We’ve always had a problem with our cats getting on the kitchen counter. Long ago I decided to “choose my battles” and just clean the counters before I used them. My daughter moved in with her kitten and she doesn’t want the kitten getting on the counters so we are constantly taking her off. It’s a never ending battle. So…weigh in on the issue and if did manage to keep them off how did you do it.
I have three cats, and one of them, Tristan, has always jumped up on the counters. Now he’s too old to, but once in a while he still tries. It never bothered me that much, I like using those disinfecting wipes for the counters anyway.
However, I’ve heard that when a kitten starts getting interested in the counter tops you can “boobytrap” them by putting down double-sided tape or aluminum on the edges. Temporarily of course. :teehee:
You could also ask at this cat forum: www.catniplounge.com - you’ll get ALOT of good advice there!
I too have decide to pick my battles when it comes to the cats. If I see one of them (I have 2) on the counter I say no and off. Sierra gets off right away but Joey just sits and looks at me so I have to pick him up off the counter and put him on the floor. It doesn’t happen enough for it to be a real problem.
My neighbor the self proclaimed crazy cat lady uses a water gun as she is telling them off. She swears after a few times they stop going on the counter.
The trick with cats is to scare them into not wanting to do something again. I banged the door a few times when they jumped up on the counter, they don’t do it if I am around, but I have heard them at night if I have left something out by mistake.
One of my cats has a fasination for water and is always in the kitchen sink.
:oops: mine gets to hang out on the unused part of the dining table while we’re eating, so I’m pretty sure she thinks to counter is ok :oops:. we haven’t, however, seen her on the counter.
DH growls at kitty whenever she does something naughty. She knows what it means, and quickly trots away in disgrace. (My growl is apparently not menacing enough because it never seems to inspire the same kind of response.) Still, she tries to get away with stuff even when she knows better, and we know that she knows better because she gets this guilty look when being caught in the act. I think she enjoys being a bad girl, and is secretly delighted when she gets away with something. It’s how she gets her little kitty thrills. :teehee:
My cat pretty much goes wherever she wants. :shrug: I have her food and water dish in a corner of a counter away from the ‘main’ counter because I had to move it when we had a dog. I like it there because nobody kicks the water bowl.
I never really work directly on the counter–use a cutting board–but I don’t really find hair or anything on there. Just the occasional footprint if she investigates the sink.
Jane, your husband growls? 
We’re fighting a losing battle re the counters. They get on them even when we’re in the room. One look or shout from either of us and they take off again, but it does no good. We know they’re mocking us. :-x I’d prefer just giving up and doing as you do Jan, wipe the counters before using them, but dh emphatically disagrees.
We have finally given in regarding the top of the fridge, though. Mina the Evil has decided that is her sleeping spot, and she’s managed to break quite a few things in her various attempts to settle in up there. We just make sure to wipe it down often to keep her hair out of the freezer. :ick:
I don’t let them on but how do you control a cat when you’re not looking? I just wipe my counters down with the disinfecting wipes before I do anything. When I do catch them I usually just give a really loud clap and hiss at them…they get down right away. In fact my Cosmo (our black cat) jumps down as soon as he sees me but our kitten is still learning.
The Binkster was a counter jumper when we first got him. Most helpful was the water bottle squirt. Eventually he would jump down as soon as he heard us get up to check on him or even when we just shook the bottle. Double sided tape was helpful too. I was advised by the vet to also try the plastic carpet runner stuff…remember what gramma had on her carpet to keep it clean from the doorway across the room, it had little pointy nubbies on the bottom to help it grip to the rug? We almost got some but most of what we could find at the hardware store wasn’t “nubby” enough to be bothersome to his feet when placed pokey side up on anything. We rarely get to eat at our little table in our sucky little kitchen but when we do, Binky seems to think he can get up there. Usually the table is so loaded with junk, he never gets up there, so if it’s cleaned off, he’s curious. If it’s just me, I don’t care too much, just keep it clean, but I don’t like to encourage the habit for the sanity of anyone that may doubt the condition of any food I prepare.
We don’t have cats anymore, but have had several in the past. None of them jumped on the counter…the dining table occasionally (not while we were eating), but never kitchen counters. Reminds me of a night we had brought home a cake won at a Cub Scout meeting. We left the cake out on the table over night and discovered that our kittens had nibbled the frosting around the perimeter of the cake, :teehee:
Occasionally Butterscotch will hop on the counter so he can get to the top of the fridge. He never jumps on the side with the stove though for some reason. A spray bottle with water in it works wonders. Takes a few times of spritzing when they start doing it, but they eventually get the idea.
We keep Frida’s food on the counter to keep the dog out of it (she used to have her own room in our old house, but since we’re renting, we don’t want to cut out a kitty door. She generally keeps to that spot. Other than that, we just clean the counters regularly.
I have discovered that giving her everything she wants makes her a better kitty :roll: She seems to like us more too :teehee:
Re: water bottle spray… the kitten doesn’t mind it at all so it’s pretty useless. Even if she did I’d hesitate to use it though because we have laminate floors that get very slippery when wet. Spraying the cat, wiping the floor, spraying the cat, wiping the floor is just too much work. I’d never get anything done. :teehee:
Our old cat DID burn her feet on the stove once so we put down a cooling rack over the burner and she avoids it. :shrug: Glad I’m not the only one losing the battle though. :teehee:
It was a losing battle trying to keep her off, so I am constantly washing the counters. Plus we have a garden window above the sink. I like to call it the kitty window because it is all hers! I don’t keep anything on it but her. She just pushes everything aside when I try.
I miss having a cat, DH isnt a big fan of them. But when I DID, I figured cats will be cats. :shrug: I wipe before using.
I never had trouble keeping the dog out of the cat food, but I DID have trouble keeping our DUCKS out of the cat food! We had 2 ducks (Bonnie & Clyde) who we brought outside to the yard during the day… the cat LOVED them (REALLY!) and we’d let them play in the kitchen sometimes… we’d have to move the cat food first, because Clyde would go right for it and his bill would end up flinging it all over the kitchen. :roflhard:
Cheddar and Stanley will jump up on the counter and DR table if there is something “good” there… they especially LOVE tomatos, which we are always finding squished on the floor with littlebite marks in them. We’ve learned to move things to the stove, which, even though is the same height as the countertops we’ve yet to see them jump on.
Fred and Ginger are too tiny to get on the countertops, but I know they get on the table when we’re not looking… we found them sleeping in an Amazon box on the table a few weeks ago.
We use the spray bottle and it’s been effective so far.
The older cats pretty much stay off the counters but not the kitten. Lucy goes anywhere she darn well pleases. :shrug:
I have 2 cats, one of which is my darling Mulder in my avatar, and I have been blessed in that he was the most easily trainable can ever. He’s 10 now, but in the early days I was afraid he would burn him self on the burner so i put down duct tape rolls on the counters. worked the very 1st time. We recently were “adopted” by Itchy who is the most precoucious fearless 1 year old kitten/tiger ever! he was harder to train off the counters, but the rolls of duct tape did eventually work. i like the duct tape because the sticky gets on their paws and doesn’t come off for a while, so it’s uncomfortable and icky for them for a while. :pout:
:verysad:
I wish I could have a cat but I’m so insanely allergic to them. I just had to choose between breathing and kittening. I do, however, have a dog who is sometimes as finicky as a cat. . . Can I still be a knitter without a cat? It seems like it’s a rule somewhere. . .