Cats on kitchen counters

[BertiesMangos]

Another "I'm pregnant and have a cat post", but I've not seen this aspect mentioned previously...

Our cat loves the kitchen counter. We find her on there multiple times a day and have to shoo her off. We do try to clean the worktops and induction hob regularly, but it's very hard to keep up (and my husband, who to his credit does most of the cooking, unfortunately naturally takes a "well it looks clean" approach to cleaning).

I'm suddenly a lot more mindful of this in pregnancy, as I'm worried she's treading dirty paws around the side and that there is therefore a (very small) risk of toxoplasmosis / generally that it's an unhhygeinic thing I don't want to encourage!

I have two questions:

1. Anyone have any advice on how to stop her continuing to clamber all over the worktops/ have a little nap on the hob, or do I just have to keep on top of the cleaning?!

2. In the unlikely case that we have prepared food on a worktop that we haven't kept on top of, would cooking this food guarantee that it kills any of the toxoplasmosis-causing oocysts? I've tried looking this one up and I know cooking meat kills them but can't work out if the oocysts in cat litter would be the same type, and I'm slightly thrown by instructions to "thoroughly wash soiled veg before cooking it" as that would seem to imply that cooking may not do the job!

Essentially - I've not seen people mention this previously and I don't know if it's because others' cats actually behave/ others are much better at keeping on top of cleaning than us / it just isn't a risk at all!

Yuck

I don't own cats but often see them digging out mud in my front garden then taking a dump whilst standing in the dump they left the time before

Couldn't do with that op sorry.

Can't you spray citronella on the surfaces to stop the cat climbing on them?

Our cat isn’t allowed on kitchen surfaces and she knows that

Chase her off everytime

I’ve seen putting tin foil on the counters will scare them off.

Having had many cats i know how hard it is to keep them away. I would say wiping the surfaces before cooking with an antibac spray. Or dettol wipe.

Tbh, you most likely already had toxoplasmosis if you had the cat for a while...
I got tested for the antibodies at the beginning of my pregnancy and had immunity for an old infection- which i obviously never noticed!

If you can’t be certain of the cleanliness of your worktop for any reason, use a chopping board or something similar that you know you can clean thoroughly and put away out of reach of feline nosiness. Glass one works well.

From what I have read about toxoplasmosis, if you have had a cat for a while, you are likely to have been exposed to toxoplasmosis already. Once you catch it you can't get infected again. I'd say it was highly unlikely that you'd all of a sudden catch toxoplasmosis during pregnancy, if you've owned a cat for a while. I would just make sure you keep chopping boards away until you need them, and if you are unsure, use an antibacterial spray or wipe on items before using them.

I have 4 cats and newborn twins.....they do occasionally jump on the kitchen worktop - you do really need to start training them out of the habit now (and your husband!) - as soon as they jump up you need to immediately put them
Down - do it every time. Don't leave food out to tempt them. Keep the door shut if you can (we can't as we are open plan). If they keep at it then take them down and put them outside. They'll soon learn that doing it gets them banished.

Use a citrus based kitchen spray cleaner

Napping on the hob is just plain wrong! (And I'm a cat lover!)

Yes cooking food should kill any bacteria but it isn't worth the risk really. Cats do carry nasty things like meningitis in their mouths/saliva - there was a case where a baby died from meningitis after the cat had apparently been able to lick its milk bottle

We have two cats who both do this. They like to sit on the kitchen window cill so climb over the worktop to get there. They don't go outside, but they still sit in their litter tray so it's still pretty gross!

I just assume they've been on there, even if I haven't seen them and I just dettol the chopping board/work surface before I do any kind of food prep (or get a clean chopping board out if I'm in being lazy!)

I agree it's hard to keep them off. My husband is also guilty of dropping food on the hob and chucking it back in the pan, and I worry about the same thing - though had always assumed that any kind of heating killed any kind of toxo parasites. Tbh I've generally taken over the cooking so that I can make sure I'm in control!

I think the issue is that OP isnt the one cooking and is concerned about the impact of her husband's habits! I empathise with this as when tired/ nauseous I really couldn't stomach the cooking.

@PurpleCurtain good point. My husband is doing most of the cooking atm too and I just assumed he was doing the same as me when it comes to cleaning before prep - better check he is!!!!

This isn't an issue I face- my cat is unusually well-trained (thanks to the lady who bred him) and doesn't jump up where he isn't allowed. he's such a good boy that after I'm done typing this I'm going to go give him a massive fuss because I'm a soppy sod and he's just purrrfect.

However, I do know how to put a cat off a behaviour, due to a previous cat I had having a penchant for climbing the curtains- a small water pistol. Get a small water pistol and stakeout the kitchen, and as soon as your cat jumps up, give her a quick squirt (not a drenching)- unless she likes water this should be outputting enough to stop the behaviour. As an additional aid, you could, at the same time you acquire the water pistol, make a new perch for her somewhere else in the home and maybe put a bit of catnip there, to encourage her to use the new area.

Unlike dogs who you can train properly I feel cats only learn not to do something when you are looking!

I think just have a policy of wiping the surfaces down before preparing food. I'm sure cooking will also kill toxoplasmosis.

We never prepare any food directly on the surfaces. Use a chopping board or bread board which you wash up and put away.
Shut cats out of the kitchen?

I take faith in the fact that I've owned cats for my entire life and have probably already been exposed to toxoplasmosis. Besides it's more common in cats that are young and have only recently started hunting things. Cleaning the surface before cooking etc is likely to be enough. Try not to worry op x

I believe threads about cats must include a photo...

As above, toxoplasmosis is only a problem if cats are new. If you've owned them for a while you would almost certainly ready had it. I believe you can pay for a test to check antibodies

@Soubriquet

Our cat isn’t allowed on kitchen surfaces and she knows that

Chase her off everytime

I’ve seen putting tin foil on the counters will scare them off.

I love this. Such a cat person thing to say. Suggesting your cat knows she's not allowed on the counters, but then also that you chase her off everytime she's on the counters .

I do the same btw.

@ThisMammaCat

This isn't an issue I face- my cat is unusually well-trained (thanks to the lady who bred him) and doesn't jump up where he isn't allowed. he's such a good boy that after I'm done typing this I'm going to go give him a massive fuss because I'm a soppy sod and he's just purrrfect.

However, I do know how to put a cat off a behaviour, due to a previous cat I had having a penchant for climbing the curtains- a small water pistol. Get a small water pistol and stakeout the kitchen, and as soon as your cat jumps up, give her a quick squirt (not a drenching)- unless she likes water this should be outputting enough to stop the behaviour. As an additional aid, you could, at the same time you acquire the water pistol, make a new perch for her somewhere else in the home and maybe put a bit of catnip there, to encourage her to use the new area.

I've done all of this and they do run as soon as they see me coming towards them with the water.... but then run straight back on as soon as I've gone. My cats have both been stubborn little nightmares since I gave birth!! They just do not listen and the older cat 100% intentionally does it to piss me off 😂😂

I've had to put tin foil on my worktops and keep the recycling box on top of the hob when its not in use to keep my bastard cats off.

We trained our cat out of jumping on the worktop with tin foil too.

I have cats and they occasionally go on the worktop. I don't mind massively tbh. I just take them off when I see them and I regularly anti-bac anyway.

How is your house laid out? Is your kitchen a separate room as in not open plan with the rest of the house? You could just shut the kitchen off. Not let the cat in there at all. At least that way you would know that there is no risk of him getting on the worktops.

I have two house cats and I disinfect the worktops before every use and still use chopping boards that I keep stored away in cupboards.

Thanks everyone - sorry for going awol! Sounds like the tin foil thing is worth a try, particularly whilst we're not having house visitors, to try and snap her out of it. I always hope it's an attention seeking thing for the most part.

Sadly whilst we aren't quite open plan, we don't have many doors downstairs so there would only be the option of shutting her in our tiny utility room (where her food/ bed/ cat flap out is), which DH says is too cruel given I already don't let her go upstairs...

@PurpleCurtain has it on the money - confident in my own cleaning!

I once found my old cat asleep on top of the microwave which was high up on the wall, his sister who we still have scratches everything and still does, but this was a brand new leather sofa. My ex rubbed orange all over it, and her nose to stop her. Guess what she did? She bloody licked all the orange juice off the sofa!

Tin foil works, but my cat hates the extraction fan and oven being on and will stand at the kitchen door glaring at me !

This is probably a stupid thing to say as I don’t own a cat but can you not just keep the kitchen door closed? Or is it open plan? Either way I agree that I think cooking would kill off the toxoplasmosis if there was any - although not all food you prepare in the kitchen will be cooked like sandwiches etc so might be best to try and prevent it in the first place x