in and yet he is an adorable cat. He is always climbing onto everything. Here is a cute picture of him.

[TrogL]

33. KEEP THAT FUCKING CAT AWAY FROM MY BRIEFCASE!!!

My good Speedo briefs are in there.

[Fire Walk With Me]

26. I've heard reports about an ant that managed to dislodge

a rubber tree plant. If this is true, there is no hope for your valuables. None of ours, actually. We're pretty screwn.

[unpossibles]

27. squirt gun left handy in every room

imo, the only punishment which works on cats is immediate, swift, and wet. Eventually, you'll get to the point where you don't even have to squirt them anymore (I pick one up, and every animal in my house freezes and gives me the "I'M INNOCENT!" look), and after that you seldom need to even get it out.

Or you can do what my wife did. Years ago, one of our cats loves to knock off glasses of water - or used to - until he knocked one over on her while she was sleeping. She grabbed him and stuck him under the sink faucet for a second, and to this day he not only won't knock shit over, but he won't even think about waking her up.

Seriously. If I act like I am going to put him down on top of her while she's sleeping, he gets totally freaked and runs away. I don't do this often at all, but it is kinda funny to watch - he has the same look of revulsion he gets when I am giving him a bath.

For the record, no animals were harmed in this post, and I am not abusive - my anipals all love me very much, but they have learned to avoid the squirt gun and all are well behaved now.

[MineralMan]

28. Time will usually...

fix that problem. It's usually insecurity that causes attention-getting behavior, and cats tend to abandon it after about 2 years of age.

You can spray 'em, but giving them lots of strokes when they're being OK, to the point that they get bored of it, often ends the behavior. I'm an old time cat owner, and had one cat that once got into the kitchen cabinets and pushed every wine glass out and onto the floor. She's now a sweetie, but was a holy terror at one year of age.

[crispini]

30. He's two, Maybe he'll knock it off soon. I hope. :)

[TrogL]

34. ewwwwwwww - bad pun

[dixiegrrrrl]

29. By any chance is your cat a short haired black with big green eyes?

I have cats for years and years, only 2 that did that were as described above.

Age, no matter. 5 year old one day, who had never jumped on anything, walked up to me where I was sitting in the living room, gave me a very intense look, crouched down, looked at me again,
as if to say "Watch this" and leaped 10 feet from the floor to the mantle, perched there, reached out and knocked down a 200 year old mantle clock, one that did not work, no noise involved at all, jumped to the floor and ran from the room.
Go figure.
He died years later at age 16.

current female only does it on one bureau. No where else. We gave her the bureau.

Last thought...squirt bottle, make a sharp quick noise and immediately fire the water.
Within a week only the noise is needed.

Of all the cats I have had, only 2 needed the water intervention, for a short time.
One did a brief kitchen counter to lick the butter, plates, etc. until I put mouse traps all over the counter one night.
End of problem. He did not get "bit" but the sound of the traps firing seemed to be sufficient.

[crispini]

31. No, he's an orange and white devil.

I've done the water thing in the past -- maybe I'll have to keep it handy again. :)

[harmonicon]

32. I have a friend whose cats do that

I was cat sitting for them once, and my friend explained in an email that we would be leaving a DVD for me under the table clothe, and that I would come to understand why. After a number of knocked over plants and broken glasses in that few weeks, I really did understand way.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

35. He is doing gravity checks. He has to be sure the gravity in your house is working.

My cat Teddy (RIP) used to check out our house's gravity every morning by shoving my alarm clock and other items off the table next to the bed. While I understand that he was merely monitoring our gravitational field, this also had the incidental effect of waking me up. Also, sometimes stuff broke. Eventually I had to put everything on the floor.

[applegrove]

36. Mine will scratch my couch. And I swear one of them does it to get my attention.

Even though I'll chase him through the apartment and wack him gently on the butt when I catch him. Sometimes he just wants some attention.

[ACTION BASTARD]

37. Strangle the wife and dry-hump the cat?

Wait.

No.

That's not right, right?