Cats are resilient. And not stupid. They can sense heat and will stay away from it. I've always had the range or rangetop in an area completely accessible to the kitties. Never once have they been burned. Course, they've had the stuffin scared out of them as they get yelled at from across the room because they dare to even be on the counters in the first place.

I hate to say this because I love cats, but if one is stupid enough to burn him/herself on a burner, then they are stupid enough to hurt themselves in MANY other ways. What I'm trying to say is that you'll have bigger problems with a dumb cat. :)

Breezy is right. Any cat dumb enough to burn themselves on a stove will probably do himself in in a thousand other ways first.

One of the best training aids to keep cats off of the counters is to use mousetraps with a sheet of newspaper on top of them. If gato curioso jumps on the counter, the mouse trap snaps, but doesn't hurt the kitty paws because of the protective newspaper. This works even if you're not home----which is essential in any training as cats soon learn to avoid getting spritzed with water, but don't really change their behavior when the water bottle isn't there.

Or there's always the blender defender that someone else posted here (apologies, don't remember who).

Here is a link that might be useful: blender defender

Oops, part of my post is missing. Meant to say that seriously, the others are right. Nothing has a stronger sense of self-preservation than a cat. If your cat were stupid enough to walk on a stove, you'd already have plenty of other evidence.

Thanks guys...My Wufe has said the same thing ..
Guess I need reassurance.. Didn't even know I was a cat lover, till this..

Mark Twain had the answer for you over a hundred years ago:

"The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot stove lid again. But he won't sit upon a cold stove lid, either."
Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Induction! Still hot, but less burn.

Actually, a hot stove is a good way to train a cat to stay off the counter! :)

Seriously, your kitties will be fine.

Sorry to report not all cats are "burn smart" nor will they all learn from the first singe.

I heat my house only with woodstoves (obviously freestanding w/o any counters nearby). The surfaces temps on the tops of the w/s are normally in the 450-675 F range when they are operating; the sides are slightly less, but still definitely hot and whisker-singeing. Wood stoves are much, much hotter than all but the highest BTU grates would be.

More than once, and more than once with the same cat, I have had one of them jump up on to the stove while it was lit, instantly causing full-thickness burns on their exposed foot pads. Terribly painful, of course, while they heal and tricky to avoid infection, and very costly vet treatment ensued.

Now we have a fence around the woodstoves that's nearly four feet high to prevent repeats.

It isn't all cats, (and I've had dozens go through here as I do feral cat rescue and rehab) but it's not just one either, and as I wrote above, some don't learn from the first burn.

It's not a question of feline intelligence, or survival instincts, it's a matter of understanding the risks, which is differernt.

I have a high BTU gas range and the spiders (grates) do get hot but I've never seen a burn from them, even though I know the darn cats jump up on it. I see their little footprints, occasionally.

With a range the time frame when a burn might occur is quite short, and generally you'd be there, wouldn't you? I rarely have my range burners going except when I am there to keep an eye on things.

We are in the process of teaching the cats to stay away from an area of the kitchen marked off with white tape on the floor. It's an experiment; it if works then we plan to incorporate a stripe in the floor of the new kitchen to keep them out of the main working zones for safety's sake. (Mostly our safety to avoid tripping on them.) My DH has the patience for this and has trained them not to enter his office even when the door is open. I'm not sure it can be done.

In the meantime you could easily concoct some kind of fence/barrier that could be set over burners that retain heat after you're done cooking. I don't thuink you'll need it for long.

L.

Don't let kitties get up on the counters. I let my cats get away with too much, but never getting up on counters (hot burners) or biting/scratching. The first is dangerous to them...the other is dangerous to everyone else.

One of my parrots learned, "Get down! Get down! Right now, RIGHT NOW!!" I have no idea where he heard that.

LOL lov mikitchen!! Lavender - I agree - train the cats to stay off the countertops - remember where their paws were prior to your countertops...

> "The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot
> stove lid again. But he won't sit upon a cold stove lid, either."

A friend of mine had a cat who jumped up on the counter and touched a glowing hot coil burner. He got a burned paw, but fortunately it wasn't too serious. From then on, my friend had a perfect strategy for keeping the cat off of any surface -- just put a 8" square of orange construction paper on it. The cat would jump up, see the orange circle and jump right off.

Laura