how do I stop my kitten from lying in my lap constantly?

My problem is my kitten doesnt seem to want to lie by herself at all. She also gets hold of my clothes while im in them, to climb her way up to my shoulder or just lie on my chest no matter what I am doing. Everytime I sit down, she jumps up usually tearing my skin apart in the meantime.

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I try to stop her but she is persistent until she gets what she wants. Or she is lying behind me on my chair.


If she does manage to stay on the chair after I get up she remains there, in my seat.
If she manages to stay lying on my chair if I am away from it for a period of time she comes looking for me and repeats the behaviour over and over again.

What can I do? She is leaving many scratch marks on my legs from her trying to jump up, the latest one on my lower legs actually ripped my skin wide open.

I love her very much, but I'm finding it impossible to do anything by myself with this behaviour. she is 12 wks old tomorrow.

Answer by KAte
Hi
well this is a unusual problem. most owners are asking me the opposite ie how can they get there cat to sit on their laps. :)

Some cats are just more a lap cat and they will always look for a lap to sit on. However as your kitten is still so young i think it has more to do with her age at the moment.

last year we adopted two 4 month old kittens and both of them always wanted to sit on us wherever we were. now as they approach a year they do it much much less and it is more gentle in its approach ie they sort of ask if they can sit with us and if we can't have them on our laps they seem to understand when we place them in their basket.

I would recommend that you set some guidelines ie times when you are happy for her to sit on your etc. Then other times you will have to use the cat discipline method. ie when she starts to climb you calmly and quietly remove her and place her on the floor or in her bed. You will have to do this over and over again but this is how they learn.

i do think that as she gets older too and more confident that this behavior will slow down.

i don't know if you will be allowing her outside in the future. If so then this will also help to use up her energy and grab her attention. In the mean time she may be very bored and so seeks you out as her center of entertainment. you will have to try and make the house as stimulating as possible to help distract her.

I have a couple of web pages which you may find of further help here

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-discipline.html

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/indoor-cats.html

best wishes kate
PS what a lovely picture :)

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