My 6-month-old sweet girl has been with me for 3 weeks now. From Day 1 I've been training her to be off the counter but to no avail. I cover the counter with aluminum foil--in two days she decided she doesn't mind walking on it. So I added double-sided tape taped to some cardboards--she tolerates them fine and even licks or picks with her mouth the tapes that have flared up. Now I also added baking sheets--she does avoid them but I don't have enough of them to cover the entire kitchen counter. I do have to confess that not every inch of space is covered, and as an agile animal she can walk the narrowest ledges.
When I am at home and whenever she does it in front me, I clap my hands, say "No. Get down!" and walk towards her. She knows she's doing something I don't allow and jumps down before I get too close, only to get back up there some time later. It's quite tiring for me to repeat this 7/8 times every day.
I don't have food out on the counter, but she knows that's where food gets prepared as she sees it when I work in the kitchen or wash the dishes. And as a super curious cat she wants to sit on the counter to watch the steam rising up from my pan.
So my question is - is it worth it to fight this battle? I can't prevent her from counter-surf whenever I'm not around, but should I also not bother when she does it in front of me?
If I continue with the current practice (of disciplining her), I'm afraid she'll not like me as much. There have been a couple of times last week where, after being made to get off the counter several times, she went away and stayed by herself for quite a while instead of crawling into my lap for cuddles.
But if I don't discipline her, I'm afraid she'll hurt herself. My electric stove sits flush on the counter, and when the electricity is turned off, the only way to know it's still hot is a red light indicator, but my cat won't know about the red light. Or should I just trust that she naturally knows about potential dangers and won't hurt herself?
When I am at home and whenever she does it in front me, I clap my hands, say "No. Get down!" and walk towards her. She knows she's doing something I don't allow and jumps down before I get too close, only to get back up there some time later. It's quite tiring for me to repeat this 7/8 times every day.
I don't have food out on the counter, but she knows that's where food gets prepared as she sees it when I work in the kitchen or wash the dishes. And as a super curious cat she wants to sit on the counter to watch the steam rising up from my pan.
So my question is - is it worth it to fight this battle? I can't prevent her from counter-surf whenever I'm not around, but should I also not bother when she does it in front of me?
If I continue with the current practice (of disciplining her), I'm afraid she'll not like me as much. There have been a couple of times last week where, after being made to get off the counter several times, she went away and stayed by herself for quite a while instead of crawling into my lap for cuddles.
But if I don't discipline her, I'm afraid she'll hurt herself. My electric stove sits flush on the counter, and when the electricity is turned off, the only way to know it's still hot is a red light indicator, but my cat won't know about the red light. Or should I just trust that she naturally knows about potential dangers and won't hurt herself?