Need advice for a couple of climbers

[snrub1]

Hi everyone, first time cat owner here.

My girlfriend and I adopted two sister kittens a few months back.  They are absolutely adorable and I love them but I need some advice.  Not too long after bringing them home they were able to get up on our center island in the kitchen (where we eat) by jumping on one of the bar stools and then onto the island.  This doesn't really bother me except for the rare occasion that they do it while were eating or preparing food on it, as I just remember to wipe it down before I use it.

However, as they've been growing, now they can jump up directly onto the other counters in the kitchen.  This does concern me as there are a couple potential safety hazards there.  Firstly, the other night I was cooking on the stove and one of them gave me a scare when she jumped up onto the counter right next to the stove!  I quickly got her back down on the floor but it did make me nervous.  Secondly, they have grown fond of playing in the kitchen sink.  I'm doing my best to not keep dishes out (either clean or dirty), but what made me nervous was this morning one of them had managed to pry out the little rubber protector that goes over the garbage disposal!  This, combined with the fact that the switch to turn on the garbage disposal is easily within their reach, obviously makes me very concerned about the potential safety hazard this creates.  They haven't started turning switches on or off yet but I worry they could.

I have found a few products online that claim to work to keep cats off counters, but I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced the same issues I'm experiencing and if they were able to successfully remedy them.

Thanks.

 

[ldg]

How large is your kitchen? Our solution was to put a cat tree in the kitchen so they could watch what we're doing, but have a place of their own to go "up." I know it worked for another TCS member - I got the idea from her.

We stopped the counter-hopping by taking stuff out of the cupboards and completely filling the counter tops so there was no place to jump onto them. We had to leave it this way for about a month, and yes, it was a REAL PIA. But it worked. Other members had good success by completely removing everything from the counters, so they were completely uninteresting.

Some people have had success by putting strips of aluminum foil on the counters so when the cats jump up, they slide and get scared and stop doing it. Others found their cats loved this game.

Do you have dedicated places in your home for them to experience their 3D world? Cat trees? A series of shelves on a wall or walls for them to play on? One of the reasons they may love the kitchen counters is because they're aren't other good 3D options for them? :dk: Cats live in a very 3D world, so just like scratching, you save your furniture by giving them appropriate places to scratch, if you provide good alternatives for going up, the counters may not be as attractive as they currently are.

FYI ideas for vertical space (you can easily make these yourselves, you don't have to buy this expensive stuff) : http://www.katwallks.com/customerphotos.htm

Here is something a TCS member did herself: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/201467/kitty-wall

 

[snrub1]

Thanks for the suggestions.  We do have a couple other climbing options available for them.  We live in a three level townhome and the floor with the kitchen is basically one big room that contains both the kitchen/dining area and living room.  We have a cat tree in the living area (they love playing in it by the way, so no problems there) and they also like to climb up on the TV stand which I allow (I secured the TV to the stand so they can't push it around).

There usually isn't much out on the counter now that we've been better about not leaving dishes out, basically a spice rack, a bottle of hand soap, and usually a pack of bananas, so I don't think they're up there because there are interesting things up there, it really seems to be more of a getting high up off the ground thing.

Maybe a second climbing option would be beneficial? Something like this over the pantry door in the kitchen?