First of all NEVER EVER hit your cat, as if you do, you may harm it and it will become frightened.
Anything a cat does is normal behaviour as far as the cat is concerned. It is choosing to behave this way for a reason and is not thinking at all whether or not the behaviour is going to be offensive to you. For example, a tiger scratching up a tree trunk in the wild is normal marking behaviour for a tiger in the wild. Scratching up the arm of your sofa is normal marking behaviour for a domestic cat.
What you might find to be distasteful behaviour might be cute to another cat owner. Personally i am one of those cat owners who constantly sees cuteness in my cats behaviour! So in my opinion improper feline behaviour occurs whenever your cat does something which clashes with your expectations.
Cats NEVER act out of revenge or spite. Those are human emotions, not feline ones.
Training a kitten is very important, as your quality training reflects the kittens behaviour as it develops into adulthood.
The key to training your kitten is rewarding for the kittens good behaviour.
Training a kitten to use its litter tray
Cats are generally quite good when it comes to using their litter tray although accidents may occur as kittens.
When the new kitten has been brought home you should place the kitten in its litter tray so that it knows where to find it when it needs to use it. However if you find your kitten crouching/attempting do its business outside the litter tray then pick the kitten up and place it in the litter tray. Then it is important to clean where the kitten has tried to do its business to get rid of any smell as if the cat smells where it had try to go to the toilet before it will think that is its toilet, thats why it is very important to get rid of any smell on the floor. After cleaning add pieces of orange peel too, cats hate the smell of this, so if the cat smells the orange peel, (s)he will soon decide against the idea of using that area as a toilet.
If when you return home from work or a day out and find that your kitten has had an accident on the floor already then do not shout at the kitten as the kitten might have done this hours ago and by shouting at it will not do a thing as the poor kitten will have no idea what it has done wrong! Also if the kitten seems to have a lot of accidents after ruling out any medical issues then just place the kitten in its litter tray through out the day so it will get used to using the litter tray.
Training a cat to relieve itself outdoors
If when the kitten gets older and you want it to relieve itself outside then place the litter tray at the back door until eventually you can put the litter tray outside, then remove it altogether (a cat flap is necessary for this, so that the cat doesn't have to rely on the owner to keep opening the back door every time it needs the toilet)
Forbidden places
There are places in the house that will be forbidden to a cat, for example the oven top, this is due to the fact that the oven could be switched on and the cat will burn itself.
Most places are forbidden to cat for the interest of the cats health, however letting a cat walk on the kitchen surface is unhygienic. If your cat tries to go to a forbidden place or is already there, then a sharp "No" to the cat should make the cat come away from the forbidden place or using a water spray, but spray on the rump, not the face.
Clawing carpets and furniture
It is natural for your cat to want to sharpen it's claws. They sometimes do this on furniture and carpets! That is why it is very important to get your cat a scratch post or scratch mat. If you find you cat scratching something it shouldn't be scratching simply pick the cat up and place the cat on its scratch mat or against its scratch post. Eventually the cat should just use the scratch mat/post on its own initiative.. Or an alternative would be applying 2 sided sticky tape on the carpet/furniture, cats normally hate this feeling when their paws touch it.
Remember:
NEVER EVER hit your cat, as if you do, you may harm it and it will become frightened.
Always keep the litter tray clean.
Always reward your cat after good behaviour.

This information was taken from www.purrfection.net, more fact sheets can be found here .