# Cat won't stop climbing onto TV



## Zeromus-X (Feb 8, 2009)

I've got a 42" LCD TV that my cat wouldn't stop jumping on top of. I had it sitting on a TV stand, and he'd climb onto it and balance himself on the narrow TV. Every time I saw it, I'd yell, or grab him and put him down onto the ground, and he'd get the idea... for about a week. The big problem was that if he didn't make it up there perfect, or if he was losing his balance, his hind legs would push on the screen itself to get him up to the top.

I figured I'd solve the problem the easy way and just wall-mount the TV. The top of the TV is now about six feet from the ground. Great, right? Nope. Now, he jumps all the way from the floor to the top of the TV. He can't make it up all the way, so he uses his hind legs -- and his claws -- to push him the rest of the way up to the top.

This happens about once a week, and he meows loudly before he does it, so I've usually got a chance to make a loud noise to distract him or to walk over there quickly, but who knows how often it happens when I'm not home. LCD TVs don't have glass fronts on them, and I'm very worried he's just going to split the screen itself one of these times.

Any suggestions here? It's not like I can spray him with water, he's on top of the TV. I thought about putting something on top of the TV so that he couldn't grab it (aluminum foil, a strip of felt, etc), but I think that'd end up doing more damage as he struggled to not fall.

Mounting the TV higher is not an option.


----------



## Fran (Jan 9, 2008)

Maybe you should put a piece of glass in front of the screen, to protect it? I don't know what kind of hardware to recommend, you'll have to get advice on it, perhaps something can be designed so that your kitty will have no foothold even if he does make it to the top of the unit - i.e. beveled edge bracket...?? 

I am just trying ideas here, maybe someone else will suggest something more definite...

 Fran


----------



## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

*Double-sided sticky tape.* 

Make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy: 
_Wrong thing difficult_: Sticky on my feet when I jump on the TV.
_Right thing easy_: I don't get stuff stuck on my feet if I don't jump on the TV.
...and the best part is, the tape works whether you are there or not!

Stick that tape along the very top of your TV then pick him up and place him up there so he can feel that uncomfortable sensation of something sticking to his feet. Let him jump down. Let him look around all quizzical and swishing his tail in annoyance. Pick him up and place him up there again. Maybe put him up there a third time, too. This is reinforcement for him to learn exactly how uncomfortable the top of the TV feels. Keep the tape up there for a few weeks. Change it out periodically if you feel it losing any of its' sticky-ness.

Good luck and let us know if the double-sided sticky tape works with your leaper!
Heidi

PS, I had a "leaper" who also would make a particular cry/meow-sound before he leapt. 
Toby(1995-2007) liked to jump up door jambs or walls that stuck out and had no molding around them and slide down. One of his favorite places to do this was the wall in my bathroom that divides my garden tub and stall shower. I keep the bathroom doors closed because BooBoo is a bathmat-pee-er, so Toby was only in there when I was in there, too. If he made his cry, I would support his haunches and lift him as high as I could, letting him use his front feet to straddle the wall and guide himself up. 
He loved it! He'd have his ears up and look/sniff all around and I'd hold him as long as I could or until he wanted down. He mostly just wanted to be up high. He left a few scratches in the wall and I recently re-painted that bathroom...and I did NOT spackle over his tallest set of scratches because they remind me of him.
I think if you were able to get your cat a tall-ish cat tree, especially one you could place in front of a window so he could see some outdoor activity or catch some sun-rays, it would go a long way towards satisfying his urge to jump/climb on something and perch there.
Yes, remove the TV from his repertoire of things to climb, but also give him something he CAN climb to satisfy that urge.


----------



## Zeromus-X (Feb 8, 2009)

I'll give that a shot. I'm still concerned that he's going to jump up there and the tape is going to prevent him from hopping the rest of the way up, which will mean his claws will be scraping against the TV screen even harder. I wouldn't trust putting a piece of glass on it just because that's adding a lot of weight to the wall mount, and as much as I don't want the screen getting scratched up, I also don't want to come home to the whole contraption on the ground!


----------

