How did you teach your kitten/cat not to go up on the kitchen counter?

lauranova

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My kitten is 5 months old and recently discovered she is able to get up on the kitchen counters. We tell her not to go up, and take her down, but she jumps up again 5 seconds later, and continues to jump up over and over. It's difficult to get anything done, and a bit dangerous for her. How did you teach your cat that the kitchen counters are off limits? (She's a ragdoll, if that helps).
 

nwc

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It's not that hard to train them to stay off while you're around, but if you want them to stay off 24/7 then you'll probably have to use scat mats or an invisible fence.
 

game misconduct

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:lol:i havent fully done that yet i mean she knows what i want and what to do if she hears your not supposed to be up there she will get onto the book shelf under the breakfast bar if not i scoop her off and place her on the floor its mostly a rinse,wash, repeat action each day but the new real tall cat tree i recently got for graycie has helped lots since she can see the whole apartment from any direction since we kinda placed in the middle of our place:lol:but sometimes she gets put into the bedroom until i finish cooking too much danger if she decides to jump onto the stove while i am cooking
 

klunick

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I too have not figured it out other than just sitting at the kitchen table while cooking to monitor what is going on. Gracie is more prone to getting too close to hot things like a skillet or pot but she never quite gets close enough to get burned.
 

daftcat75

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I haven’t. 😹😻
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I tried a lot of things over a dozen years including double sided tape and motion sensor air canisters (Ssscat). In her senior years, I gave in and actually encouraged her to come on to the counter. It made it easier to give her medicine meals. Also I fed her raw food on the counter.
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She was a food flinger. I felt it was easier and safer if she flung food onto my coffee maker than under or behind an appliance.

I grew to value our meal prep time on the counters together far more than having her off the counters. I’m so glad I took this video now that pictures, videos, and memories are all I have.

As for the other counter that has the stove top, I always cleaned the pots and pans, the stove top, and never left even a trivet out there for her to lick. She still got up there. But there wasn’t anything for her to get into or me to worry about. I found it was much easier to train myself than to ever train her. 😹😻
 
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pmv

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Thanks for all your ideas! I think I'll try covering the counters with double sided tape on cardboard, and to give her a tall tree she can perch on with a view of the counters.
Yeah, just don't make my mistake of putting the tape directly on the counter. Let's just say getting it off was a major, major chore, and eventually involved me attaching a piece of green kitchen scrubby pad to a random orbital sander, along with some goo-gone.
 

hurricanemix100

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Don't even mess around. Just get one or two SSScat's on amazon. They are a life saver and a sure fire way to stop this and to stop them from going basically anywhere you don't want them to go.
 

Grinchy

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I have space in my kitchen for another small table. They are allowed on this. This way, they can watch everything and not be tempted to go on the counter. If you don't have space, try a cat tree.
 

klunick

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I don't do the knee thing like @daftbut I dish out the wet food at the L part of the counter. I turn my body sideways so I am blocking any approachers. Once they realize they can't get to it and they are slowing down progress, they usually will jump down onto the floor.
 

daftcat75

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The leg was less a barrier and more to take pressure off my back. I do that whenever I need to spend more than a minute at the sink regardless of where Krista is (was 😿)

I was so lucky that Krista was as patient as she was. I fed a community cat, let him in for one meal a day, for a couple weeks after she passed. He was an aggro meatball who wasn’t going to let a leg stop him. He jumped to that prep side of the sink. I would fix his food in the air above his head. I’m relieved he’s someone else’s meatball now.

When I really needed a barrier, like when I used to butcher whole fryer rabbits for her food, I would put an empty litter box with water in it on the approach side of the sink.
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daftcat75

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As I said before, I encouraged her to join me on the counter. So much so, that I built her a path out of Katris pieces: cardboard Tetris pieces for making cat trees (Katris/“cat trees”.) Fun fact: Katris is an anagram of Krista.
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