Well, not exactly. At least not fatally. You see, my cats, especially the trickster Coyote, are bad. Bad cats. Every surface, particularly the counter, is fair game to them. No matter how I've tried to deter them. Loud noise, water spray, canisters of air, motion sensors spraying canisters of air, time outs. Nothing works for very long.
The loud noises do nothing at all. I'm pretty sure this proves that they're not really cats. They don't startle. Not very often, anyway, and not due to loud noises. They simply look at us as if to say "yeah, I'd like to see you get off your ass and do something about it."
Water spray. They laugh at water spray. Sure, they stop. Briefly. Then clean themselves and go back to marauding on the counter. The only good news is that the dishes are often almost clean before they get put into the dishwasher.
Canisters of air? Eh. They're scary, but you have to actually be around to catch them doing shit before they're effective. And even then, they're temporary.
Canisters of air run off of a motion sensor? Yes, they exist. They do work...until the air runs out. Then they're not so scary that the cats aren't willing to at least test them. The problem is, I have two versions. One version simply sprays air. This is only semi-effective and the air cans are expensive. The other version sprays air and beeps. This one is more effective, but the air cans are holy hell expensive and only available online. Grr. Plus, you can only invest $40-$50 apiece before canister refills so many times and the cats know this. Two motion sensor air sprayers leave the coverage of various surfaces somewhat thin. Oh, and they work almost as effectively to scare humans.
Time outs? Uh huh. "meowmeowmeow *scratchscratchscratch* meowmeowmeow *scratchscratchscratch*" ad nauseum. Once you open the door, while they don't exactly make a beeline to bad stuff, they don't take many detours.
So, I think we're down to the last resort...an electrified mat. It's SUPPOSED to be a permanent deterrent. We'll see...
Scat Mat http://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-ScatMat-Electronic-Training--20-Inch/dp/B0007NTBJ6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315528452&sr=8-1
LOL! As a former "parent" of a bad cat, I can honestly say that I could have used one of those things. Luckily, Omar was more like a dog than a cat so he would look sorry and mope around after he got yelled at. He also would sit up and beg for treats. Cutest damn thing ever.
ReplyDeleteCoyote begs for treats, as well. They both know "sit" and "lay down," too. It IS awfully cute, but distracts them from the counter for only a few moments.
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