Help!!!!!!!!!!

[ibelonginthezoo]

My grandpa just said that if my 9 month old cat, Cali, gets on the counter or table one more time, she is OUT!!!! Either going outside to stay or back to the animal shelter.

I dont want that to happen. Does anyone have suggestions.

We have tried everyting we can think of and everything that has been suggested. We tried spray bottles. We tried giving her something else to do. We tried moving her to a different location. We tried putting sticky stuff on the counters. We have PLENTY of toys that get changed as they get bored with them. Etc. Nothing has worked. Our other cat, Ripley (12 months), doesnt get on the counters or tables. Are there any other ideas that we can try so I dont have to loose my "baby". I will be heart broken if I have to get rid of her.

 

[mom of 4]

Confine her to your room?

 

[cheylink]

What is on the counter that she wants so badly? It is very important to always remember to NOT set your kitty up for failure by leaving tempting situations.......

 

[yayi]

Cali is young and curious. Pity your grandpa can't be more understanding.

Anyway, do you leave food on the counters or anything that would make a young cat investigate?

 

[larke]

As a cat, never mind a young and curious one, she will absolutely want to do exactly whatever it is that she's told not to do. As soon as you stop caring, and she sees that. she'll stop bothering too, as long as there's nothing at all on the counter she could possibly want, including left over food smells, never mind crumbs. The counter needs to be wiped down with something smelly like Lysol that will deter her (this is all temporary, of course) and anything 'food' on it enclosed, plus things like the can opener need to be cleaned every time you use them. However, she will still want to come up for a look once in a while even when she's older, so maybe you need to beg someone like your vet, a sympathetic family member, anyone you can think of to talk to your granddad and make him understand he's asking for a miracle - anyone with a cat has to put up with a little craziness and cats just naturally gravitate to high places (get a cat tree for her to climb so she has a high place to be - very important!). Unless your cat goes outdoors and picks up who knows what on her paws, there's no real reason to be so afraid of her being on the counter in any case, not unless the floors in the house are left to get very dirty! I know older people from other countries sometimes can have different attitudes about animals in the house though, and if that's the case, then it is important that someone, e.g. a vet, who he'll respect, talk to him.

 

[wendyr]

Our kittens are about 7 months old and we always catch them on the counter - luckily, my husband comes from a family with cats so he understands. But, if you leave ANYTHING on the counter, at their young age, they will go and explore (well, at any age really - my husbands family had a 19 year old cat who was jumping up on the counter on his last day of life!). When they first moved in, we would remove all tempting food and whatnot, but inevitably would wake up to find keys/bottle caps/anything on the floor. They like to explore, and as someone else said, they like high places.

Also, my kittens seem to associate the kitchen with people. They know we do a lot of stuff in there, and so they are curious as to what we are doing. I know it can be frustrating to see your cat doing something like this, but honestly, there is probably not a whole lot you can do about it other than keep it super cleaned down and have nothing on the counter that looks like a potential toy. We aren't that bothered about our kittens on the counter, as we wipe it down and use a chopping board that we store away at night, but I know it is an annoyance. I just hope you can convince your grandfather that this is just normal kitten behaviour and that you might have to make some modifications in order to limit this behaviour! Good luck!

 

[hissy]

Please DO NOT USE LYSOL- Lysol is TOXIC to kitties. Look at www.contech-inc.com and order a Stay Away or SSScat Mat-

 

[larke]

Really? Yow! Sorry! But I hope the point was made.

 

[pookie-poo]

I broke my cats from getting onto the counter by laying sheets of aluminum foil on the counters when I wasn't using them. They don't like the crinkly noise it makes when they jump on it, and after a very short time, they no longer were interested in getting up there.

Good luck!

 

[wendyr]

I broke my cats from getting onto the counter by laying sheets of aluminum foil on the counters when I wasn't using them. They don't like the crinkly noise it makes when they jump on it, and after a very short time, they no longer were interested in getting up there.

Funnily enough, I tried this and my cats LOVED it. They are really weird though - they have this thing for foil. Whenever I take it out of the drawer to cover something, they come running from wherever they are and eagerly watch me. I think it has something to do with the fact that my husband balls it up and throws it at them for toys (big enough so they can't swallow it, obviously).

I have heard about this foil trick working for others though. If you do it for a few weeks, if your cat doesn't like the sound of it, he should stop going on the counter.