Cats on furniture? Yes? No?

russiankitten

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I had a friend over last night. Nefertiti decided she wanted to parade herself on the coffee table (as any one with such a beautiful velvet black coat would).
My friend scolded her and put her on the floor.
I was not amused! I quickly scolded my friend explaining how this is Nefertiti's home there for that is Nefertiti's table and if she wishes to stand on it then she may. Nefertiti is a queen and has every right to do what she likes. It got me wondering though.. fellow cat owners, your furniture, do your cats go on it whenever they want?

I have a soft pillow ontop of the bookcase not ornaments. I even have a pillow on the kitchen counter. Pillows on my chest of drawers and on the table in the living room. They are my babys, if they want to go to sleep on the top of the wardrobe of course they can.

LOL I even will sit on the floor if there is no space in the armchair or on the sofa. My mum came over and was sitting on the sofa next to Amadeus and Nefertiti was in the armchair.
"Sit down" she said.
"I can't" I said, "The cats there"
 

snake_lady

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I would not scold another persons cat, as what is wrong in my house may be right in theirs... Same goes with children... unless the parent is not doing anything in a situation where the child may be in danger...(that goes for pets too)

re: cats on furniture.

Depends on the furniture. In my house they are NOT allowed on:

kitchen counters, kitchen table, coffee tables or desks.

They are allowed on beds/couches/chairs.


Just because I don't allow them to do something, doesn't mean I love them any less. I wouldn't allow my children to climb on tables/counters/etc. so why would I let my cats


That said, what anyone else allows their cat to do is their own perogative.
 

otto

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I'm with you. Cats get first choice of furniture. Guests second, me third.


Tolly has a special corner of the couch. For some reason people seem to make a beeline for that Spot, either to put their stuff there or sit there. I always move the stuff, or ask the person to move. Tolly does not like anything in his Spot, even if he's not using it.
 

otto

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Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

I would not scold another persons cat, as what is wrong in my house may be right in theirs... Same goes with children... unless the parent is not doing anything in a situation where the child may be in danger...(that goes for pets too)

re: cats on furniture.

Depends on the furniture. In my house they are NOT allowed on:

kitchen counters, kitchen table, coffee tables or desks.

They are allowed on beds/couches/chairs.


Just because I don't allow them to do something, doesn't mean I love them any less. I wouldn't allow my children to climb on tables/counters/etc. so why would I let my cats


That said, what anyone else allows their cat to do is their own perogative.
My cats aren't allowed on the kitchen counters or kitchen table, but then, I don't get on the counters or table either.

(I know they get on them when I'm not here, though. Ha.)
 

fifi1puss

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They go anywhere they please in my house. I clean the counters before doing any work on them. They actually have a bed on my dining table, but I don't eat there anyway.
 

jamasmom

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My girls are allowed on the couch, loveseat, kitchen chairs and bed. Both go on the coffee table, (always after I clean it so they leave paw prints
). I never used to allow them on the kitchen table, but my mom would allow it when she visited. Jazz would sit there and watch her eat her cereal and wait for the leftover milk
. Now I am using the kitchen table as a desk, if Jazz can find room she is welcome to it!!!!
 

pintameez

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Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

I would not scold another persons cat, as what is wrong in my house may be right in theirs...
Yup. Exactly.

Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

Depends on the furniture. In my house they are NOT allowed on:

kitchen counters, kitchen table, coffee tables or desks.

They are allowed on beds/couches/chairs.
Same here. Any surface where we might be preparing or eating food, they are not allowed on. They have the run of the house, with the food-area exceptions. They have beds and perches and climbing posts and hideaways all over the house, plenty of places to climb and hide and play and snooze. They don't need to be on the counters, ever.

There is this little counter next to the fridge, it's away from the food counters, across the room... I allow them to jump up on that, to get to the top of the fridge and the top of the kitchen cabinets on that side. That's fine. Because sometimes Cruz needs to hide away from Cash - he is the annoying little brother - and sometimes one of them just needs to be high up when we have company over. So that's allowed. I have considered putting a little bed up there for them, even.

No food areas, that's all I ask. LOL
 

stormyskiez

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I used to feel the same way. Animals had the run of the couch, beds and chairs. I had to vacuum weekly to keep things looking decent. It's a huge chore with 5 indoor cats and 2 dogs to keep up with the hair. I was getting frustrated.

Then husband brings home anniversary gift. A Siamese kitten that unknowingly was a ringworm carrier. Needless to say, after 2 months, none of the pets were allowed on the furniture. All the pets are in their teens and thanks to my Mom in law she showed me it is possible to teach the animals even at their age to stay off the furniture. I have bought them all beds to lay in. The cats love the pet beds. The dogs don't use the pet beds often yet. Yes, once in a while, mainly the cats sneak. But not often.

Saying that.... I feel good that I don't have to clean the furniture all the time anymore.
 

tiberius709

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Our two kittens were not allowed on the bed because of previous issues with them pooping/peeing on the bed.

They are better with the litterbox and have had virtually no accidents so we have slowly begun to allow them to get on the bed. I think they are so used to not being allowed that maybe they are a little confused when we put them up there. They jump right down. lol

They stay in our room right now so they don't have run of the full house. I figure 800 sq feet is enough for right now lol..

I guess I should answer that I would allow my cats to get on beds and couches that's probably about it. They like to get up on the desk and that's okay as well.

No tables, chairs to the tables or counters, but that's just me and I won't knock anyone who allows it. =)
 

3catsn1dog

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ANYONE who walks into my house is generally knowledgable on that fact that my cats are treated better than I treat myself! They have full run of EVERYTHING, our kitchen table has been turned into a bed because its right in front of a window and Herc lovessssss his sunny spot. Fatman and GiGi get their treats on the counter next to the coffee maker because otherwise Franklin tries to steal them and hes not allowed cat food or treats. The cats have their OWN bedroom with toys litter boxes etc and BF and I have been kicked out of our spots on the couch and in bed because we have 4 other "kids" in there with us. I honestly could care less what anyone says when they see a cat sitting on the coffee table or on the kitchen table. However what has started to happen is when someone parks in front of our house which is right in front of the bay window they stop at the window and say hi to Herc and GiGi because thats where they are to greet everyone and even run to the door for certain people they know will give them scritches! The only thing NOT ALLOWED in our house is scratching on the furniture. Its BFs only rule and so far we have been lucky that it hasnt been bad GiGi is the only one who has been in trouble for scratching on the couch and now has her own 3 scratching posts and tower to scratch on.
 

kwren

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no kitties on the kitchen counters or our dining room table. if we are going to eat or make food on it we don't want little paws all over it!

our long-haired guy is not allowed on our bed, either. he tends to leave little drip presents even with a sanitary shave and he likes to sleep on my pillow! little drips of cat-pee are NOT what i want my face in as i drift off to sleep... (he likes to clean himself after he pees ON my pillow, not before. otherwise i wouldn't mind so much)
 

pintameez

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Originally Posted by kwren

our long-haired guy is not allowed on our bed, either. he tends to leave little drip presents even with a sanitary shave and he likes to sleep on my pillow! little drips of cat-pee are NOT what i want my face in as i drift off to sleep... (he likes to clean himself after he pees ON my pillow, not before. otherwise i wouldn't mind so much)
LOL ewww... I feel for you. I have one cat that tends to have "dirty feet" if he has just used the box, and then sometimes he runs straight to my bed and leaves tracks on my bedding & pillow, which is groooosssss .... I hate that. Nothing worse than climbing into bed at night after a long, hard day and finding out that you need to strip all the sheets & throw the pillow in the washing machine AGAIN ... yuck.
 

nurseangel

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No guest of mine is going to reprimand my cats and get away with it! With that being said, they can go anywhere but the kitchen counters. I also encourage Daisy to stay off the high chest of drawers in the bedroom. It's very tall and she does this long jump from there to the bed. For someone with a Rubenesque figure, that might not be the safest move.
 

stormyskiez

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Wow, I'm surprised not many here have noticed how dirty an animal can leave the furniture.
 

3catsn1dog

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I dont know about how dirty they leave our furniture but whether I had them or not everything would get dusted with antibacterial spray every other day, counters and kitchen table are done a couple times a day and my couch gets taken apart washed and swept off twice a week plus the floors get vacumned swept and mopped every other day and their bedroom is swept out everyday and if there is a lot of litter thrown from the litter boxes twice a day. Our bedding also gets washed weekly and changed monthly. For me regardless of the cats or not Id be cleaning like crazy all the time, I just let them go and do whatever they like as long as its not hazardous for their safety..My current issue is our woodstove..GiGi likes to lay on top of it but we havent used it yet and when it getting used it gets really hot so I worry about her burning her little paddies....But I think Herc and Fatman will teach her that when the fire is burning DONT JUMP!
 

c1atsite

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I have 2 kitchen counters. I use the small one - the larger one is pretty much clear and guess who likes to lie down on it?
yeah, both my cats.

but they're not allowed on the dining table. for some reason, penny has no interest in it. daisy's no longer interested. she knows how i feel about it.

they're not allowed on my office desk. they've never made an attempt to sit on it. instinct? (even if they did try, they know my reprimands are mild and last like 3 seconds lol) .. i have a side table they 're allowed to use , but they're not interested. daisy likes her perch http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...daisyperch.jpg and penny likes the sofa

they use the sofa, the storage bench, the bed, the kitchen counter, hmmm what else. i've seen daisy on top of the dresser drawer.
 

jupeycat

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Mine get everywhere, especially Jupey. I hate it when they go near the hob in the kitchen and when we move I'm going to have a cooker with a cover so I don't have to worry (renting at the moment). I feel like I'm waging a constant war against fur but I can only do my best at keeping it at bay. Thankfully we're not into cooking in our house but when we do prepare food everything's doubly cleaned first. I wipe everything down every day but in a few hours it's like I've never done it!
 

darlili

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My mother would be horrified, but my cats basically have the run of the house. I do take them off my kitchen counters and they really don't go there unless I'm silly enough to leave roast chicken out there. However, bed, couch, fireplace mantel, they're there. Granted, I live alone, and it's my house and my mortgage, so there!


I do find that I clean better now that pre-cat - mostly because nothing they can swallow stays out at all, and I'm using eco and pet-friendly cleaners..and my cats are DSH, so, so far, no dangle-berries to worry about.
 

ldg

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Originally Posted by StormySkiez

Wow, I'm surprised not many here have noticed how dirty an animal can leave the furniture.
That's why they have us to vacuum, clean and dust.


Also - we just cover the furniture with throw blankets. Easy to wash weekly - easy to fold up when we or company want to use it.

Cats live in a 3D/vertical world. I can't imagine not allowing them to enjoy that.

Anyone that knows us well enough to be considered a friend - and certainly our family - knows what our priorities are. They make think we're crazy - but that's not our problem.

The only place our kitties are not allowed are on the counters. But as we know they're there when we're not around, we always give 'em a wipe before we use them.
 

binkyhoo

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Originally Posted by nurseangel

No For someone with a Rubenesque figure, that might not be the safest move.
I have never heard of a Rubenesque cat?
Is that akin to a Cheshire cat? With a few extra lbs? Very funny.

Other wise, I dont like the cats on the kitchen counter, There are to many dangers there. I dont freak on it, I just put her on the floor as I pass through. I am lucky that she has little interest up there anyway.
 
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