I just got a kitten, about a month old or so and brought her home for the first time 3 days ago. This is also my first pet ever so I don't have much experience with training. I want to start training her RIGHT away, but I'm not sure about the best methods. I have several questions: 1. Keeping her off the furniture - I've heard of spray bottles, yelling, clapping, and double sided tape, but I'm not sure which one would be the best. I'm leaning towards double sided tape because I'm afraid if I use the other methods she won't like me anymore. What's the best method for keeping affection while deterring climbing and scratching? I have a scratching post for her and she loves it. She just uses the couch too. Also, where should I place the post? Next to the couch where she climbs so I can lead her to it right away if she tries climbing the couch? Or in my room where she stays the night? Or should I invest in more than one post? 2. Attacking feet - I know she's just playing but this is very undesirable since she might end up making us trip one of these days, or we might accidentally step on her. Any methods of discouraging THIS kind if playtime? 3. Litter box - She knows how to use the litter box, and goes on her own. But only at night really. I'm keeping her in my room for the time being at night and I bring the litter box in here so that she won't have an accident on my carpet and she goes to it by herself and is a very good girl with it. But during the daytime I keep my room closed to her and put the box nearby, in the next room over by the doorway. But she rarely uses it by herself, I have to put her in it after naps or meal time. My question is should I just leave the box in my room for the time being until she's older and keep my door open during the day? Or keep it in the room next to mine and leave my door open at night? (I'm worried about the climbing couch problem however so this would be a little undesirable). Also, we don't have a particularly secluded or quiet place in our house for the box. Is the back of a furnace room okay for her? Or would the freezer, hot water tank, etc. noise be unideal for her? 4. Meals - I'm using the Iams Kitten food and she seems to like it, but she doesn't seem to know where her food is on her own unless we lead her too it. She wakes up from a nap and is hungry and meows at me so I lead her upstairs to the kitchen, where her food dish is and she eats, but then when she wakes up later that day she's hungry again and yet comes to me asking me where she can get food. What's the best way for her to get to recognize where her food dish is so I don't have to lead her every time she's hungry? She spends most of her time downstairs, (where the litter box and scratching post are too) so should I be bringing the food down here too? Also should I feed her on a schedule? I'm giving her 1/4 cup food a day right now, but she barely eats any in one sitting. Instead I have to lead her to the bowl 5 or 6 times a day and even then there's a lot of food left over. So should I just feed her once in the morning, once in the evening and not lead her there when she asks me for food in the afternoon so she eats more in one meal time? Or should I be moving it downstairs? Please don't hesitate to ask me for any more details regarding the set up of my home or anything else you may require to help me ^^

My cat is 1 yr. old and claws everything!!! We have tried spraying him, saying no, blowing on his nose, bringing home scratching posts, but nothing is working. I wanted to avoid declawing him after I read what it really was and how it could effect my cat but Im about to spend a huge savings on new furniture and this is the last resort. My question is this... How will it change my cat? Is it really that bad to do? are there any other options? I also have a kitten that I just introduced to my cat, would he need to be declawed as well?

When I was younger my mother bought thousands of dollars worth of real Duncan Fife furniture for just hundreds at an estate sale for the Hunt estate in Dallas. She picked up a sofa, three beautiful arm chairs, two gold (my mother says they're "butterscotch") chairs that were once in the oval office, a cherry drop leaf table, a rocking chair, and a beautiful side table. Here's the thing, the arm chairs and sofa has been torn up by our family cat, the drop leaf table has a big iron burn from our retarded house keeper ironing on it, and the side table is terribly scratched up due to my sister using it in her room for years. Does anyone have any idea how much it would cost to restore these items properly? The chairs would need to be reupholstered, but what would we have to do to the tables? Also, does anyone have any idea how I could date these items?

They tiny and light brown in color. They also are long and thin. They are kind of like a centipedes or millipedes in shape but you can not see the legs. They also have some type of feeler/hair-like at the back end. They curl up but they are not pill bugs either. I know that they aren't silverfish, meal worms, or maggots. We always find them under furniture, in dark places. They even ate a cat toy, that got caught under a dresser, to dust. What is it and how do i get rid of them?

We used to have a cat called Sheena, she is a long haired cat, when we got her from owners, her fur was badly matted, after careful brushing and bathing her, we finally got rid of all the mats and slowly her fur began to shine. We also had another male cat, sadly they used to fight a lot, miki the male is very territorial and poor Sheena could not get any peace, she couldnt even use the scarcth post so started using the furniture and ripped it badly with her claws. We hoped the fighting with the 2 cats would simmer, but it got progressively worse, they were running around throughout the night, knocking things over, and fighting. Eventually we decided that one had to go, and because we had Miki the longest , Sheena had to go. We advertised her in our apartment building and found a new home with her. The guy we gave her to lives alone, and on meeeting her appeared to really love her, she was a very affectionate cat and she sat on his lap, and i could see the connection so felt pleased she was going to a good home even tho we live in apartments. This was 3 years ago, about a year ago, a worried neighbour from the floor where Sheena is said she had seen Sheena in the hallway for hours meowing and Sheena had not looked happy. I mentioned this to Sheenas owner on passing and he said the woman is a nut case. I always ask how Sheena is when we pass in the elevator, a big smile comes on his face and he always says awwww she is fine!! Tonight after 3 years of not seeing her, i come back from work to see Sheena outside my apartment door, she looked frightened, her fur was matted with lumps but she had found her way back to me. We let her in and she ran straight into the bedroom and hid under the bed, her eyes looked full of fear and she was hissing. This wasn't the Sheena we knew, the Sheena who had beautiful shining fur, she looked terrified , and as i am typing this she still is under the bed. Both me and husband were debating what to do because we know something is wrong, we thought maybe of taking her to a shelter but was concerned her new owner may check there and then would know we had found her without consulting him. So decided i would call him even tho it is late, he was not there so left a message for him to call back, it has gone midnight no call as yet, but maybe he is out. This building is very high, has 16 floors and cats are not allowed to roam outside the doors for obvious reasons. The owner did say his previous cat had died by jumping from a 10th floor window, he seemed devastated, and this is one of the reasons we let him have Sheena because we felt sorry fo rhim. Now Sheena has found her way back to us, has gone straight under the bed, and is hissing when we try to coax her out. I just do not know what to think !!! Am very upset at seeing her like this. Any thoughts people ????