How do I discipline my cat?
my cat, nugget, is approximately 9 months old. when I got her, she was super cuddly and affectionate, didnt really get into anything. which I mean I understand that she was a baby so obvi she wasn’t bad, I’ve had 2 cats before her.
but now that she’s entered her ”teenage” phase, she’s beginning to really test my limits and get me upset with her daily.
she stays in my room, since my aunt (who I live with atm) is allergic to cats mildly. I have two shelves plus my dresser in my room. the taller of the two is right by my window, and I’ve cleared the very top off for her to be able to perch on, since I understand her wanting the highest view and I thought that would satisfy her. but lately, these past few months, she’s been climbing on EVERYTHING. She’ll get on the shelves that are full of my items, she gets on my dresser that is often times cluttered due to me being busy, and I just don’t know how to get her to stop. She also attacks my feet when I walk, claws on my legs when she gets the zoomies, attacks any strings on my clothes when I getting dressed to the point that she’s hooking onto my legs. And I genuinely don’t know how to correct her behavior. Like just now, while writing this, I’ve realized that she’s knocked my earbuds off my bed and they’re nowhere to be found.
redirection doesn’t work. I’ve tried to put her on the tower that I specifically bought for this reason whenever she gets on my shelves and she just goes right back to trying. She knows she’s not supposed to do these things either because when I get up to get her down she jumps down immediately and runs. Sometimes all I do is tell her to get down and she will (rarely). but like obviously I’m not going to hit her, I’m not like that. And I’ve recently learned that spraying her with water is also abusive (which I only did once or twice before I found that out, I will admit).
I guess I just need advice on how to train a young cat. And like I really don’t wanna hear that she’s young and that’s why she’s going this and to just wait it out because I shouldn’t have to do that. I’ve broken her from peeing in my laundry so I don’t know why I can’t brake her from these other things. I don’t want to have to get rid of her, but with the way things are progressing with, there’s a possibility that I might have to.
p.s she isn’t spayed yet either, if you think that’s part of her problem