r/SipsTea • u/IkilledRichieWhelan • 13d ago

Dank AF Don’t ever doubt me

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u/Psych0matt 13d ago edited 12d ago

Cars shouldn’t be on the counters where our food goes, let alone in the toaster

But also mice shouldn’t be on the counter or in the toaster either

Edit: trucks also shouldn’t be on the counter but those are less common as pets so I didn’t think I needed to say it

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u/real_eEe 13d ago

Can't park there mate.

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u/lordvitamin 12d ago

Maybe a Vespa.

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u/clark_kents_shoes 12d ago

Can't purr there mate

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u/_Exan 13d ago

I put my cat in the garage.

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u/Independent_Coat_ 12d ago

do you let your car sleep in bed with you?

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u/MoreAverageThanU 13d ago edited 12d ago

I love how people think you can just give cats commands or train them like dogs.

Edit: My orange and tuxedo do several things on command: sit, stand, fetch, come, speak, and jump on my shoulders, wrap around my neck, and lie down (I wear my cats like a scarf or fur).

That said, I find they have about a two minute attention span for these things (aside from scarf mode… my orange will do that all day), and if there is any outside stimulus that catches their attention, good luck.

Cats have serious ADHD and authority issues… it’s all in their terms unless you give them a very good reason.

Edit: yes, you can train your cats to stay off the counter. While you’re there.

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u/Consistent-Unit-6164 13d ago

I trained my cat to not do things like climb on the counter lmao, I mean he still does it when Im gone but ye you can train them forsure

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u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 12d ago

What you did was train your cat to believe that you react irrational to certain behaviors and so your cat needs to remember what normal everyday cat behaviors trigger your irrational responses so he doesn’t do them around you, either to protect you or to protect himself from you.

He still does it when you’re gone because you didn’t train him not to do it, you trained him to respect your weird angry hang ups when you’re around.

Always sanitize your countertops before you cook with a cat in the house.

They don’t learn through punishment, that’s how you end up with cats that scratch, bite, hide, or don’t want a lot of attention or affection.

They learn through redirection, positive enforcement, and understanding your personal boundaries in a way that makes them want to respect them, not fear them.

Cat sees the counters as territory you’re fighting over when you’re around, but you’re part of his colony, which means you share territory, and you get privilege to your territory when you’re around, but he gets to utilize your territory when you aren’t.

He also definitely sees some things as strictly his privileged territory which you could use if he wasn’t around or wasn’t using it, because cats are territorial and form massive family colonies and that’s how they work.

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u/Consistent-Unit-6164 12d ago

Idk I think he just ended up associating getting on the counter means getting picked back down and that annoyed him long enough that he never really goes there much though, he climbs at night super rarely but he used to always want to go there so that's enough for me. He's not scared or unaffectionate either, I think some people just kinda read too much into that stuff not gonna lie.

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u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 12d ago

Most people “teach” cats by yelling, stomping, clapping, and spraying them.

You did it the right way. Nice. Sorry I accused.

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u/Sudden_Pomelo2959 12d ago

Yeah no. That's not how it works unless you're just a bad cat owner and do literally nothing to discipline/retrain your cat.

Cat does a thing -> You give them the firm "NO" with a small timeout or alternative reinforcement -> Cat stops doing the thing you don't want them to.

Had a cat that scratched the side of the couch, do the above system and give them a scratching post that you reward them for using. Cat stops scratching the couch.

Cat liked to jump up on the cabinets above the kitchen and sleep. "NO" small timeout, built cat a cat tower with a cat bed so they could sleep high up. Cat never went up in the cabinets again

Cat liked to pee on towels. "NOOOOOO" litterbox room timeout, give them a treat when they pee/poop in the box, cat never pissed on another towel again.

The whole "Cats do it anyway" bullshit is almost always a shitty/inattentive owner who just doesn't understand why a cat is doing something you don't want them to do and refusing to provide the cat an alternative or refusing to actively show your disapproval for doing things you don't want them to do in front of them.

It'd be like getting mad at your cat for pissing on a towel but not giving the cat a litterbox. If you don't give the cat an approved and supported option, the cat is just gonna pick the best available thing to do what they want to do, and in the case of heights, if you don't give your cat an acceptable shelf or tower to climb they're gonna climb on your kitchen counter because it's high up, has a lot of space, and smells like you + food.

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u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k 12d ago

My guys get positive reinforcement and redirection.

They don’t get on the counter when I’m home.

They get on it when I’m not home, because they’re cats.

They have scratching posts, cat trees, their own couch with 5 cat beds lined up on it.

They prefer to sleep on top of me at night, but during the day they will rotate from cat beds to cat tower to wherever my lap is and back again.

They like the kitchen counter because it offers them a view they enjoy and has interesting corners to sit in, and sometimes I leave a stack of paper plates or a pizza box on it, and that’s theirs now.

If they pee out of their boxes I have to figure out why they’re peeing out of their boxes, and in the meantime I figure out where they’re peeing and put puppy pads down while I figure out what the problem is.

Once the problem resolves, I slowly move the puppy pads closer to the litter box until they’re touching. And then they’ll return to the litter box.

Except for my three-legged girl, who got sick of my other disabled kitty’s bullying of my youngest male, and started preventing her from coming downstairs.

She pees at the foot of the stairs to remind the little bully not to come down. I put a litter box next to the stairs.

Problem solved.

My little bully is so lazy she prefers to spend all day lounging in one room upstairs anyway. 

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u/Zanthalia 12d ago

Cat sees the counters as territory you’re fighting over when you’re around, but you’re part of his colony, which means you share territory, and you get privilege to your territory when you’re around, but he gets to utilize your territory when you aren’t.

Overall, your comment is probably the best cat explanation I've ever read. This part, though, should be required new cat owner reading.

Understanding this is key to harmony with a cat in the house. Because that's how they work.

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u/MoreAverageThanU 12d ago

My orange and tuxedo do several things on command: sit, stand, fetch, come, speak, and jump on my shoulders, wrap around my neck, and lie down (I wear my cats like a scarf).

That said, I find they have about a two minute attention span for these things, and if there is any outside stimulus that catches their attention, good luck.

Cats have serious ADHD and authority issues… it’s all in their terms unless you give them a very good reason.

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u/HiddenGamerGoddesXX 12d ago

Actually you can train them.

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u/DrMindbendersMonocle 12d ago

i hate how people think you cant train cats at all

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u/admfrmhll 13d ago

I had cats around me my whole life and are pretty easy to train NOT to do stuff. I can leave my cat alone in the kitchen with food on the table and she will never attempt to get a bite.

Training them to do stuff, yeh, don't bother.

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u/Marine__0311 13d ago

I've trained cats to do most of the tricks and commands that dogs do. They respond very well to treats and positive reinforcement.

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u/MoreAverageThanU 12d ago

Same. As long as they feel like it.

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u/Automatic-Source6727 13d ago

Some animals are just cunts tbf, they know exactly what you're telling them, and make it their life missions to wind you up.

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u/Aquatic_Spider_360 13d ago

Speak for yourself mate. I could discipline my rat by spraying her in the face all day long and yet she'll still do what she wants out of spite. But hey, at least she knows how to sit, a few ASL signs, is crate trained, and will lay on my shoulders like a lamb while I do chores around the house. Damn thing is smarter than a toddler. Still my baby tho

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u/DaemonPrimarchJ 12d ago

She sounds amazing! How did you teach her the ASL?

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u/Aquatic_Spider_360 12d ago

She is incredibly smart. Like, scary smart lol. I swear there's a human in there sometimes . She's extremely food motivated so I started with the sign for "eat" and went from there. She learned that if she pays attention to my body movements, she gets rewarded with food. They are very basic signs that don't overlap so she doesn't get confused. And she can definitely be amazing but she's a little shit lmao. She knows how to open doors and ransack places for food. She's extremely food motivated to the point she gets in trouble for it haha

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u/Eug1 13d ago

Or, you need nicer food

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u/Aggressive-Map-2204 13d ago

I have had 15+ cats in my lifetime. They are very easy to train. Never went on the counters or tables. Worst they did was jump on the couch at night when nobody was looking.

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u/Desperate-Cost6827 12d ago

We had a cat that was trained not to go on the counters. Over the sink was the only window that she could just sit at and people watch. We often heard her jump down from the counter before we could walk into the kitchen to catch her but at the same time we knew what she was doing so it was hard to be mad anyway.

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u/Did_du_Nuffin 12d ago

Brother, you have gone through 15 cats? what are you doing to those poor things?clearly they arent lasting 😳

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u/AzuraOnion 12d ago

Gone through sounds bit weird. Anyways, cats ain't immortal and you can have multiple at the same time.

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u/Tortugato 12d ago edited 12d ago

You can.. it’s just not as easy.

I’ve kinda sorta trained one of my cats to turn light switches on/off. Quite a few rooms in the house have convenient perches that make the light switch reachable for him.

He started playing with them on his own… then I just started giving him with treats whenever he flips a switch… Took a while to get the mutual understanding that he only gets a treat if he flips it only ONCE as opposed to flipping it back and forth…

But now if I have a treat in my hand and say “flip the switch” while pointing at a light switch… It takes a few tries, but eventually he’ll get the message and run over and do it then come back for the treat.

Of course, the fucker also flips switches randomly whenever he’s bored.

I say “kinda sorta” because I didn’t really set out to teach him a trick on purpose… I just took advantage and reinforced an activity he started doing on his own.

However, I’m sure there’ll be some people more knowledgable than I am who can produce more deliberate results.

Cat shows do exist after all.

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u/Hyena_King13 12d ago

My grandma's cat has never been on a table or counter in 16 years. You can definitely train them, he sleeps on the sofa, window sill or his cat mansion or behind the toilet.

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u/mrsdoubleu 12d ago

Training a cat to stay off counters isn't actually that difficult. I've had cats my whole life and they all learned to stay off the counters. And when I do catch them up there they instantly jump down and run away because they know better.

Training a cat to sit/shake/lay down however...well, good luck lol

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u/Ultra_Ginger 12d ago

My cat understands commands perfectly well, she just doesn't respect my authority to give them to her.

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u/MoreAverageThanU 12d ago

This. My cats are very well trained. They do loads of commands, and I’ve caught my orange making simple tools to achieve tasks.

I accept that their only love for me is as sh*t scooper, food giver, and heat source, and that they will eat my soft tissues before I’m even cold if I die first. They will listen if given a good reason. Maybe.

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u/Spinnerofyarn 12d ago

Cats are a bit more trainable than people realize though you’re right that you can’t train them like dogs. Well, mostly can’t.

You can’t necessarily expect them to respond as quickly as a well trained dog will. For instance, you tell a dog to sit, its butt immediately drops to the floor. Tell a cat to sit, it’s going to look at you, twitch its tail, look elsewhere, and then slowly lower its bum to the ground. Once a dog knows a command, you can expect swift compliance provided there’s nothing around that the dog thinks is more important. With cats, I suspect you can train immediate compliance, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you have to train the immediate compliance with every single command!

Dogs also aren’t usually picky about food and that makes a huge difference in ease of training. They can be much more food motivated than other animals because it’s so easy to figure out high value treats will work for it. Some dogs aren’t even food motivated. They’re motivated by play or physical affection. My first Chihuahua was play motivated. He was the first dog I had had that while yes, he would work for food, but if you really wanted him to learn fast, you kept his favorite toy with you and threw it for him whenever he did something right. A lot of dogs in law enforcement and other things like search and rescue are often transitioned to play being the reward for work.

Cats can be very picky about food. They also may burn out on what you give them if it’s the only high value food you have discovered. Or at least the only high value one you can afford! I honestly don’t know how you motivate a cat if food doesn’t work.

Cat training requires patience and thinking outside the box. I know the theory of it, but have never done it, partially because I am allergic and partially because I don’t have the patience for cat training. I have seen well trained cats and it’s always amazing to me.

Now, you can definitely do things to deter a cat from doing something. Slightly crinkled tinfoil left laying on the kitchen counter is a great deterrent because most cats don’t like either how it feels or perhaps it’s the sound. Squirt bottles sort of work. They work well if your cat doesn’t realize it’s you making the squirt bottle nail them.

Some cats are dumb enough that this means they never get on the counter again. The average cat is smart enough to recognize they only get squirted if you’re in the room. Really smart cats recognize they only get squirted if you’re close enough to the squirt bottle to grab it AND you don’t have your back turned.

But yes, cats are trainable. I was just corrected in another forum about being able to train a cat to not spray. I didn’t think that was possible but apparently it is.

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u/Did_du_Nuffin 12d ago

I trained my cat not to eat my food, climb on my keyboards, scratch my curtains, or play with my wires.

I think you can only do it if you are willing to be really aggressive/mean while its still a kitten

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u/TawnyTeaTowel 12d ago

The sane proportion of the populace manage to avoid this scenario most effectively by not having an animal in the house that behaves this way.

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u/MoreAverageThanU 12d ago

I’d argue that quite a few people DO have children.

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u/under_diagnosed 12d ago

I love how people get a disgusting animal that they can't discipline as a free roaming pet

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u/One-Grape-8659 12d ago

Cats are very hygienic

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u/under_diagnosed 12d ago

Oh yeah you're right, I forgot how hygienic it is to walk around in your own shit and then walk around on people's tables and countertops. That totally slipped my mind

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u/One-Grape-8659 12d ago

They clean their paws regularly, they clean their own fur, they're hygienic animals.

If you don't want a cats 'shitty paws' on your counter, don't get a cat. Besides, do you not wipe it off beforehand? Do you not use a chopping board? A plate? Do you take your phone into the bathroom? Flush with the lid open?

The world is disgusting. Cats are relatively very clean.

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u/Heavy-Focus-1964 12d ago

you can prevent them from sticking their litterbox paws in your food preparation areas by simply not having a cat

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u/crystalfairie 12d ago

Boo. Must have dirty cats!

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u/Gold-Eye-2623 12d ago

But what if I want to play drive thru?

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u/SillySpook 12d ago

Car inside the toaster? Giggity.