...velcro himself to me when I'm in the kitchen cooking? How can I get him to stop? He is a jumper and I worry one of these days he's going to jump on the stove. He doesn't like people food, so that's not the reason.
Yes, Austin does come in the kitchen. And he does go up on the counter to the top of the fridge to the top of the cabinets. I haven't trained him to stay off the counters because he does like to hang out on top of the cabinets. I can be walking around in other rooms and he doesn't become velcro, just the kitchen. It may be attention related and gets reinforced because I give it to himHI. Does Austin also come into the kitchen at other times? I've found Feeby seems to manage to come out from a nap if she hears someone in the kitchen, and it doesn't always appear to be food related. She even will come to the kitchen when I am trying to vacuum and plop herself in the middle of the floor. Doesn't solve your concern, but it could be just for the attention.
Have you tried to give him a treat or two at the far end of the kitchen, or maybe even another room? Maybe coincide a meal of his with when you are cooking?
Well, he can be an attention hog, but the only time he really becomes velcro is when I'm cooking. I can be walking around other rooms, he'll come see what I'm doing and try to help, but not right glued to me. It drives me bonkers when I'm cooking. I have locked him in the bedroom. I've given him a dish of food in the other room - he eats and comes right back. I am a pushover and he knows its. I've established one counter next to the sink as the "pet zone" and I'll put him up there and pet the heck out of him away from the stove. Problem is, he won't stay up there if I walk away to go back to the stove. I haven't even tried to train him to stay off the counters because he uses the one next to the fridge to get up on the top of the cabinets, where he does like to hang out sometimes (see pics). And like you say, who knows where they go when you aren't around...that's why we clean the counters oftenhe just might be an attention hog is all graycie is like that kinda i taught her the kitchen area is off limits while i am cooking few times locked in the bedroom for getting in the way/getting onto places she shouldnt be with treats as a reward anytime she didnt she learned fastshe knows all bets are off if i am not cooking she can be on the counters/table etc.( more cleaning beforehuman meal times though)its not like i can keep her off all the time anyways so long as its not during food prep or a hot pan on the stove iam good with that cause she will be safe then also if you have a significant other then you put em to work "occupy the cat" while your cooking if they expect to eat soon and make your job easier but i had no answer to what she used to do in this picture luckily she grew to big to continue doing this during my meals
I've read that how to keep them off counters. I tried some of the things to try to keep him off the table where the TV is because he used to scratch on the screen. None of them worked. He can be a P.I.T.A.