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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to allow cat on table and kitchen surfaces?

80 replies

rubbersole · 20/04/2011 11:17

'Cause I do. He loves to sit on dining table and watch the garden. I'll lift him down, wipe the table and put on a cloth if we're going to eat at it (esp if we have company).

In the kitchen he hops onto one worktop to get onto the top of the fridge where he likes to sit. Again - I always wipe down any surface before food prep.

Neither me nor DH are ever ill, no dinner guests have ever reported being ill and house is clean and not smelly or hairy.
So what's the problem?

Last night a friend who was sitting in my dining room - not at the table and not eating - jumped up and swiped the cat onto the floor when he jumped onto the table.

I know this is how a lot of people react.

What are they scared off?

OP posts:
Northernlurker · 20/04/2011 11:20

We have settled for keeping our cat off all the worktops except for one and for wiping down as you do. It is imo impossible to keep them off altogther. I think people see them as a dirty animal and that's why they oppose it - but if you live with a cat you know that compromise is all you can hope for!

MaisyMooCow · 20/04/2011 11:20

Your cat, your house, do as you wish.

worraliberty · 20/04/2011 11:22

I'm not a germ freak by any means but I don't think kitchen worktops or dining tables are good places for any animals to be.

My neighbour's cat lies on her kitchen worktops and you can see cat hairs stuck to the side of her deep fat fryer...bleurrggh!

paulapantsdown · 20/04/2011 11:22
peeriebear · 20/04/2011 11:22

My cat is fed on the sideboard otherwise the dog will eat the lot in a second. She is allowed on one (by the sink) but not the other (food prep), and is learning this!

Champersonice · 20/04/2011 11:26

I personally don't agree/like this but if I am in a house where it is acceptable, then it has nothing to do with me. As Maisy so rightly said, your house! Smile

theoldbrigade · 20/04/2011 11:30

A little ambivalent on this one ! Have never known a home without a cat but never has one been allowed on any prep. surface or the table. Just the way it is. I think everyone knows the bacteria in a cats mouth is really dire so maybe that is why your friend reacted so instinctively.

DontCallMeBaby · 20/04/2011 11:31

I figure there is what you 'allow' your cat to do when you're there, and what they get up to when you're not ... therefore even if I removed our cats from the dining table and kitchen surfaces every time I saw them up there, I'd still be wiping the surfaces before using them, as I don't know what the cats are up to when I'm not watching (no good, I can guarantee).

One of ours doesn't really do it, and the other has figured he gets very short shrift if he hops on the surface I actually prepare food at, opting instead for staring at me from the opposite surface in the hope that I am preparing Nice Ham. He also likes the top of the fridge.

worraliberty · 20/04/2011 11:32

I didn't know about the mouth thing theoldbrigade I just know they shit in litter trays/gardens...cover it over and then leap on worktops/tables.

LaWeasel · 20/04/2011 11:34

Most people don't allow cats on tables, so they probably think they're being helpful.

I don't allow it, so maybe that is why I wouldn't be bothered though.

Vallhala · 20/04/2011 11:36

There isn't a problem. He's your cat, it's your house... if other's don't like it that's THEIR problem. I'd suggest that maybe they find someone else to visit if they are compelled to "swipe" a cat to the floor...

... after I'd hit the fecking roof and offered to swipe them or their child to the floor and see how they like it told them excatly what I thought of them.

Goblinchild · 20/04/2011 11:37

I don't let the cats on the work surfaces or on the table. When I'm not around, the kitchen door is shut and I clean surfaces anyway before starting food prep.
I was food bowls in the sink, separate from human.
Your house your rules, and the friend shouldn't have swiped your cat. That said, if I knew what your choices were I probably would decline dinner invites.
I hate it when people put down human plates for dogs to clean.

muminthemiddle · 20/04/2011 11:37

I don't allow it with my cat.

HeidiKat · 20/04/2011 11:38

YABU for letting the cat on food preparation or eating surfaces IMO. You are lucky that nobody has picked up any bacteria so far, you only have to miss a couple and they start to multiply. I am not germ phobic but my cat knows she is not allowed on any of the kitchen worktops or table, none of my cats ever have been.

Punkatheart · 20/04/2011 11:38

We had lots of rules when we first got cats:

They are NOT allowed upstairs.

(pit-a-pat two kittens up the stairs - would could be sweeter)

They are NOT allowed on the bed.

(Two kittens want to come in to bed with me and go to sleep - sweet)

They are NOT allowed on the kitchen surfaces.

However, at night I have caught mine on the tables, eating flowers in water and then barfing on the carpet. Not so sweet now, you little bugger!!

If you are a cat owner, you have to face up to the fact that they do what THEY want. When you are watching, they may behave differently but there is a whole world of joyous rulebreaking and bottom wiping on your tables at night time....

CharlotteBronteSaurus · 20/04/2011 11:38

"what are they scared of?"
pooey cat bums on the dining table and cat hairs in their sandwiches, with all the attendant germs, i assume.

we've trained ours not to go on the worksurfaces. the dining table is a work in progress.

rockinhippy · 20/04/2011 11:38

I don't agree with it either, my cats are trained to stay off the table & kitchen work surfaces, they are pretty good at following the rules, though I suspect they occasionally have a protest party on the dining table whilst we sleepHmm

That said I wouldn't dream of chasing SILs Cats off her table/worktops as thats her business if she chooses to let hers do different to ours - as already said - HER house, HER business - very rude of your visitor in MHO

theoldbrigade · 20/04/2011 11:40

worraliberty
Yep, they do that too but give 'em a break - they don't have a lot of choice !

rockinhippy · 20/04/2011 11:41

charlotte have you tried adding a few drops of citronella to whatever you wipe your table with?? - works wonders at keeping ours off places we don't want them to go :)

squeakytoy · 20/04/2011 11:42

Food prep is done on chopping boards, and we eat off plates, not the actual table, so it wouldnt bother me.

corygal · 20/04/2011 11:46

As an indoor cat, my lovely tabby is allowed the run of everywhere - his fat pink paws are spotless and we have never had any trouble.

ipswichwitch · 20/04/2011 11:50

in my experience, you may be able to keep a cat off the table while you are in, but the minute you set foot out the room they get up to whatever the bloody hell they like!! mine knows she's not allowed in the bedrooms, but somehow i still find wee piles of cat hair (evidence) that the little bugger has been sneaking about the place when i'm not looking

OldBagWantsNewBag · 20/04/2011 11:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TeddyMcardle · 20/04/2011 11:52

Eugh

QuietTiger · 20/04/2011 11:52

Ours do what they like - we're lucky in only 2 of the 8 we have jump on the kitchen surfaces, but then that's why we wipe the surfaces down with bleach before we prepare food. Infact, it's such an ingrained habit, we do it even when the cats aren't here! (in the cattery before we go on holiday for e.g.)

As for jumping on the dining table etc, we have one who sleeps in the middle of it!

But then as DH put it... we live in a working farm-house, the kitchen is hardly likely to be imaculate with wellies and working dogs in and out all day.