The kitchen area counter is among the primary hazardous places in our home, where we keep food, sharp items, shop electrical devices and cook meals on a hot range.
Because of their inherent climbing and agile nature, our cats are naturally drawn to high places.
Likewise, felines feel most safe and secure when spotting, sleeping, and resting from high observation points.
Felines, likewise, are curious and opportunistic feeders.
Kitties highly motivated by food will discover the counter extremely appealing, showing too difficult to resist when food or crumbs are left in plain sight.
It may drive us insane and unclean, but from our feline’s point of view, it’s natural to leap or climb up locations that are considered off-limits to us.
The counter should become a surface your moggie does not desire to check out if you decide your feline isn’t permitted on benches or tables.
How To Keep Cats Off Of Counters?
There are several ways to keep your cat from getting on counters, including supplying elevated platforms for them to use.
Follow these standards utilizing training and alternative options to prevent and handle counter-jumping habits.
Gaining Hight In The Kitchen area
Cats enjoy being near us.
However, unfortunately, sitting on the cooking area counter puts them at a comparable level as their human.
Additionally, use your feline buddy on a high-watching platform close by, like a cat tower or top of the refrigerator– voted by cats as the “most favored kitchen space spot.”
Counter cruising is likewise popular in houses with windows near worktops because bird watching is a feline’s beloved activity.
Place a perch on the kitchen window or let your feline sit on the kitchen cabinets by stepping on and off the refrigerator.
Cover the glass with a blind or window film if your cat is getting on the worktop to access the window.
Keep Food Out Of Sight
Keeping food out of sight will assist keep food-motivated felines off the counter.
Whether people provide food, felines are generalists, resourceful feeders, and brought in to food found in unexplored areas.
They will scavenge for scraps off cooking area counters, consume from bowls, take food out of bins, and lounge in warm areas near the stove, hoping to get a treat.
Being an obligate carnivore, feer feline species-appropriate diet in frequent percentages away from counters.
Don’t leave meat or grub unattended on benchtops, especially when you are gone from home.
Offer puzzle feeders and consuming stations throughout the house– store food in the refrigerator and cabinets to avoid foraging.
Anti-Counter-Surfing Training
Training your feline to go to a mat or stool on command will help them to stop utilizing the counter.
The most efficient method to prevent counter-surfing is to modify your feline’s habits utilizing remote control training.
There are three primary coaching actions to resolve counter-surfing:
- Train’ go to mat’ or ‘rest on a stool’ behavior outside the meal preparation environment. The mat or stool ends up being a gratifying place in addition to sitting on a higher stool and is an alternative to leaping on kitchen area counters.
- Gradually approximate to reality circumstance with few interruptions.
- Enhance the habits at a high rate in a real-life context with as many repeatings as possible.
Design A Stimulating And Exploratory Vertical Environment
By giving your cats an environment with many outlets for their climbing and exploratory impulses, you can decrease their desire to jump on the counter.
Provide your cat with suitable vertical alternatives for climbing up, scratching, and resting by creating an exploratory environment.
Feline trees and furnishings are a massive hit, although they can be pricey.
Produce high resting areas indoors with shelves, cabinets, desks, closets, chairs, and cabinets.
Location a comfy bed or blanket in the room and routinely leave treats or catnip to entice your kitty.
A window shelf or window-mounted bed will offer limitless stimulation and a resting location for one or multiple felines.
Construct an outside cat enclosure.
Location tree branches, cat-safe plants, water, feline lawn, shelves, a DIY feline tree, and a hammock for your cat to perch while remaining out of reach of prospective hazards.
In multi-cat houses, many towering sleeping spots extend the area; for that reason, the felines do not compete for resources and utilize the countertop.
It will be more likely to avoid the ground and goal high if your feline should share a room with your precious canine.
Establish lookout points and cuddlers on top of bookshelves.
Raised resting locations can range from a couple of inches off the bottom to the ceiling.
A cushion on the floor, a cardboard castle, or a little cat tree is likewise an appropriate height for cats with arthritis or affected by the loss of sight.
Deterrents To Keep Your Cat Off The Counter
- Prevent your cat from climbing up locations that you wish to keep off-limits. Possible deterrents consist of:
- Double-sided tape: felines do not like strolling on gluey surface areas.
- Aluminum trays filled with water: some felines do not like water, while others don’t mind stepping in damp areas.
- Carpet runners or mats with spiky nubs face-up: felines don’t like walking on irritable surface areas.
- Cover baking sheets or long pieces of cardboard along the counter’s edge where the cat jumps to make the surface area unstable. You can include empty tin cans on the side to make sounds when it falls off the countertop.
- PetSafe SSSCAT Spray Deterrent spots animal motion and releases a burst of odorless mist within a radius of 1 meter. Sprays work fast, so they are not recommended around skittish or anxious felines. A distressed feline might become averse and scared of specific spaces or scared to maneuver around the rest of the house.
Please do NOT utilize a squirt water gun, considering it teaches your feline to escape when you get the sprayer and return as soon as you’re gone.
Additionally, some felines do not mind the spray, which does not work as a deterrent.
For that reason, remove the deterrent when your cat consistently uses the designated skyscraper or fixed position!
Final Thoughts on 5 Easy Tips To Keep Cats Off Counters
With the appropriate training and ecological modifications, you and your cat can conveniently share the cooking area without dangerous or unhygienic counter-surfing.
It is vital to comprehend that cats enjoy climbing up and perching on high-surface areas.
They do not simply misbehave; they express instinctive behavior.
They are not as cognitively advanced as human beings, thinking in terms of right or wrong or acting out of spite.
Although they might seem bothersome, they act exceptionally coherently relative to their environment.
Reward your feline for what you wish them to try and do, not what you don’t desire them to do.
Then, call a countertop jumping investigator– much better referred to as a cat behaviorist if all attempts fail.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I stop my feline from jumping on the counter?
Cats are very intelligent!
Although they know a specific spot is forbidden, the cat may prevent it when your neighbor, however, will plant her paws on the surface as soon as you leave.
Use the appropriate vertical choices to stop your feline from getting on the counter or limit access to the kitchen.
Just use deterrents as a final resort.
How do you keep cats off counters and tables?
Help your feline screen typical climbing-up behavior while preventing them from bench tops and rerouting them to proper surfaces with positive reinforcement, ecological enrichment, training, and proper tower and outside stimulation.
Does aluminum foil keep cats off counters?
Aluminum foil might keep some felines off counters, but not the boisterous ones.
Many cats don’t like the feel of aluminum foil or its sound once they stroll on it with their paws.
In addition, covering your counters with aluminum daily is unwise.
Why is my feline all of a sudden jumping on counters?
There could be numerous reasons why your cat is suddenly jumping on counters:
When a new pet enters the house, a New family pet– your feline may feel threatened. Scaling high helps them feel protected and avoid contact till intros are complete.
Toddler addition– a baby might be a demanding and surprising experience for a cat. Practice ongoing discussions in a controlled environment enabling the cat to feel in charge with a safe place to retreat.
Cravings– a feline can become a ‘tiger’ if food is limited. So put away all food leftovers, including cat puzzle feeders, plus feed small frequent meals to avoid counter-scavenging.
Dullness– a bored cat will get up to mischief; ensure your feline companion has sufficient self-play toys, catnip, and cardboard boxes to have fun with.
Thirst– the sink faucet might be alluring for a thirsty moggie, especially throughout summer or when facing well-being modifications. Early detection of increased water consumption is crucial to prevent health concerns.
Does tinfoil keep cats off the counter?
Tinfoil can help keep cats off the counter, but it’s not guaranteed.
You’ll need to experiment to see if it works for your cat.
Some cats are bothered by tinfoil’s noise, while others couldn’t care less.
You might need to use a double layer of tinfoil or put it on top of something else to keep your cat from knocking it over.
Can you train a cat not to be on your counters?
Yes, you can train a cat not to be on your counters.
You will need to be consistent with your training and rewards, which may take some time, but it is possible.
