Keeping the kitten off the counter

sillylilykitty

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I have 2 Siamese cats, one 2 year old lilac point female (Lily) who is mine and one 8 month old chocolate point female (Tanzie) who is my sisters cat. My sister and I live in an apartment together.

My cats dont run the house; They arent allowed on the counters or any tables or the refrigerator or stove. Lily knows the rules, she is a super smart Siamese, you dont need to tell her "No" many times before she knows that is not allowed. Tanzie, she never went on the counters, they are out of the way to get on and I took to giving them baths in the kitchen sink and they dont wanna be near there.

For 3 weeks I went home and had to leave both the kitties with a friend who has 7 cats, all of which are allowed on their counters. Her counters are easily accessed, there is practically a ramp up to them. Tanzie started going up on them constantly. She is hard headed but will get off if you talk loud and firm enough, but then she goes right back up....

Im tired of constantly yelling at her and having to check the kitchen if I cant see her. I have tried the yelling at her when I catch her and the double sided tape, she doesnt care about either.

I dont have money to spend on anything and no my cats will not be allowed on the counters. Could you guys tell me all the ideas you have ever heard of?
 

cheylink

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Wow, that sucks that all your previous training wiped out! I am the same way about Maia, or any of my past kitties, on kitchen counters and tables. She has places shes allowed and places I feel are avoiding trouble or danger and she for the most part stays clear. It is tough when they learn to sneak behind your back, I hear occasional feet hitting the floor as she jumps down and scold her lightly, "Were you just on the counter, you know better!". Honestly I have never needed the treatments for behavioral correction, hope I never do! You may be best off re correcting in your way, verbal and gesture discipline I feel works best, It's all respect then.
 

kelicat

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I went through a hard headed few kitties that just seemed to refuse to learn from me scolding them, a water squirt bottle works wonders to get them off and staying off. Granted they are cats, and are going to sneak up when you aren't around, but at least it gets them to stay off for the most part.

Also a can of coins shaken when they get on there will more times then not send them scurrying off.
 

cococat

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Originally Posted by Kelicat

I went through a heard headed few kitties that just seemed to refuse to learn from me scolding them, a water squirt bottle works wonders to get them off and staying off. Granted they are cats, and are going to sneak up when you aren't around, but at least it gets them to stay off for the most part.

Also a can of coins shaken when they get on there will more times then not send them scurrying off.
Welcome!
I have one right now, adult, ongoing problem. I hate her on the counters, I constantly am cleaning them. We have a smooth stove top and sometimes I can see kitty prints on it. We have used everything to stop this problem with low levels of success, with the exception of this thing called SSCat. We will try that next. She mostly (not even always!) won't get up if we are around but will do whatever she pleases when we are not. One of the things that bothers me to no end about cats
And yes, she has tons of cat trees and vertical space, sigh.
 

jack31

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Man I would think that your options are slim--now that they've seen how other cats live (counter freedom).

I honestly have no suggestions. Jack is absolutely not allowed on the counters and has never attempted them (he is almost 6 months old). He may want something on the counter, but he meows for me to get it for him.

Good luck retraining them

Leslie
 

ortal

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Well I would tell you that a mini squirt gun is highly effective, but since you wont spend any moeny to fix the issue, cant help you.
 
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sillylilykitty

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Well, I have a squirt gun, but the way my kitchen is, I have to walk over to the counter and aim the bottle over the highest counter to get the counter that she gets on.

I tried the sticky tape and alumminum foil, she doesnt care about either of them and just walks on it anyway.

Pennies in a can, this is my next choice, as soon as I can get 4 soda cans I will do this. My kitchen counters that Tanzie jumps on are in a U shape. Im going to put a can on each corner of the counters and attach them all with strings so that when she hits either the string or can everything comes crashing down. I think this will be the best method for her. She is afraid of loud noises so hopefully it will only take one time (probably not though) to get through to her.
 

cheylink

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Originally Posted by sillylilykitty

Well, I have a squirt gun, but the way my kitchen is, I have to walk over to the counter and aim the bottle over the highest counter to get the counter that she gets on.

I tried the sticky tape and alumminum foil, she doesnt care about either of them and just walks on it anyway.

Pennies in a can, this is my next choice, as soon as I can get 4 soda cans I will do this. My kitchen counters that Tanzie jumps on are in a U shape. Im going to put a can on each corner of the counters and attach them all with strings so that when she hits either the string or can everything comes crashing down. I think this will be the best method for her. She is afraid of loud noises so hopefully it will only take one time (probably not though) to get through to her.
Water spray bottles are really more of a irritant, as in they will connect the spray to you, not to the fact of being on the counter. I think they are kind of cruel and rarely work as a behavioral correction. As far as pennies in a jar, that is really for when you catch them and you can shake it and startle them. Cats can dodge trip wires pretty well and I think it would be pretty difficult to set up a string/penny jar alarm that they could actually physically set off. I think your best bet is to reinforce your corrections when you catch her or she looks like she is going to jump up, keep counters clear when your not there so there is no temptations. Maybe vegetable oil, a thin coat, hard to clean but just as hard for them to clean off of themselves to.
 

persi & alley

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Originally Posted by sillylilykitty

Could you guys tell me all the ideas you have ever heard of?
Click on Cat Behavior in the box in the top center and read the article on discouraging your cat from being on the counters. The Cat Site has the answers to most of your questions. Play KatKwiz every day to learn more. Click on the here link below to find out all about KatKwiz.
 

zao_cat

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I heard that cats hate to walk on tin foil so I would suggest covering you counters with tin foil. It couldn't hurt to try!
 

okiron

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Originally Posted by zao_cat

I heard that cats hate to walk on tin foil so I would suggest covering you counters with tin foil. It couldn't hurt to try!
She says she tried that already.
 

okiron

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Originally Posted by zao_cat

Whoops!
It's late and I can't sleep. Sorry. I'm embarrassed.
Lol no be embarrassed. Foil doesn't affect my cats at all either.
 

scarecrow2007

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"this thing called SSCat"


What is this? This is another bad habit I must break her of...after she stops attacking me!
 

kalikat

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I've followed all the tricks, & Blossom still gets on the kitchen benches. Only when I'm getting her dinner ready or she sees a fly on the window.
 

robertm

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Originally Posted by scarecrow2007

"this thing called SSCat"


What is this? This is another bad habit I must break her of...after she stops attacking me!
It's actually spelled ssscat. It's basically a motion detector attached to a can of compressed air. You strategically place it on places that you want to be off-limits to a cat. When the cat moves into the line of fire, so to speak, the cat gets sprayed. Of course the spray is harmless (at least physically) to the cat. Once the cat gets sprayed a few times, the cat supposedly will keep away from areas patrolled by ssscat.

My wife and wanted to stop our cats from jumping on the counters and the kitchen table. We tried the aluminum foil and they basically laughed at our feeble attempt to stop them. Then we tried double-sided sticky tape, which I guess worked better (there was evidence that it still wasn't 100% though) but was a huge inconvenience for us.

ssscat was next up on our list but we decided to just wave the white flag instead.
First of all, each can+sensor costs about $35 and we would need at least 5 of them at any one time. We used the $175 to buy them a cat condo and some toys instead, so clearly we are total pushovers.
And the replacement cans cost about $12 and we read in numerous places that users complained that the air leaks from the can even when not activated by the sensor, which makes them even more expensive. Not sure how true that really is, though. And our biggest gripe of all was that we'd have to constantly be turning the units on and off whenever we were at the counters and table, since obviously ssscat doesn't discriminate --- it detects movement and it sprays.

I'm sure that it works for some people/cats though!
 
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sillylilykitty

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Thank you everyone for suggestions. Tanzie isnt going on the counters as much anymore. Shes definatly getting better.
 
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