Cat always on counter no matter what we've tried ... Advice Appreciated

[coffeetalk]

Hello everyone!  I'm new here and am hoping you can help me.  My 10 month old kitten has recently learned how to get on the counters. She will literally jump on the counter right in front of us (while we are cooking) and we have tried everything from spray bottles, to telling her no, to trying "Feliway", trying the spray that is supposed to keep them off, the double sided tape, the pans of water, and even tin foil. She will simply get back up on the counter. If she sees that I am looking at her, she will immediately jump down, but the problem is when we go to work--she is knocking things over, clawing and biting through boxes of closed food (we have a very small kitchen), etc. 

The worst part about it is that even if I'm home, after chasing her off the counter with one of the above methods, she will run and hide for about 10 minutes and then she will wait until I have left the room (most of the time) to try it again. Nothing has worked.

I'm at my wits end. The second issue that makes this especially tough is that I've recently discovered that I'm severely allergic to cats and being 7 months pregnant doesn't help--it's actually making the allergy worse. I've been taking Claritin daily to ease the symptoms, but with her jumping on the counters constantly and getting hair throughout our food, it is making it impossible to deal with and my symptoms are getting worse.

If you have any thoughts or insight please let me know. In case you are wondering, we have *never* encouraged her to get on the counters. We also bought her a cat tree that's higher than the counters for her to play and lay on. 

I'm not sure what our next step is. At this point, although I HATE the idea of it, we may have to consider finding her a new home.

I should mention that we have a second cat that's about 2 months older (he's almost 1 year old) that up until recently did not have that problem. However, she has taught him to jump up and now he's also started trying it. But he only does it AFTER she does it first.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[rad65]

Have you tried the Ssscat? It's a can of compressed air with a motion sensor attached. You would put it on your counter, and every time your cat jumps up, it throws a puff of air at your cat, which they don't like. After a while, your cat would learn to associate the counter with the annoying puff of air, and would stop. People use Ssscats mostly for training their cats to avoid a certain area like the front door, counter, christmas tree etc, and most people who have tried it here have had success.

 

[p3 and the king]

Why did you get a cat if you're allergic?  My Morgan La Fay was raised by me and I gave her to friends... They were good to her... Until they found out they were pregnant, too... She is back with me.  If they think they are getting her back when the kid is old enough, they have another thing coming! 

They made the choice that many expectant parents make.  Mostly because they believe the myth that a cat will harm a baby.  Not so.  Cats are actually better and more trustworthy than a dog with a baby.  You just have to get them ready for it.  But, if you don't want to do the work, you don't want to... It is probably better to find her a new home.  Just make sure it's not a kill shelter and the people are responsible. 

The jumping on counters is something that if you give her another point to focus on, one more appropriate, she will most likely forget the no no counters.  Do you have a cat tree?  If not, and you want to keep her, I would suggest a cat tree.  Water bottles and the ssssst can can become accostmomed.  So, compromise and get her a cat tree.  She'll lose interest in the counters. 

Edit:  I read that wrong, so sorry.  You already have one.  Is it by a window or something appealing?  I would say figure out what is so appealing about the counters... Cat trees are useless if they are someplace that is boring to a cat.  Think about how it looks to them... Would you want to use it where it is?  If not, move it someplace more stimulating. 

 

[stephanietx]

I line my counters with empty milk & water jugs (1 gal).  It's ugly, but it keeps the kitties off the counters for the most part.  I have also invested in Clorox wipes to clean the counters before I prepare food or anything like that.  Also, consistently saying "NO" or "DOWN" (firmly, but not yelling) and relocating to a more appropriate place will help.  It's difficult and tiring to be consistent, but it's the only way training works.

 

[momofmany]

When you see her on the counter, give her a sharp NO, carry her over to the cat tree and praise her when she's on it. Start feeding her treats only on that tree, and keep toys for her on it. Make the tree attractive to her!!

I have a cat tree in my kitchen taller than the kitchen counter and mine prefer it over the counters. But I had to show them that the cat tree was preferable to the counters.

 

[mrsh]

Hi Coffee Talk!

I have had the same problem and I'm working on it and have already made progress in less than a week.  The folks here give great advice!

Is your cat intrigued by the noises and smells of cooking?  Our cat tree in the family room, close enough that the cats can watch what's going on in the kitchen, and now they watch from there instead of trying to get on the counter (except one who likes to sit at the barstools so all we can see are her eyes).  Move it to a location where they can see you, even if it may feel like an eyesore.  If your cats aren't interested in the cat tree, see if some catnip spray helps attract them.

Do you feed her people-food? Do you keep your cat food in the kitchen cabinets? Maybe she knows that the kitchen is filled with tasty vittles and that's what she likes about it.  My cats used to get cold-cuts as a special treat and whenever someone would open the fridge, they were right there on the counter to get a little something.  Now I feed treats only on the cat tree or on the floor, and they mostly stay out of the kitchen. I keep the kibble in the laundry room and nobody eats in the kitchen.

One of my cats also rips through packages of food and will annihilate an entire loaf of bread in a half hour. I set him up for success by not tempting him with fun things to do or eat in there.  My goal is to make the kitchen as unappealing or boring as possible for my cats.  If you're low on cabinet space, maybe you could try a breadbox to keep dry goods protected (transfer them from the original box to a bag to make more room).

-Mrs H

 

[catwoman707]

An excellent solution! Buy a roll of contact paper, and lay it out sticky side up when you go to work. (that way it's not in your way when youre home)

Watch how fast those little paws are not a problem.

 

[orientalslave]

Cats jump on counters because they can.  Don't leave food out, store boxes where she can't get at them and shut her out of the kitchen when you are preparing it.  Always clean the counter before preparing food.

Suspect she might be bored as well - some cats are very placid and easily pleased, others (especially Siamese and Orientals) are intelligent, active and very easily bored.  If you can find ways of making the rest of where you live more interesting to her that might help.  This website might give you some ideas:

http://www.thecatshouse.com/

If it really becomes something you simply cannot live with, be very, very careful who you rehome your cats with.

P3 - the OP says they have 'recently discovered they are allergic to cats'.  Suspect that was after they got them.

 

[momofmany]

I do want to warn people about using sticky type substances on the edges of their counters. I did that one time - used masking tape with the sticky side up on the edge of the counter. When the first cat landed in that tape, it wound all around them, got stuck in their fur, then became so scared that they hid under the bed. It took me HOURS to get the tape off of him afterwards. I really don't recommend anything sticky on a counter that isn't held firmly to the counter.

 

[catwoman707]

momofmany I do agree with you on that, this is the reason I use the contact paper, but I should have also noted that it is secured to the counter, duct tape works great and will not allow the paper to pull up. Contact paper is less sticky than any type of tape but just enough for kitty to NOT like stepping on it.

 

[macyissmart1]

Have u tried a spray bottle with water in it? Thats the only think that works for me. Now whenever i get it out she sees it and runs.

 

[hobo08]

My vet professor said she used set mousetraps under a layer of newspaper or something else light weight. The noise from the snapping is enough to scare the cats away.

 

[guitarmonster]

First of all guys, please don't use spray bottles on your cat, they don't work the cat only learns to be afraid of you.  I know it can be frustrating dealing with cats hopping up on counters and knocking stuff over.  The important thing to remember is that in their minds we are looked at as equals, we are not their masters.  They are not concerned with what you want or don't want.  It's not that they don't care about their owners, it's that they feel they have a right of passage, they are independent.  Out of all the solutions out there, I have basically tried them all.  The ssscat motion activated spray bottles do work, but only for certain applications.  The problem is, you need to position the spray bottle somewhere where the cat is not able to see it until it's too late.  The reason for this is cats are very smart, and they will learn what the bottle looks like and what it does.  I have even seen my cats work their way up to a bottle like something out of mission impossible and knock it over.  If you put them on the counters out of sight, then you have the element of surprise.  The cat jumps up and gets the crap scared out of it and hops back off.  You will go through a lot of cans of air, I would recommend buying 6-packs from ebay.  Cats are persistent, they love a good challenge.  The more you challenge them, the more they will persist.  The only way to keep them off the counters is to put in a solution that reduces their success rate to 0%.  Even if they hop up on the counter just a few times and are successful, they will hold onto that moment for quite a while.  So this process will take quite a long time.  Eventually I ended up getting the pawz away mat from Petco.  It was $100 and I have to say it's the best pet deterrent I have ever seen.  You lay this thin plastic mat on your counter and turn on the device.  When the cat jumps up the mat sends out a small static shock and trust me when I tell you they get right out of dodge immediately.  The cat has no idea what hit him.  It has 3 modes, alarm with shock, shock only, and alarm only.  I recommend setting it on shock only, that way you don't get woken up in the middle of the night, and when the cat gets the shock that alarm isn't really doing anything anyway.  Make sure the mat is always on and keep it up there for a long time, after about a month put it on alarm and shock mode so that you can hear if they try the counter again.  After lets say another month and you havent heard the alarm you can move the mat to another surface that you want them to avoid.  This may seem kind of silly, do not let your cat watch you set it up or take it down, they can figure that out.  The key to how this works is associating the counter with something that is bad.  The cat won't avoid the area because you want him to, he avoids it because he no longer has interest in it.  My proof that this works is right now I have 2 kittens that are only about 8 months old.  I can put an entire dinner on my livingroom coffee table and leave the room, the cats just sit on the couch like they don't even have an interest in it.  Before I did all this, they would jump up on the livingroom table right in front of me, they were brazen.

 

[lorindaleigh]

Marshmellow used to have a huge factuation with my counter. He even pooped on them a few times! That's when I of course flipped out. Yelling at him just made him get on the counter more.

I soon discovered that he gets on the counter to get attention. Everytime he got on the counter he got picked up and moved or yelled at. I don't hit my cats or push them off the counter so it was always picking up and moving. I then started to ignore him being on the counter. After that he only got on the counter when I was in the kitchen. I just kept ignoring him and he no longer did it very often. He will get up on the counter once in a blue moon but its usually to remind me that its getting late and I need to feed them before I do anything else lol.

 

[guitarmonster]

That is an excellent point, cats are just like little children.  They will do things to get your attention, and they will also do things just because you don't want them to do them.  Chasing the cat off the counter only makes him think "hmm, there must be something really good on that counter that i'm missing out on".  Cats don't like to miss out on anything.