Has anyone successfully trained a cat to not go on the counter and/or dinner table?

[arr]

My cats have been a work in progress on this for 13 years. They don't bother the countertops when I'm in the house. But if I go out the door, stand there for 10 seconds or so, and then walk back in I hear the sound of 12 guilty paws hitting the kitchen floor and running into the next room. It wouldn't bother me so much but two of my cats will eat anything they can find, and once my female gorged on a 1/2 pound block of butter. Another time, my male chewed the twisty tie off the bread and had to have an emergency plastic removal at the vets. I would prefer they stay off the countertops, but anytime they're up there and they find even a drop of something tasty I guess it's one less point for me and score one for them!

Yes, that’s important in the training too-never leaving anything out so they won’t be “rewarded” for jumping on the counter!

 

[Krazyokami]

My cats are absolutely not allowed on cabinets and tables.
Say what you want, but they do walk in their own personal toilet lol.
I simply clap my hands whenever one gets too excited and bounces up there. My boy has bad joints so his main things in lower cabinets but we use a wooden spoon to seal it shut. My girl likes to steal bread so the training is mainly for her.
Not sure what they do when I'm gone but they don't even attempt to hop on the table when I'm home.

 

[DreamerRose]

It wouldn't bother me so much but two of my cats will eat anything they can find, and once my female gorged on a 1/2 pound block of butter. Another time, my male chewed the twisty tie off the bread and had to have an emergency plastic removal at the vets.

Cats do like butter. Lily will eat a paper napkin if it has butter on it. She also loves bread and once ate a jalapeno bagel. I had to get a breadbox to keep the bread out of sight.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I had a real problem with Hekitty getting on the counters, although she was never interested in the table once she was no longer a kitten. SO...she and I worked very, very hard on this for several months, and I am happy to report that it no longer bothers me in the least.

 

[Alldara]

The reason why I can't get Nobel to stay off a table, was because when he was a kitten, my grandmother had dogs and she fed him on the kitchen table. We never used the kitchen table for eating. Only the dining room table. However, he learned to stay of the dining room table.

A glass of water can even be tempting. I don't like to use fear as training because I think it led to FLUTD in Nobel and the other two are rescues. (No judgement, just stating my preference).

With Magnus we were home with him as a kitten during quarentine. We were always with him and able to be really on training. He learned not to bite plants in about 48 hours. "No.", Removal, distraction worked really well for him.

The key is really to find something they can do an encourage that instead. And patience for sure.

Luckily Cal was born in foster and his foster did not let them have the run of the kitchen, so I think we told him no once or twice.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

I don't worry (so much anymore) about keeping my cat off of counters or tables. Those can be cleaned. What I do worry about is keeping her off of the stovetop; I wouldn't want her to get burned in future forays onto a stovetop. So, we trained her well to avoid the stove/oven, lots of clapping hands and shouting, No! for the one time in 7 years that she jumped on top of it!

 

[CathavenJo]

I recently brought home a Russian Blue kitten and so far he's been wonderful - super smart, affectionate, and playful (he even plays fetch!) and also a total lap cat - basically everything I have ever wanted in a cat. He's also a big bundle of energy and quite a handful!

One issue I've been having is that he likes to jump onto the counter and the dinner table. I want to avoid having him on the counter so he doesn't get burned, step on something sharp, eat something he shouldn't...etc. before I have the chance to stop him. Also, I hate finding litter he's tracked onto the counter or dirty pawprints where I'm preparing food!

For the dinner table, he is mostly interested in being on the table when I'm eating there - I think it's more that he wants my attention than anything else. He will constantly try to stick his nose into my food (he doesn't eat it but he likes to smell it) or try to step onto my plate (the same way he steps on my laptop when he wants my attention). The only way I can eat in peace is if I shut him out of the dining area, but if I do that he starts trying to act out in other ways to get my attention (like meowing and jumping on the counter lol).

I've managed to deter him from going on the counter by putting tin foil along the edges with some tape sticky-side up and spraying it with vinegar. However, he's always testing the limits and still trying to go on the counter so I feel that as soon as I remove it, he'll go back to counter surfing. For those who have used methods like this to deter cats from going on the counter, how long do you have to keep putting out tape and tin foil and did your cat ever stop trying to jump on the counter?

Also, has anyone been able to teach a cat to stay off the dining table and how did you do it? I've talked to friends who have raised and fostered many cats and it sounds like everyone has ultimately just accepted that their cats will go on the counters and/or tables, so maybe I'm fighting a losing battle here. If you do let your cats go on the counter/table, how do you keep them safe and how do you disinfect everything? Any recommendations for disinfectants that are safe for cats and wood tables and can take care of litterbox germs + bacteria from a raw-fed cat?

It needs a lot of patience and time to change his behavior. Each time he jumps on the counter or table, move him very gently and tell him no. It worked for me. I can even leave meat, chicken or any other food on the table and he will never jump on the table or touch the food.

 

[Luvyna]

I had a real problem with Hekitty getting on the counters, although she was never interested in the table once she was no longer a kitten. SO...she and I worked very, very hard on this for several months, and I am happy to report that it no longer bothers me in the least.

Well, it's comforting to know that at the end of all this, somebody will be trained - whether it's me or the cat, we'll just have to wait and see

It needs a lot of patience and time to change his behavior. Each time he jumps on the counter or table, move him very gently and tell him no. It worked for me. I can even leave meat, chicken or any other food on the table and he will never jump on the table or touch the food.

That's really impressive! I hope I can get my Zephyr to behave that well around food and the dinner table. He seems to think I should share whenever I sit down.

 

[mr hp]

I'm of the opinion that my cats don't need to be on any surfaces where food is prepared or eaten. I've had 6 cats total that this has 100% worked on, it only takes them once, maybe twice of getting up on the kitchen counters or table and they will never do it again. it requires no discipline from me, no spoken words, and I actually turn out being their hero of sorts. all you have to do is put the pest glue traps all over those surfaces daily for about a week. when they get one or two of those traps stuck to them, and try to get them off and can't, they really remember it. let them flail around a bit tiring themselves out trying to get the traps off and then you get to be the hero that shows up to remove the big, bad traps from them. works 100%, every time.

 

[Luvyna]

I'm of the opinion that my cats don't need to be on any surfaces where food is prepared or eaten. I've had 6 cats total that this has 100% worked on, it only takes them once, maybe twice of getting up on the kitchen counters or table and they will never do it again. it requires no discipline from me, no spoken words, and I actually turn out being their hero of sorts. all you have to do is put the pest glue traps all over those surfaces daily for about a week. when they get one or two of those traps stuck to them, and try to get them off and can't, they really remember it. let them flail around a bit tiring themselves out trying to get the traps off and then you get to be the hero that shows up to remove the big, bad traps from them. works 100%, every time.

I also prefer to have my cat off surfaces where food is prepared and eaten, hopefully I can find a method that works! Since I put up the tin foil with joint tape sticky side up, Zephyr hasn't attempted to jump on the counter anymore. He tried once or twice and when the tin foil fell down it startled him so he hasn't tried since.

However, the same method didn't work for the dining table since he can get up without needing to jump very high and see the surface and he started trying to bite off bits of tin foil to play with. So I tried your method today except with some loose tape sticky side up - he definitely hated having it stuck to him so hopefully he remembers the bad experience and associates it with getting on the table top.

 

[maggie101]

I have never used tape. My cat would chew on it and I'd worry about it getting ingested. Now they're senior so maybe

 

[mr hp]

I also prefer to have my cat off surfaces where food is prepared and eaten, hopefully I can find a method that works! Since I put up the tin foil with joint tape sticky side up, Zephyr hasn't attempted to jump on the counter anymore. He tried once or twice and when the tin foil fell down it startled him so he hasn't tried since.

However, the same method didn't work for the dining table since he can get up without needing to jump very high and see the surface and he started trying to bite off bits of tin foil to play with. So I tried your method today except with some loose tape sticky side up - he definitely hated having it stuck to him so hopefully he remembers the bad experience and associates it with getting on the table top.

tape and glue traps are vastly different things. tape would be an annoyance to the cat. they legit think they're never going to not be stuck to the glue trap(s) after they step on them. it freaks them out for awhile. sounds mean maybe, but it's a one shot deal. after that, it's a non issue again.

*the first time I tried this, I dusted the table and counter tops with flour (to see if they got up there when I wasn't around). they didn't. I haven't done that since, but I'm near 100% certain they just view that area as off limits, regardless what's going on or who's around.

 

[iPappy]

Love this way of approaching things! It cracks me up

tape and glue traps are vastly different things. tape would be an annoyance to the cat. they legit think they're never going to not be stuck to the glue trap(s) after they step on them. it freaks them out for awhile. sounds mean maybe, but it's a one shot deal. after that, it's a non issue again.

*the first time I tried this, I dusted the table and counter tops with flour (to see if they got up there when I wasn't around). they didn't. I haven't done that since, but I'm near 100% certain they just view that area as off limits, regardless what's going on or who's around.

I've had minor good luck with taking a cup of water and just pouring it in a line on my counters. My counters are ancient, so I don't worry about messing them up too much. The downsides are that it does dry so it doesn't last all night, you need to remember to do it (d'oh), and some cats don't mind water.
Pro tip. If you do this on your stove, make sure it's cool first. That was fun.

 

[Nebaug]

I had 5 cats all together and never had one to cruise counters and tables. I figured any animal will do whatever it wants behind your back ,so in my experience any word ,command , sound is useless as soon as you live the room. I also trained mine to use just a part of terrace and not the other. For me the key was not to let them connect the sound with me. Flying object (a shoe , ball ,anything small that you can control ) carefull not to hit animal .the point is for a cat not to see you throw it otherwise connection is made and advantage lost.
In the beginning of “training “ they would go exploring future (terrace) then I felt comfortable and crock would come flying from nowhere and they would come running to me. Now , they never go because buggy man lives there as well as it does on kitchen counter and tables . It may be orthodox but it worked for my home and nobody got hurt . I can leave food on the counter or tables (they are feed human food) and they will never go for it. If you wonder how I know, cameras.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Nebaug , there's a lot of truth in that. My Dad, cat whisperer extraordinaire (although he never met anything with four legs that he didn't get along with, cats were his first love), always said, "You can train a dog what not to do. You train a cat what not to get caught at."

 

[toothless]

I’ve actually done this using a really strange method. When my new cat used to jump on our counters, I put up a bunch of cereal boxes/other random boxes around the edge of the counter at night. When she jumped up on the counter she’d jump into the boxes, which would fall, and then she’d scare herself. Once she did that once we never had a problem with her jumping on the counter again

The boxes are all small and bendable so they don’t hurt if they fall. It was annoying for a while to have all those boxes all over the place but worth it to make sure my cat didn’t hurt herself jumping on the stove at night.

 

[Nebaug]

Nebaug , there's a lot of truth in that. My Dad, cat whisperer extraordinaire (although he never met anything with four legs that he didn't get along with, cats were his first love), always said, "You can train a dog what not to do. You train a cat what not to get caught at."

So true!!

 

[iPappy]

Nebaug , there's a lot of truth in that. My Dad, cat whisperer extraordinaire (although he never met anything with four legs that he didn't get along with, cats were his first love), always said, "You can train a dog what not to do. You train a cat what not to get caught at."

That is SO true!!!!

 

[Luvyna]

Hello again, I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who responded to this thread with tips, advice, and encouragement. 1.5 years later, my cat has been trained to not go on the counter or dinner table It was definitely a war of attrition as some people said it would be!

I do still have to make sure I am not leaving anything interesting or enticing on the counter or table when I'm not there because he will still jump up if there's something new and interesting left unsupervised there, but otherwise I never see him go on the counter or table or any evidence that he's been there when I'm not around.

The things that worked were:

- Keeping tape sticky-side up on the dinner table
- Tin foil + tape sticky side up on the counter
- SSScat
- Offering perches near the counter and table where he is allowed to sit and can have a clear view of everything on the counter and table
- Firmly saying "no" and shooing him off the counter or table if I saw him on it
- Time and consistency for his first year

There was one point when he was around a year old after I had phased out the deterrents where he had a sort of rebel phase and started going on the counter and table again, so I brought back the tape, tin foil, and SSScat for around a month until he lost interest in going on those surfaces and it's been smooth sailing since then.

So in conclusion, it's definitely possible to train cats to not go on the counter and table, it just takes a lot of time, patience, and inconvenience!

 

[di and bob]

Thank you SO much for yoru feedback, it truly gives others hope!
My cats too, have a place they CAN go, high up to give them a view. that seems to satisfy them.