Hi,

I have a new kitten who is now 10 weeks old (we've had him for a week) and I'm looking for advice on how to train him to know where he is & isn't allowed to go. My husband had cats when he was a child but never a kitten and I've never had either so I'm hoping more experienced people on here can offer us some advice.

The specific issue we have is with the fact that we have a giant house rabbit who shares the (large) kitchen-dining-family area. We kept the 2 animals separated for the first few days, introducing them for short periods to get used to each other. They both seemed to be OK enough with each other for us to take the barriers down & just supervise them when they're both out. They're certainly not 'friends' yet & tend to spend most of their time in separate areas, but have a few curious moments before one or other backs off!

Anyway, the issue I would like advice on is regarding Max's (the rabbit) cage. This is a large dog cage (he is a 6kg bunny!) which we leave open during whilst he's out so he can go back in when he likes & eat/drink/use his litter tray. However, since being given 'free roam', Mylo tends to go in there a lot, which I'm not happy about. This is Max's space & I don't want Mylo getting settled in there so whenever I spot him I take him straight out, take him back to 'his' area & wave a toy at him to try & distract him. Not that it's doing much good - he still keeps going in there! A few times yesterday I noticed he'd climbed into Max's litter tray & just sat there looking out. This morning, however, he went in there & started scratching about in the litter & then squatted..... I raced over & grabbed him (hopefully before he did anything) & put him straight into his own litter tray. He's very good at using his litter tray (no accidents as yet, *touch wood*) & I would've thought that the litter would smell of rabbit 'doings' & so wouldn't be somewhere that Mylo would want to go himself

In the time that I've been writing this, I've already had to go & fetch him from there at least 4 times..... I think he's beginning to know that he's doing something wrong as he kind of cowers when I go over. I'm so torn. I know he's a kitten so he doesn't really know any better but I don't want him to lean bad habits. Whilst I don't want to be 'the enemy' I also seem to need to be firm with him or else he thinks it's just a game.

Any tips/advice/suggestions would be most welcome!

Water sprayer and the word "NO".

I re-use a bottle which had anti-bacterial cleaner in it (yes I did clean it out properly first, many times). A few days after using it, they learnt, so much so I would just have to pick it up and they knew what it was. Now, I only have to firmly use the word "NO" and they know You just have to keep doing what you are doing through and he will learn.

It might be useful to keep a couple around the house for easy access.

Agreed. The water sprayer is an essential. Used it on my 2 kittens whenever they were doing something they shouldn't and after 2 days, all I had to do was point it at them and you could see the look of 'uh-oh' on their faces and they'd stop straight away. One of them even shakes himself down as if he's had a spraying when I haven't even pulled the trigger! He knows what's coming if he carries on being naughty

It's hard trying to find that balance, you don't want to be a pushover but you also don't want them to see you as a 'bad' thing. You'll get there, but you may need a water sprayer first

Thanks both for the water sprayer suggestion. I remember now about hearing about that somewhere else. I'll have to see what I can find....

Watch out kitty.....!!