Cat Training Tips: Does a Squirt Bottle Work to Stop Unwanted Behavior?

Sometimes cats, and especially young kittens, do things we would rather not have them do. They pick a nice piece of furniture to use as their scratching post (ignoring the scratching post you had bought for them). They jump up on the kitchen counter or dining room table. They play with your cosmetics and climb your curtains. New cat owners often find themselves wondering how they can effectively stop such unwanted behavior.

I have heard some people talk about using a squirt bottle filled with water to discourage their cat from doing certain things. Sprinkling the cat with water when they misbehave is harmless for the cat, and it will certainly get their attention. The moment I heard it, I thought, Nope. Ain't gonna work. Let me explain why.

The idea behind using a squirt bottle for cat training is simple: cats dislike water; if they are suddenly sprinkled with water, they would be startled and distracted from what they are doing. Being sprinkled repeatedly will teach them that scratching the couch / playing with curtains / getting on the kitchen counter results into this unpleasant experience.

While cats do learn through experience, there is one fundamental flaw in the squirt bottle technique: you cannot make the bottle work when you are not around. Thus, the cat will learn to associate the unpleasant consequences with your presence. They scratch the couch and get sprinkled when the owner is here; they do the same thing when the owner is not around and nothing happens. Lesson learned: I can scratch all I want when the owner is gone. The same applies to litter box problems, or any other type of unwanted cat behavior.

Squirt bottle will not work as cat training technique for the same reason physical punishment does not work. Instead, I would advise the following method. See what you can do to make the unwanted behavior unpleasant. For example, many cats dislike touching tin foil with their claws, so placing some on that spot on the couch the kitty likes to scratch will make the experience unpleasant. On the other hand, good behavior - using the scratching post, for example - needs to be praised and rewarded.

Another advice is to simply spend more time interacting with your cat. Cats often engage in destructive behavior when they are bored, so they invent their own entertainment. That's why having regular play sessions (using strings, feather teasers, etc.) might help.