My kitty is getting on the kitchen counters!

[Paix et Amour]

i have an (approximately) 4 month old kitten. he has just gotten big enough to where he can now jump on the kitchen counters!

he got up and knocked down a few things, and my mom HATES HATES HATES when animals get up on the kitchen counter/table. hes only done it a few times so far and lucky my mom didnt catch him, she would have smacked him around a little lol. i bapped him on top of the head (i do that most of the time if he bites too hard or does something bad like get on the table and eat our leftovers from dinner xD ) but i did that and he just jumped right back up every time!

do you have any ideas on how to keep him off the counters?

[Katie Lydia]

Unfortunatley cats can't be trained like that, i thought that when i got my two kittens, four years later their still on the counters. There is a spray we tried to ward them off the area but all it did was make our house stink and make everything greasy. Cats are going to do what they're going to do, with dogs your their masters, with cats their your masters! Hitting them or flicking them on the nose what i did has no effect so ever by the way, i tried to flick mine on the nose when they were "naughty" or bit me for no reason. What did work for me was to lift them from the room!

[udontno]

Have you tried using a spray bottle with water when they get on the counter? I've never had an indoor cat but I've heard about people doing that when they get on the counters.

[BlueWolf]

My dad used to use a spray bottle on his cats and it worked. Whenever he caught them on the counters he would grab a squirt bottle filled with water and just squirt them with the water. It's completely harmless, and water doesn't hurt anything, but it startles them to get sprayed.

This is not flawless, and they have been caught once on the counters when they thought we weren't around. However, they don't just try to jump up there all the time. It helps signficantly.

[TheBabyEater]

Cats aren't very easy to train. Really the only thing you can do is be persistent, use a spray bottle I suppose, and get your cat off EVERY SINGLE TIME that he goes up, or else he will think he can sometimes get away with it. Sometimes a strict No helps even for cats, but it really depends on the kitty. Most of all just make sure to be persistent, that's all you can really do with cats, and any animal really.

[Peppermint Tea.♥]

If the spray doesn't work, you could try keeping him out of the kitchen. Keep him in rooms where he is allowed to climb on things. And just remove him from the room and don't give him attention when he does things he's not supposed to.

[Nostalgia]

The spray bottle like another poster said does work well, we have had success with a spray bottle of water with my cat, she used to scratch the cupboard doors and we used to spray with water, it worked and she does not do it any more, try the spray bottle.

[VampirePrincess]

They just have to learn that it's wrong. I find typically physical things like that don't work unless they hurt the cat, and you definitely don't want to do. Consider spraying your kitten with water from a spray bottle when he jumps up on the counter. They won't like it, but it won't hurt them, and they'll learn they can't get up on the counter.

Also, kittens like to explore a lot. Even adult cats do. Maybe something on your counter smells good. My cat is very attracted to glue and plastic, for example, and if we leave anything with it out she'll be all over it even if we leave it somewhere she knows she isn't supposed to go. So maybe try and see if there's something in particular your kitten likes from there.

Also, some cats are jumpers and really feel safer up high. The counter is probably a convenient height. Maybe if you set up something around that height, something he's allowed on, he would go there instead. Just a thought.

[escape_thereal_world]

Just letting you know, flicking a cat on the nose is not a good way to train it either. It hurts and if hit too hard it can mess up their sense of smell.

A spray bottle works wonders most of the time. There are also things called Scat Mats that send the smallest bit of electricity to the cat to scare it. I'm not really for this, but it doesn't hurt the cat. Imagine getting zapped by a car door due to static electricity and this is approximately the equivalent.

If you do not wish to use that, sticky tape is the way to go Cats HATE the way tape feels. So if they jump up and feel it, they will hate the idea of getting up there. Apply it on the edge of the counters.

Also, I've heard aluminum foil on the edges work too. Apparently cats don't like the way it feels or the noise against their claws. And of course, taking a metal can or glass jar and putting a bunch of small noisy objects (pennies, safety pins, etc) and shaking it at the cat when it jumps up there will scare it off.