Cats on counter

My kittens love jumping up on my kitten counters. How do I stop this madness!?!? They like jumping up on the table too! They are finally understanding...when I call their name they get down, but they jump up behind my back. I don't want them to jump up period. How do I make them stop? Thanks

This is a behavior question, so I'll move it for you.

Hmmmm lets see, foil on the counters, two sided tape, citrus scented air fresheners, mylar baloons, empty soda cans piled up. I'm sure folks will come up with more!

haha..but you see, these are kittys...they love playing with this kind of stuff. I put cans up already, they just knock them down and play with them. I don't understand why it's so important to be on the counters..

a water bottle is the solution to this...I unfortunatley let my kitties up on the counter, but I always have it clean and nothing that can hurt them...they won't jump up if I am cooking on the stove...they "know" they will get "squirt" of water if they try it..

haha, I try water....Day-Z doesn't get up when I have the little water gun. But Sox and Smeagol do. Smeagol wont get near me while Im cooking on the stove....beecause he is scared he will get splashed with hot grease like he did when he was a baby! AND if noone heard that story....I didn't do it on purpose...It's somewhere in the forum if you want to read it

Something about cats makes them want to be up high. My apartment has all these little spaces that are close to the ceiling from very high closet shelving to cabinets that leave space at the very top and I constantly find my cats just lounging about there. If they are not there then they usually are up on my bathroom counters. Sadly I haven't found anything that keeps them off the counters and table when I am not looking.

Here is an interesting link that shows why cats do certain things..

http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/whydo.html

The thing with training cats is that you have to convince them that they don't really want to do it. The key is consistency. Spraying water won't work in the long run because they will figure out that they don't get sprayed when Mommy isn't there. Then you just have sneaky kitties who still get up on the counters.

Some kitty deterrants (not all of these will work with all kitties, but hopefully *something* will work with yours): double-sided tape or something with sticky side up, strong citrus scent, aluminum foil flat on the surface, helium/mylar balloons above the table/counter preferably with a small fan blowing on them so they move, cans on the edge with pennies or nuts or ball bearings in them (just a few to make a loud noise when kitty knocks them off). Some more radical things you can try if those don't work: old-fashioned mouse traps, set upside down with newspaper on top of them so when kitty goes up, the trap goes off; a product called a "Scat-mat" which send a very mild electrical current through it (like when you touch your tongue to a battery) to put on the counter/table.

Thank you so much for your ideas!!! I will try some more and tell ya what happened! thanks

I've tried the water gun approach but then it just becomes a big game. Like...Evade The Water Gun!! Extra points if you do something naughty and don't get wet!

Chriztal, I cannot imagine that anyone here would think for a moment that you would burn your kitty on purpose! I have the same problem with my kitties on the counters. We have kinda reached an agreement. If I don't run them off the table, they stay off the counters. Not the best compromise, but it has been working.

hah, so no one has actually suceeded in teaching their cats not to climb up on the counters or on the table? It's a battle we just can't win?

Most sites and books will tell you that a cat can't be trained like a dog to stay off of counters and tables. Some say that this is because a cat is not as intelligent as a dog (I'm not saying that hehehe) others say it is because they don't want to be trained. Though it is possible I would imagine that it would take a lot of work, a lot of patience, and a great deal of reiteration. But to prevent them from never getting on the counters - even when you are not home - is a bit of a stretch. Though I find that mine only jump on the counters when I am in the kitchen.

I used the Scat-Mat and after about a week, they completely stopped jumping on counters, and I have not caught them up there in over a year. They never know whether or not its up there, since they can't see over the edge, so they just don't risk it. It's been so long now, I don't think they have much of a desire to get back up there. They also are allowed on windowsills, furniture, banisters and just about everything else except the kitchen table, so they have an outlet for their energy.

My kitten Cathleen used to climb on a chair and from the chair to the table. First I tried the water bottle method but after a few times she just take the water on her face and smell at the bottle.
Then I tried the double sided stick tape. I got too cardboard mats, put a few rows of stick tape on them and put one on the chair and other on the table. She learned that if she climb the chair from the back she can avoid getting stuck and then she just throw the mat from the chair, proceed to the table, carefully avoiding the tapes and throw the mat from the table too. That's right. She deliberately throw them off the chair and table!
Well, after that what could I do? She wins. Now I just keep comestibles and dangerous objects off the table :-)

We can't win!?!? O no I thought you were getting to some point that you could win Well, I guess Ill just get rid of my table, they can't jump on it if it's not there right? haha just kidding around.