Question:
Buddy (the kitten) seems to prefer climbing to jumping. My boyfriend has some really nice furniture that his mom got for him when we moved into the house, and he could easily just jump up onto it, but he insists on jumping with all four sets of claws out, and digging into it, to climb up. Is there any way to teach him not to do this? He's not scratching at anything, just climbing, which has made hundreds of little pulls in one chair in particular... I've never had a cat do this before *i've never had a kitten actually* so what we do??
--JA

Answer:
Get a cat tree and get your kitten to climb that and praise him for it when he climbs it. I would just set your kitten down, take him to the cat tree and when he climbs it, give him a treat
~Km~
Answer:
no, you can't teach them not to climb. I would suggest providing something that's more fun for them to climb, if being on the furniture is a problem. also, trimming their nails so they're not so sharp.
Tim

Answer:
Ditto what others have said, you can't teach them not to climb. Kittens will climb, until they grow up, then they'll phase in jumping. Pixie used to climb up from the floor, up my leg-back-arm to the top of my head, digging in the whole way up.
Best thing to do is to cover your furniture until she outgrows it, and keep her little needle-like nails trimmed to minimize damage. Also divert her to her cat tree.