# Cat jumping on Kitchen Counters



## captainkittens (Feb 11, 2016)

I have a 5 month old moggie boy who's just began to discover he can jump on kitchen sides. I feed him three times a day so I know he's not hungry (not that I keep food on the side anyway), he has a huge cat climber next to a window so I know it's not a lack of things to climb on and I keep toys all around the house for him to play with at his leisure - but he won't stop climbing on the sides even after I've laid down baking paper to deter him.
I've also tried spraying him with a water bottle but as soon as he hears me coming he runs a mile because he knows he's misbehaving so I can't punish him for being naughty.

He's driving me insane and the last thing I want to do is get super angry with him; I know he's just a baby still and he's curious, but I need to find a way to stop him. Please help?


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## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

We just kept putting them on the floor or an ah ah and tapped gently behind to encourage them off. Eventually, they got the idea 

Keep the tops clear of anything that might encourage them too, such as food, etc. when unattended.


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## Ceiling Kitty (Mar 7, 2010)

I didn't bother.


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## lymorelynn (Oct 4, 2008)

Short of keeping the kitchen door closed when you're not in there you can't be certain that they aren't going up on the counters anyway. You can deter them by putting foil on the edges or by removing them every time you see them with a firm 'no' but in all probability they will still get up there just because they can and just because they are cats.


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## Ceiling Kitty (Mar 7, 2010)

Sorry, the phone rang - I did intend to write more!

I was going to say I have never bothered trying to stop my cats going on the worktops. I just make sure all food is well out the way and disinfect the worktops more often!

I've always found it a losing battle personally, though obviously others have had success!


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## Sh N (Dec 2, 2015)

I've been bribing my cat with treats to find heights in the kitchen- without any success. She has no problem climbing on the cat tree, fences outside, the creeper vine on the fence, windowsills, the dresser in the living room and the coffee table- but seems to avoid kitchen surfaces and the dining table like the plague. 
That must have been some training at her old home!! I just wish she climbed once!


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Hello @captainkittens and welcome 

Cats love worktops! If your circumstances are such that it's absolutely vital that your kitten stays off the worktops, then I strongly advise you to keep him shut out of the kitchen at all times. Because even if you train him not to climb on worktops when you are there, I'm afraid it is inevitable, as sure as eggs are eggs, he will climb on them when you are not there. So you will have to wipe down the surfaces anyway before you start prepping food.

The fact is that he does not know he is being naughty, as he is only exhibiting natural climbing behaviour for a cat. What he has learned is that you get angry with him for some reason he doesn't understand and it scares him so he runs away from you.

It is a waste of time spraying him with water, as he does not make an association between being soaked due to being on the worktops, he is only making a bad association between you and the water spray, and sooner or later it is going to make him permanently wary of you. .

Water spray can only ever be successful as a training tool if the cat does not see you operating the spray, i.e. if cat jumps on work top he activates a sensor-operated water spray, so cat then associates water spray with jumping on counter top and will soon stop doing it. I have not seen any indoor sensor operated sprayers, only ones for the garden. But if you are nifty at DIY perhaps you could adapt one for indoor use, so it is directed only at the counter tops,and not all round the kitchen. This would be a permanent solution to your problem, as an alternative to simply shutting him out of the kitchen. But do bear in mind that a sensor will also operate if a human goes near it, so you would have to accept you may get soaked too!

If none of the above appeal to you then you can do what most of us do - as @Lurcherlad said - you train cats by repetition. There is no need to shout at your kitten or get angry with him as it won't help. Just simply place him gently on the floor every time he gets on the worktop, and be prepared to do it until he has learned what is expected of him. I find this takes about 1 to 2 weeks at most. Then if he has an occasional slip-up when he gets exuberant and forgets, you can point at the floor and say "down" in a firm voice, and he will jump down.

It will help if you put a cat tree in the kitchen, so he has somewhere high up to sit and watch what is going on. Then you can place him on that instead of the floor when you are training him.

I will say again though, you will still need to wipe down work tops before prepping food, no matter how well you manage to train him.


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## Bilai (Jun 3, 2015)

We have one of those touchscreen hobs that would turn on if Milo walked on it so we always just keep the kitchen door closed. It's the only room Milo does not go into unsupervised. We asked a similar question to this to a bunch of our cat owning friends and almost everyone said that it's near impossible to be certain of what they do when you're not around so a closed door was our only option. Wouldn't want him to burn his paws!


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## GDM (Oct 27, 2015)

I've given up - for the last 4 months at least 10 times every day I take our kitten of the worktop put him on the floor and say "no"...makes absolutely no difference as he'll just get back up, maybe not straight away but certainly within a few mins or until *he* doesn't want to


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

Lifes to short to be worried by a cat on your work surfaces,and TBH I've never seen the need.
I wipe clean before preparing food,dont leave anything edible or dangerous lying around, and actually quite like having my little furry helper where I can see him.
If you really find that you must prevent him from bring up there please don't spray him with water,all that is going to do is to make him fearful of you


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## Sh N (Dec 2, 2015)

Cats like watching their humans cook. They want to know what is going on and are super inquisitive. When I'm cooking (and I cook a LOT!) my cat is always there on the floor, sat, in attention and is quite curious to sniff everything.
I can tell you she likes smelling Indian food  and licks the electric whisk clean after I've finished whipping cream, likes bits of parmesan and plain cream cheese. I thoroughly enjoy having Maya as my cooking companion- but second the fact that the area has to be kept immaculate- which means cleaning more than normal with a cleaner that is non toxic to cats (I use a steam mop on the floor and Method spray on the countertop)


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## Rainfall (Nov 4, 2015)

.


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## VeeVee (Mar 24, 2014)

Uma is always on the worktops when I'm in the kitchen and I keep putting her down. It's been going on for five weeks since we have had her. She is five. Alfie who has been with us for three years was also a worktop cat and eventually gave up. Now he sees Uma doing it, he has started again.  Funny thing is when we went on hols, Alfie jumped on the counter when friends and neighbours came to feed him and they thought he was allowed..... Cats!

I won't give up as we have very limited space and unfortunately no kitchen door. They're allowed on top of the fridge or the cupboard so they can watch what's going on.


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## Mildred's Mum (Dec 3, 2015)

Brilliant photo VeeVee!

We keep the kitchen door shut when we're not there as I'm not keen on Mildred's wandering the kitchen when we're not there but luckily she's not too interested in the worktops anyway- the couple of times she's tried it I tell her no, click my fingers and point to the floor- it usually works but I've no idea where she learnt to obey it! (She's a rescue) She prefers windowsills and she's very welcome to be on those!


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## Sh N (Dec 2, 2015)

@VeeVee , She is just beautiful!!!


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## Rainfall (Nov 4, 2015)

VeeVee said:


> Uma is always on the worktops when I'm in the kitchen and I keep putting her down. It's been going on for five weeks since we have had her. She is five. Alfie who has been with us for three years was also a worktop cat and eventually gave up. Now he sees Uma doing it, he has started again.  Funny thing is when we went on hols, Alfie jumped on the counter when friends and neighbours came to feed him and they thought he was allowed..... Cats!
> 
> I won't give up as we have very limited space and unfortunately no kitchen door. They're allowed on top of the fridge or the cupboard so they can watch what's going on.
> View attachment 262140


Awwww. Unfortunately the top of my cupboard is not covered properly else I would have no problem at all with them sitting up there looking down at me


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## VeeVee (Mar 24, 2014)

She is so cute. I made breakfast this morning and she was constantly jumping up, purring and putting her nose into everything including the toaster if I wasn't quick enough to put her back down.


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## spotty cats (Jul 24, 2012)

buffie said:


> Lifes to short to be worried by a cat on your work surfaces


I so agree  Mine are trained not to come up while food is being prepared and that's good enough for me, they can do as they please the rest of the time.


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## Charity (Apr 17, 2013)

I've never worried about it too much though I do try to discourage them but cats will be cats, if they want to do something, they will. One of mine does it but not the other one. One of our worktops is right by the kitchen door and he likes to sit there first thing in the mornings to see when we are coming out of the bedroom. I worry more about whether they might burn themselves on the cooker than germs.


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## Cookieandme (Dec 29, 2011)

Feed me


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## KittenKong (Oct 30, 2015)

Fortunately the late Bella and Tabatha don't seem interested in our kitchen work surfaces, might have something to do with preparing food with a lot of garlic I don't know!
Tabatha likes to climb up me when preparing food or doing the dishes, perching on me like a parrot watching what's going on.
My main concern is walking on to a hot cooker ring so I keep her out of the kitchen when the cooker rings are in use or when still hot.


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

KittenKong said:


> Fortunately the late Bella and Tabatha don't seem interested in our kitchen work surfaces, might have something to do with preparing food with a lot of garlic I don't know!
> Tabatha likes to climb up me when preparing food or doing the dishes, perching on me like a parrot watching what's going on.
> My main concern is walking on to a hot cooker ring so I keep her out of the kitchen when the cooker rings are in use or *when still hot*.


Tip for hot hobs,leave a pan of cold water on them till they cool


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## KittenKong (Oct 30, 2015)

Excellent! Cheers Buffie, many thanks.


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## Citruspips (Jul 6, 2011)

spotty cats said:


> I so agree  Mine are trained not to come up while food is being prepared and that's good enough for me, they can do as they please the rest of the time.


Same here repeatedly saying no and putting them on the floor will stop them jumping up when your preping food or in the kitchen but leave the room and they'll be up. To be honest as long as they're not up when I'm cooking it doesn't bother me.


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## VeeVee (Mar 24, 2014)

Someone told me to put oven trays on the counter so when the cat jumps on them they fall with a very loud crash and scare the cats to never do it again. Well it happened this morning involuntary but the tray fell on my foot and Uma didn't seem bothered at all. Ouch for me though


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## Bilai (Jun 3, 2015)

VeeVee said:


> Someone told me to put oven trays on the counter so when the cat jumps on them they fall with a very loud crash and scare the cats to never do it again. Well it happened this morning involuntary but the tray fell on my foot and Uma didn't seem bothered at all. Ouch for me though


Lol this made me laugh! Hope you're ok  x


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## VeeVee (Mar 24, 2014)

The battle of wills continues.


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## VeeVee (Mar 24, 2014)

Uma has now figured out how to open the touch bins..... 

We still love her though. :Cat


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## Sh N (Dec 2, 2015)

@VeeVee, Oh dear  
My best friend's cat hangs on to door handles and opens them to gain access to rooms. He likens her to those intelligent velociraptors in Jurassic Park!


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## TallulahCat (Dec 31, 2015)

Personally I've never bothered. Obviously you have to be a bit careful what you leave out unless you don't mind teeth marks in it. I just wipe down the worktops before cooking, not with disinfectant, just hot soapy water. I've never got ill from it!

If you're concerned about the hob, you could get a lid to put down over it when not in use. Mine did tread on the hot hob once - fortunately she was not injured but it gave her a bit of a shock and I thought, "at least she'll never do that again." 2 minutes later she did it again!


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## VeeVee (Mar 24, 2014)

this is the scene this evening when I turned round from my cooking. Uma on the counter and Alfie in the cabinet. Those two have lived together for 6 weeks and teaching each other all the naughty tricks.


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## Rainfall (Nov 4, 2015)

Uma looks completely focused  And I love Alfie being sneaky in the cabinet.


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## claire8234 (Mar 8, 2013)

I absolutely can't stand my cats going on the worktops - nothing against anyone who lets their cats up in their own home but I don't like it. 

Tommy is coming up for five months and is always jumping up there because he has just realised he can. He likes to be able to look out the window or just explore from a different height.

If I am in the kitchen I just pick him up and tell him no or of he is being a real pain then the kitchen door gets shut and he stays in the lounge. He has a massive scratching post in the dining room, a cat tree to climb but it isn't as fun as leaping at the worktop! 

I have an electric hob that stays hot for a long time, the thought of the cats walking across it and burning their feet is just awful so I don't want them up there.

I also don't like the thought of poopy paws going on my counters or hair being deposited even if it gets cleaned but each to their own like I said. X


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## VeeVee (Mar 24, 2014)

Hard work isn't it! Uma got something out of the bin tonight and proudly brought it into the lounge. this is her and Alfie sitting on top of the cabinets. Double trouble. They're not related but they look so alike.


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## Rainfall (Nov 4, 2015)




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## Flosstopher (Nov 1, 2015)

I've got an island in my kitchen and the table is almost the same height as it. I put Poppy on there if she jumps on to the island if I'm cooking.

She gets to see what I'm doing and I get a cat free worktop! She's not cracked the side with the hob on yet, the freezer is more exciting for her


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## claire8234 (Mar 8, 2013)

I'm not allowed where? Oh on the kitchen counters you say? Ah yes well let me just finish licking the cream out the mixing bowl and I'll get down. You didn't want it did you?!


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## KittenKong (Oct 30, 2015)

Awww. He's so cute.


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## claire8234 (Mar 8, 2013)

KittenKong said:


> Awww. He's so cute.


He's a sod!!


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## VeeVee (Mar 24, 2014)

Still trying to teach Uma off the worktops. She jumps away when my husband walk into the kitchen or tells her "off". It doesn't work with me much but I won't give up!


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## rfraser11 (Jun 20, 2015)

One of my cats consistently jumps up on the worktops. The other one was told no once and now has no interest. 

It became a real problem for us, as she jumped up unexpectedly while we were cooking, straight onto the hob, and burnt her paws! She's all better now, but the experience hasn't deterred her in the slightest. 

We shut the French doors when we are out, and after we've been cooking as the hob is still warm. But she has learnt to push them open! So now we have had to put a bolt on the doors. Her response has been to dig at floor in front of the doors until she pulled up the carpet, its completely ruined, and I was worried she might be chewing dangerous fibres. We're now having wooden flooring fitted in the living room (our kitchen adjoins our living room). Cats are certainly expensive, lol.


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## VeeVee (Mar 24, 2014)

A little update. Uma still jumps on counters but jumps down quickly too, she is definitely much better than she used to be. 

My husband told me a funny story tonight. He went into the kitchen and Uma miaowed (she is not vocal at all) and found our other cat Alfie on the counter and he translated Uma as "get off Alfie, you're going to be told off" or "see! Alfie is on the counter, that's soooo naughty" .


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## Blue-BearUK (Aug 11, 2015)

Luna has no fear...


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