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organic_donna9

cats on the counter.....seekingadvice please help

organic_donna
17 years ago

seekingadvice,

I was reading Mari's "gross" post again and saw what you said about keeping your cats off the counters. When I first remodeled the kitchen the cats were afraid to jump up on the countertops. It's been about 4 months...all of a sudden, up they went. I have a small condo and I don't mind them going on the side of the counters that the sink is on. I don't do any food prep at all on that side. The side I have the range on is where I want them to stay off. What is your trick for keeping them off the countertops. I've used sticky tape and that didn't work. I don't want to use cans filled with pennies, because they will scratch my wood floors. I try to spray them with water but that only gets them down for a short time.

I am afraid that they are going to turn on my burners, the stove is turned on by touch. When I go out I have to pull the circuit breaker.

seekingadvice, you said it was easy, so what's your secret.

Donna

Comments (67)

  • Tuscanlover
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Donna, the kids are the perfect accessory for your gorgeous granite.

    I have noticed that our Becca thinks the marble is a nice place to visit, but I refuse to take pics of her and make her think it is acceptable:). She also never went up on the old, grungy laminate. What's that all about??

  • talley_sue_nyc
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't know why you think there's any difference between the two countertops--the cats certainly wouldn't!

    Clearly, the one with the stove is MUCH preferable, given that it allows the lording-it-over of TWO rooms, not just one.

    My mother would solve this problem by setting the vacuum cleaner attachment on the stove.

    actually, given your type of stove, with which they can't actually catch their fur on FIRE, maybe experiencing a bit of heat would keep them off there.

    (they also won't voluntarily go where the heat is--they might turn it on and LEAVE it on, but I can't imagine they'd accidentally burn themselves unless they were in the habit of leaping from the floor immediately onto the cooktop--which they'd only do once, though that could really hurt!)

    If it was a sink, you could just turn the water on everytime they were in it (or splurge on a motion-detector faucet)

  • emagineer
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My cat management is a spray bottle when they are little, not sure if it works when grown. It means hanging around constantly, but eventually they get it. I never thought the cats were ever on my counters, but realized with stupidity that they were having great times at night in the kitchen. And, now my home has windows with ledges and when open a really nice spot for them to enjoy. The kitchen counter has now become a problem as with the rest of you. It means constant wiping down. I'd hate to have someone even know they were ever there.

  • organic_donna
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just imagine a cat on fire running around my condo. Silviano tried to lick a candle last night. I can just see him lay his tail on the burner.
    Donna

  • seekingadvice
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hey, sorry to be MIA, Donna! We went to my sister's wedding reception (and spent a nice long weekend in a beach house), and then the kids managed to come down with the flu. Fortunately, the flu came after the beach trip (or en route to home, actually, with no barfing involved, TG). I'm just now getting time to post.

    Well, I was probably spouting a bunch of nonsense in the post you referenced. I am no animal expert! I will just say that it has been my experience that I've not had any problem with cats on the counter, but I've never had more than one at a time. My mom, who would *never* have allowed such a thing, recently got 2 cats and they seem to do whatever they please and Mom just thinks they're mischievous. Mom has certainly changed in that regard but I'm also wondering if part of it isn't having more than one cat? Her cats do seem to egg each other on in the misbehavior department.

    As far as my personal technique, it is as follows: early intervention with new cat. My last 2 cats have been acquired as full-grown shelter kitties, the first adopted in 1986 and with me until 2004, current one ~1 when adopted and now almost 4. I mention this to show that they don't have to be kittens in order for the training to take. Intervention for me is a loud NO!! if the cat looks up at the counter and yelling (GET DOWN OFF OF THERE!!!) accompanied by lunging at the cat on the counter if the cat jumps up. I've never had a cat make more than 1 or 2 attempts to jump on the counter with this method. The next step was required with a previous cat, and that was the first outlined above accompanied by grabbing the cat and tossing it outside (while uttering harsh words). This only works if your cat is allowed to go out, of course.

    I know that some people would not care to yell at their cats but I personally have had success with the occasional assertive discipline technique with my cats and kids, LOL.

    My cat is allowed on the counter in the laundry room because that's where her food dish is since we got a dog (dogs are rather gluttonous creatures, IME, and prefer to eat in as short a time span as possible, whereas my cat likes to draw out the experience over a couple of days). The cat knows that it's ok in the laundry room but not in the kitchen. She is also allowed on the bathroom counters. I've not had any trouble establishing those boundaries and the cats have always been quick to catch on to what areas they're allowed on and which are off limits, but I don't think you could allow one counter in an area and not another. If you allow them on one counter in the kitchen, for instance, you couldn't realistically expect them to stay off the other kitchen counters.

    Since cats are drawn to heights and views, it makes sense that they would find a kitchen counter attractive. They also like to drink out of sinks (or toilets or mudpuddles or anything that isn't their water dish). Once they've gotten used to being on the counters, I'm not sure how easy it would be to break them of the habit, being as they're cats and all, but you might try giving them some alternative perches that offer height and views, like a cat tree. Here is my cat (Pearl) enjoying her stand behind my computer:
    {{gwi:1542691}}

    She also likes to sleep on the back of the couch:
    {{gwi:1542692}}

    Your cats are beautiful, BTW, and I gasp every time I see your kitchen with that drop-dead gorgeous granite.

    Oh yes, I will add that Pearl has jumped up on the bar a couple of times when the dog was chasing her, but I don't really count that, though I did do the GET DOWN FROM THERE! thing.

  • organic_donna
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    seekingadvice,
    I thought you had some big secret training device. LOL I am determined to let them on the sink countertop and not the stove counter. A friend of mine has the same kitchen and he did just that with his cat. My cat's are very spoiled. This is their cat tree.
    {{gwi:1542693}}
    Donna

  • mahatmacat1
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    A cat condo with a view of human condos! Love it :)

    I can't help you, partly because 1) our cats are up on the counters all the time, even find little pawprints across the stove sometimes and 2) every time I read the title of the thread I start singing "cats on the counter and a silver spoon, little boy blue and the man in the moon"... :)

    No seriously, I fear that training cats is only training them to do/not do certain things *when you're there*. They know the difference; I even see that the one on the right, the beautiful cinnamon one, does have a bit of a "busted!" expression in his little body, like he's wondering "is this really o.k.? Well, she's not shooing me, but worshiping me with the adoration box, so it must be o.k....but still I find myself fraught with anxiety and must be ready to git at any moment..." The one on the left looks like "excuse me, but don't you think that right at this moment I look especially like an Egyptian cat sculpture? I mean with the tail and all?" :)

    The one idea I can think of might be to get a carton that is the size of the stove top and tape it down or otherwise anchor it when you leave, so that they just can't physically get onto the dangerous part. Tape on that granite though, not so great...but there must be some way to anchor it. Or some other form of covering. My DH just said "cardboard and then put a pot on top of the cardboard". The thing that scares me about that is that if something is touching the cooking surface and god forbid a cat somehow activates the stove anyway, there's cardboard catching on fire. So it needs to be something like metal like a big roasting pan or two, something so big it goes completely over the stove area without touching it. That would be my preference.

    And seeking, your Pearl looks like my Mahatma! Is it all muscle, the way Mahatma is? :)

  • jubileej
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, donna, if I were a cat, I would want to be on your beautiful new counter - I just would. Though you have given them a luxurious condo as an alternative, I think they are attracted by both the height AND the enclosed feeling of the upper cabinets above. It also gives them a power seat for getting adult attention.

    When you are away, try securing a vertical barrier between lower and upper counters all around (I know, a real pain) on both counters. If they consistently can't enjoy being up there, perhaps they will lose their sense of territory for it. And when you are home, go into instant action when you see them up there - sharp hand clap and stern voice.

    You could also try wetting down the counters for a while as a negative reinforcement.

    Make sure they get your attention when they are at ground level - but I suspect they do ;-).

  • organic_donna
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    flyleft,
    You are so funny. The ruddy colored cat is very proper. She is a good girl and doesn't give me any problems. The chocalate silver Ocicat has a personality of his own. Last night he was going crazy. He has a chewing disorder and he chews the remote control, my computer screen and he tears holes in the cat tree. He is a crazy cat. I try and play with him every night but he has so much energy. He gets into everything.
    jubilee,
    When I go out for a short time I put a stainless steel raised pot holder over the controls of the stove. If I'm gone for the day I pull the circuit breaker. I hope it's not harmful for the stove to keep pulling the circuit breaker.
    I feel bad for my cats because they can't go outside. When I just had the one I used to take her to the park on a leash. She loved going outside. Silviano is too crazy to walk on a leash. I know they get bored during the day but at least they have each other. I'm home a lot and they get a lot of attention. I just know they would love to be outside chasing birds.
    Donna

  • organic_donna
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I was told that pulling the circuit breaker could ruin the Dacor. Abt where I purchased the range is replacing it because I had a problem with mine. They said if I want a different range I could switch. I don't think there are any others I like as much. Has anyone seen the Bosch?
    Donna

  • jubileej
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Donna,

    Not sure what a stainless steel potholder is, but what I meant was to find a way to tape something vertical at the front edge of the entire countertop area - both counters- between the top and bottom cabinets all the way around the sides as well to bar entry from the any of the counterspace while you are away. I know that sounds extreme, - but the idea is to break them of relying upon the space as theirs, until they automatically consider it "out of bounds". After a while, they learn.

    I know it's hard to keep two active cats indoors. That's why, despite veterinarian's and everyone else's advice to keep them in, I let mine out during the day (we have a large yard bordered by woods). It worked for 11 years, but now Mr. Gray, my crazy one with the thryoid condition, has gone missing, which makes us all very sad. The black one is very subdued without him and craves our affection constantly.

    Your cats are just gorgeous, BTW, as is your kitchen.

  • snookums
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Organic Donna - I hear you about worrying about them just laying down and burning themselves when the cooktop is on. More than once I have been COOKIKNG and my cat just starts walking across the range. I have a gas burner, with flames shooting out and all - doesn't phase him. I can't leave a pot on the stove unless I lock the cat up. I usually stick him in the washroom while I'm cooking so that I CAN step away from the range. His desire to be near me is stronger than his stay away from fire instinct apparently...

  • seekingadvice
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I live in the country. My cats go outside. They never get on the counter, whether I'm there or not. I simply wouldn't tolerate it, and I think cats, being sensitive creatures, grasp that. I'd toss the cat on her ear if she got on my kitchen counters. However, since my cats do go outside quite a bit, they may not be so interested in counters and seeing outdoors from the countertop. Mainly, though, I think that cats have a pretty heightened sense of what they can and can't get away with. Since the counter thing is a big deal to me, my cats pick up on that. My mom always felt the same way (which is no doubt where I got my aversion to cats on the counter), and none of our cats ever got on the kitchen counters. Now, though, Mom doesn't care what kind of mischief her cats get into--she enjoys their antics and laughs at their "naughtiness"--and her cats do all kinds of things our cats never did in all the years I was growing up. I don't think the nature of cats has changed, but my Mom's certainly has.

    It never occurred to me before that you couldn't keep cats off the counter. I've had cats my whole life (50+ years) and never had one that broke that rule more than once or twice. I never realized how many people allowed it, to be honest. My FIL's cats are all over his kitchen counters and I always wondered how people as concerned about germs as my inlaws would not have a problem with cats on their food prep surfaces. I personally have a pretty high tolerance level for germs, LOL, but I just don't like the idea of it.

    fly, Pearl's build is as much "all muscle" as mine. HAR.

  • organic_donna
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    snookums,
    That's what scares me, they might not be afraid of the heat until it's too late.
    seekingadvice,
    You have a different situation. If your cats go outside they have a whole other world that my cats don't have. My cats have about 800 square feet to play in on one level. I'm not worried about germs, I don't prepare food on the sink side. The stove side they are supposed to stay off is where I prepare food. I always use a cutting board. I rarely cut meat even on the cutting board. I mostly eat Salmon which is precut at the store. Otherwise I eat pasta and vegetables.
    Here is the stainless pot holder. That little oblong circle on the stove is the childguard.

    {{gwi:1542694}}

  • cat_mom
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think jubileej was confused because some people would call that a trivet or hot "pad" even, and would call a pot holder a square of quilted/heat-resistant fabric or silicone, or a glove thingie used for removing hot pots and pans from the stove top or oven.

    BTW, are they still walking all over the range and counters? I was telling the director at the shelter about this post. She asked for some ideas!

  • organic_donna
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Only when they think I'm not looking.
    Donna

  • cat_mom
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lucky you, our Miku looks right at me to make sure I'm watching, and then flings her toys in the water dish! We think she's trying to play David Letterman's "Will it Float?"

  • mahatmacat1
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    donna, q.e.d. (re my contention that teaching cats to do/not do something is really only teaching them to do/not do it *when you're there* :))

    cat mom, what you have is a cat with oppositional defiant disorder...otherwise known as a normal cat...

  • jubileej
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I love this post! We are becoming as dotty about our cats as the British are about their dogs, LOL!

    Have you ever noticed how many user handles have the word cat in them on these forums?

    Thanks for the pix clearing up the potholder, donna.

    When I get unlazy enough, I will take the time to figure out how to upload my photos and post them as well.

  • seekingadvice
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Donna, you're absolutely right--your situation is entirely different from mine. I think that if I lived in the city and my cat(s) spent all their time inside I would certainly have different rules and a broader outlook. I apologize for the tone of my last post. Didn't mean to sound arrogant or patronizing. I have been so grouchy this week, LOL. I just realized today (my birthday) that I'm 51, not 52. How weird is that? I forgot how old I was :) My girls all had the flu and my 6-year-old's turned into pneumonia. Fortunately, we caught it quickly and she's fine now--went back to school yesterday-- but being housebound for a week and doing nurse duty has not brought out my better side.

  • sjerin
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Happy Birthday, Seeking!! I think you just gave yourself a pretty great gift; unfortunately that has never happened to me. Sure do hope you have had a much better day than your week has been. Might someone in your family make you a birthday cake? Hope so!!

  • cat_mom
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    flyleft--she's actually the strangest cat we've had! I could go into detail, but that would take up its own forum!

  • jubileej
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You're right, donna, two cats indoors - much harder than when they can burn off their energies outside. I wish you the best in getting it sorted out!

  • mahatmacat1
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    uh-oh, seeking, it must be the "muscle-bound" cats affecting us both...because I keep telling people I'm 47 when I'm really 46 recently...I think it's like "oh, well, might as well get it over with" or something...?!

    Actually I told my DD that as of my birthday last September I was going to start aging backwards like Merlin. So this September I'll be 44.

    catmom--ah, to paraphrase a great, genius is never appreciated in its own country. Your strange dear is inventing feline experience-based constructivist learning. It's the positive side of the well-known effect of curiosity on cats :)

  • organic_donna
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    seekingadvice,
    You didn't sound arrogant or patronizing at all. I've been very sick myself for the last two weeks. I am starting to go insane being at home so much. I'm 52 and would love to find out I was only 51, what a great birthday present.
    I'm losing the countertop battle. Yesterday I was lying in bed and my Ocicat kept jumping on the stove area. I would get up and shout and clap my hands and he would jump off and a minute later he was back up. Finally I put him in the bathroom in the dark to punish him. I'm sure that made a lot of difference. LOL.
    Donna

  • cat_mom
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Donna--nice to know it's not just the DSH's who are naughty!

    flyleft--oh, no--it's my college psych courses coming back to haunt me--LOL!

    Her new thing is digging through my book bag, and pulling pens or pencils out of the cup holding them in the bottom of the bag. I now have to hang the bag from a railing post or doorknob, because it's the only way to keep her out of it. Tonight she flung a pencil from the staircase, to the landing downstairs (while I was sorting laundry in the adjacent laundry room). Naturally, the pencil was WET from a dunking in the water dish!!! :-)

  • 3katz4me
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That cats in sinks is hysterical....

    Donna - much as I don't like cats on counters, I have to say yours look really nice up there - fit in beautifully with your kitchen! Mine pretty much stay off because they know they aren't supposed to be up there - but once in a while I catch them when they think I'm not around. We have a bird feeder visible from the kitchen window so I think that gets the better of them sometimes. And no way I can leave food out on the counter - the temptation is just too great. Yup - when you have cats you simply do not set any food on the bare counters. You may think they don't get up there but you don't really know what they do when you're not around.....

    Great cat condo too - my cats would be jealous.....

  • dockside_gw
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Loved reading this thread.

    I have two female cats, littermates, Heather and Holly. They are 10-1/2 years old and don't go outside (that's why they are 10-1/2 years old) but they do get to go out on our deck when the eagles aren't perched on the top of a cedar by the lake nearby.

    When we moved here, I wanted to put tape on the counters so that they would learn, from the get-go to stay off the counters. DH, who is a total softie, nixed it. When Holly gets on the counter, I yell at her and she doesn't move until she sees me get out of my chair and come towards the kitchen. Then she knows she'd better get down. And, whenever I yell, DH says, "Now, be nice!" It's hopeless. At least I have learned to put the butter dish in the cupboard. Holly learned to push it toward the edge and off the counter (it is a covered dish) to be able to get at it. She also has learned to open the door to the lazy susan corner cupboard so we have to put a chair in front of it when we go away for over a day.

    Neither cat jumps on the bathroom counter. Have no idea why. Probably because there has never been anything to eat on it.

  • organic_donna
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My Ocicat not only goes on the counter, he gets into the upper cabinets and mingles with my pasta. I have to scoop him out. I'm flying the next two days so it will be a free for all. I can only imagine what goes on while I'm not home.
    Donna

  • cat_mom
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Donna--I'm picturing cats in party hats, smoking cigars....LOL!

  • emagineer
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have to giggle...almost 50 responses. Are all these cats still taking over the counters?

  • dockside_gw
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The solution, Donna, to your problem and mine (cats in cupboards) is to put baby catches on the doors. It drives me nuts, tho, so I probably won't. Had experience with them when my grandchildren were tiny.

  • organic_donna
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just returned from two days of flying. Now I have another "cat" problem. My route is called a San Juan turn. That means that I leave my house at 5:30am, fly 5 hours to San Juan and turn right around and fly back. I get home around 9:00pm. I fly that trip both Saturday and Sunday. When I get home on Sat., I try and basically go right to sleep as I have to get up again on Sunday. My Ocicat, Silviano, will not calm down! He runs around my condo like he's a crazed animal. I try playing with him for at least an hour when I get home but that doesn't help. I've tried shutting him in the bedroom with me and that doesn't work either. I was in and out of bed for two hours trying to calm him down. He would run from my bed to the cat tree and then fly through the blinds all the while meowing. I tried feeding him before bedtime and that didn't work. I was so frustrated because I was up with him until midnight and had to wake up at 5:00am. I need my sleep. Do they make cat tranquilizers?
    Donna

  • jubileej
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    No, but they do make people ones :-) (Just kidding.)

  • rachelrachel
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Donna - They do make a cat tranquilizer. It's called Feliway and it's a feline hormone which diffuses through the air. It imitates some cat "feel good" hormone.

    I have been using it on and off since I've gotten Bosco, and he has to live with other cats. The foster lady who gave me both Bosco and Little Minnie swore that they were the best behaved cats ever, that they don't fight or meow much etc. It ends up that she has a bunch of Feliway diffusers running in her house.

    As soon as these cats came to my non-Feliway house the behaviors started. So I use it to help my two cats co-exist. It's not cheap though, $42 for the plug in diffuser and bottle of hormone. $27 for just the refill bottle of hormone. I use it so I can be happy as constant stalking, bickering, chasing and yeowling takes away my peace of mind. It also stops vertical scratching but not horizontal scratching.

    They do make it in a spray bottle, so perhaps when you get home you could spray your condo.
    Rachel

  • natal
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Organic, all those windows are an open invitation to jump up and take a look. I bet if you didn't have them in the kitchen it wouldn't be an issue. Have you tried laying aluminum foil on top of the counters? Most cats hate that stuff and won't walk on it.

  • organic_donna
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I used Feliway when he was a kitten and I first brought him home. He only does the "crazy dance" when I get home from being gone a long time and have to get up early the next day. He was good last night, but today I had a paid vacation day and somehow he knew I didn't have to get up early. LOL I could try the Feliway spray but I would have to spray it directly on him to calm him down.
    So far no "cats on fire". If I had to leave overnight I think I would put them in the bedroom. That metal rack I use seems to be working. They haven't knocked it off the stove yet.
    Donna

  • mtnwomanbc
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I didn't see this in this long thread, but I didn't read every post, so pardon if this has already been said.

    Cats hate sticky surfaces. One idea (which you would need to leave in place for a couple of weeks), would be to cover your counters with upside-down contact paper (taped down with double-stick tape). After a few leaps and sticky toes, they might get the hint, or just get used to sticky toes.

  • glad
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just found this thread looking for something else. But have to say, I just loved the cat pictures. ANd it is not just cats who like counters. :D

    {{gwi:1542695}}

  • organic_donna
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    glad,
    What a beautiful bird!
    Donna

  • liz_h
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just found this thread. I've always had a no-cats-on-the-counter rule, about the only thing denied to our pampered felines. As long as our cats had the whole outdoors to run around in, it wasn't a problem. But our new neighborhood has bobcats and other creatures, so our cats' only outdoor area is a screen room. They still avoid the counters when we're around, but in the middle of the night, they tear around the house like crazy, including across the counters.

  • alku05
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Has anyone come up with a good solution for this? Our cats KNOW they're not allowed on the counters, but they also know that they can get away with it if we're out or in bed, or not looking. The immediately hop down if we catch them. We tried making the counters less appealing by doing the contact paper thing sticky side up, and when they didn't mind that, tried covering them with aluminum foil. Our cats don't care.

    When we're in the room, no problem, but if we're not looking....our two indoor cats hop on up. Indeed one of them has chosen the conter by the sink to greet us when we get home. As soon as we pull into the driveway she hops up on the counter in the window to talk to us until we get to the door, where she meets us. Ugh. Hate the cats on the counter. Pre-remodel it was only an occasional issue, but now that we have 3x the counter space and two huge windows, its constant.

  • 3katz4me
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm not sure what the answer is but I have one cat I've had for 16 years and I'm quite sure he has never been on a counter or tabletop as long as we've had him. Ya know even if they are the type that don't ever do it when you're around you still catch them once in awhile. We have never seen this cat on a table or counter - and now he's too old to jump up so I know he's never up there.

    He was a stray about two years old when we got him so obviously neglected by his previous owners. All I can think of is that they maybe also really severely punished him or beat him if he got on the counters - something that was enough to scare him from ever doing it again.

    I don't tolerate cats on the counter but I just swat them a good one and yell at them - probably not the kind of life altering event that keeps them from taking the liberty of hopping up there when I'm not around. I long ago got in the habit of never putting any food directly on the counter.....

  • sjerin
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    alku-- they sell little kitty shelves that can be installed at a window sill. Is this a possibility anywhere near the kitchen that might be more attractive to them?

  • alku05
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    All of our windows have deep sills that can lay in and enjoy the view from. Indeed the view from the livingroom window is much the same as that from the kitchen...unless you're a cat apparently...

  • emagineer
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'd love to believe a kitty shelf would work. But like all "toys" and special cat options, they are so darned into themselves that a ring from the milk bottle and the window well still makes the most sense to them. Our best bet is no food on the counters and catch when catch can. Which actually means they are still on the counter when you aren't looking. I really believed at one time they never were there, but they are smarter than us, just not there when we are.

    Keep wiping down those counters (and table) whenever cooking/eating.

  • talley_sue_nyc
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My cat's not allowed on the counter, technically, and is also generally not that interested, though she does occasionally walk there from the window sill. She's got arthritis now, so she doesn't get up very often.

    But even if I didn't have a cat--I have *never* laid food directly on the counter without washing it first.

  • ivorykay
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Cats on counters was my "rationale" for getting an induction cooktop- they may accidently turn it on but with no metal it's not going to hurt anything or anyone. 1 cat too fat/old/lazy to jump that far up; 1 cat smart enough not to get caught but not smart enough to clean up her paw prints!

  • jubileej
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Donna,

    I saw something on the web that reminded me of this thread and came to peek back here in the Conversations room again - how delightful - names from days of yore, and your Cats on the Counter Post front n center :-) Felt like a time warp.

    Anyways - this site has a mat with nubbly knobs sticking up all over. You'd have to buy enough to cover the counters - but it does not "zap" them. They just dislike the texture.

    It also sells a double sided tape that does not leave a residue on the surface.

    Check out: www.catbehaviorassociates.com

    Julie

  • snookums
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Aha! Front page of Yahoo news today:

    Here is a link that might be useful: Cats on the counter - how to keep them off