Kittens And Hot Cooktops - Help!

[Gfwilkinson05]

My ten week old kitten Is now attempting to climb the oven and jump onto the hobs, and it is a worry as the electric ones stay hit for so long! So does keeping a pan of cold water on the hot hob whilst it cools down actually work??

 

[mightyboosh]

I also put a pan of cold water on the ring when I've finished cooking. I have forgot to do so a couple of times and hence watched a cat move faster than light.

 

[duncanmac]

We did three things - (1) pots of water, (2) SSssscat spray, and (3) act crazy mad when they got up on the counter with the cook top (yell, scream, rush at them with waving arms, real lunatic stuff)

The reason they wanted up there was because that's where we prepped their food. We recently moved and the prep counter is now separate from the cooktop counter, so they hop up on the prep counter. We really don't have a problem with that and we limit them to a small area of that counter, which mostly works.

 

[Kflowers]

yes to keeping pots, actually tea kettles work best because it's easy to keep some water in them. AND if you didn't quite turn the unit off the kettle will call you to come back and do it.

When you are leaving the house or going to sleep remove all the stove knobs, the four for the burners and the one for the oven. yes, I know you have to push them in to make them work, but less than a month ago, a member posted that her cat had turned the electric stove on. We all thought gas was the problem but no.

I'm totally with you on the no rules, and cats being cats, but you need to do a few things to keep him safe. The most important thing is above, the next most important thing is lock him in the bedroom when you are cooking. It's way to easy to take a pot of boiling liquid off the stove turn trip over the cat and scald him horribly. It takes along time to catch them then months at the vet to fix a bad burn/scald. Just keep him locked away and safe. Please don't break your heart.

He'll scream at first but he'll learn the pattern and just take naps while you're cooking.

 

[LTS3]

When you are leaving the house or going to sleep remove all the stove knobs, the four for the burners and the one for the oven. yes, I know you have to push them in to make them work, but less than a month ago, a member posted that her cat had turned the electric stove on. We all thought gas was the problem but no.

Good suggestion There are child safety caps for stove knobs, too.

But for a flat stove surface that is scorching HOT, you just have to discourage the curious kitten from climbing on. Move anything the kitten can use as a step to get to the stove away. When Leroy was a kitten, he burned his paw on a hot flat top stove. He used the trash can to get up. Fortunately I was in the kitchen and was able to quickly grab him and run cold water over his burned paw. Then I immediately took him to the vet ER for treatment (make sure to know where the nearest one is in your area. Call your vet and ask if you're unsure). Fortunately it was just a superficial first degree burn but still very painful. Ever since then I make it a point to stay in the kitchen after the stove has been used until the surface has cooled down.

10 week old kittens are way too curious for their own good so it'll take lots patience to teach them to stay off the stove and counters. Here's a TCS article with tips: How To Keep Cats Off Counters And Tables

And just pointing out that this thread was started in 2006. Gfwilkinson05 please start a new thread if you have more questions on how to make your home cat-safe. Also check out the TCS articles section: Articles | TheCatSite

EDIT: A mod has moved the newer posts to a separate thread.

 

[Kflowers]

If you wonder if you've succeeded in training them to stay off the stove or counter, sprinkle the surface with flour and go to bed or work. No paw prints you succeeded. Paw prints you have normal cats.

 

[Purr-fect]

We have the same problem with our cats, especially arnold.

He doesnt differentiate between the counter and the glass stove top...... its all a pathway to him.

If the stove is hot, I put a few pans with water on it and make the "pathway" a challenge to walk. In addition, I will either eat in the kitchen or sit in the dinning room where i can see the stove. The other day I did actually grab him just before he got to the stove.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

We must have a weird cat. Milly is four, but she's only jumped on top of our gas stove once.
I did this:

..., and (3) act crazy mad when they got up on the counter with the cook top (yell, scream, rush at them with waving arms, real lunatic stuff) ...

I haven't seen her try it again.

 

[SDerailed]

My Tattoo used to jump on hot electric cook tops. He grew out of it, but we still fill whatever we were cooking with full of water and leave it on the hot stove. If we had a kettle, we would have used that like the previous poster mentioned.

 

[susanm9006]

You could cover the hot burner with a cast iron trivet that has been topped with a silicon potholder. It would be warm but wouldn’t get hot enough to burn the kitten. And, you don’t need to worry about the kitten tipping hot water either,

 

[LTS3]

Another thing you can do is put the kitten into the bedroom while you are cooking and until the stove has cooled down afterwards. Play with your kitten into the bedroom until you're sure the stove has cooled. If you have to go out before the stove has cooled, just leave the kitten in the bedroom with all the necessary things (food, water, toys, litter box). The kitten will be fine