How to stop cats going on kitchen worktops?

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Our kitten (who's 4 and a half months old) jumps up onto the kitchen worktops. We don't want her to do it because it's unhygienic. She has also knocked over a case of flowers (spilling water everywhere) and a potted plant (breaking the pot) that was on the windowsill. We have nowhere else we can put things to keep them out of reach!

Her and her brother aren't allowed outside yet. We're waiting for them to be neutered which is booked for a few weeks' time. So I wonder if they're getting bored of being cooped up. They do have each other to play with, and we play with them too (at least once a day).

I'm at a loss as to what we can do. Would it help to buy one of those tall cat towers for them to climb and play with? I'm worried if we buy it they won't use it and will keep jumping up in the kitchen.

We can't shut them out of the kitchen because it's an open plan kitchen/dining area, with a utility room off the kitchen, and we keep their food and water bowls in the kitchen and their litter trays in the utility room.

I've tried and tried to stop our cat sitting on the work surfaces. Recently I came downstairs extra early and found DH sitting in the kitchen eating his breakfast, the kitchen sink tap on with the cat sitting beside the sink dipping his paw in the running water and washing... apparently they do this every morning. Given up now!

Thanks for the tips everyone!
CatCushion any suggestions for where to buy one of those alarms you have?

I think it was from Amazon..."Multivet Ssscat". These canisters don't last very long (especially as our gadget would just go off randomly sometimes, or iy would take ages to set it) so worth getting spares.

They definitely can learn, because ours learned with very little effort or struggle not to get on the work surface when someone can see them.

They're yet to realise that the sound of a cat jumping off a work surface is easy to identify, as is the telltale clatter of a clumsy paw knocking a fork into the sink. But I don't really mind them up there, just didn't want them faffing about making pains of themselves when I'm cooking. So I feign ignorance, and they think they're very clever.

When we got our rescue cat she loved jumping onto the worktops. I put tin foil on the worktops for a few weeks, as she is scared of the noise, and she has never been on them since - and definitely doesn't go on there when we aren't there thankfully.

But the success with the tin foil didn't stretch to working for our bed. She won't go on while the tin foil is on there. But if I don't put it on, then soon as we go out of the house she is straight on there, sigh....

Fluffcat a new year treat for the eye! A very happy new year to the spirited little lad.

I am sitting with Mr Cory at the moment. We are both eating pizza. From the same plate. Same pizza, see, and we're both hungry. He picks the bacon off quarter by quarter, I eat the mushroomed remainder when he's done. Not once have I ever been ill from a cat.

Corygal, that's disgusting. But, you know, each to their own!

Mine never get on the worktops and that's because I bellowed "DOWN!" at them every single time (and lifted them off without any ceremony). They do learn, eventually.

I shared food with childhood cats, one crisp for me then one for puss.

I'm rarely ill.

When we are tired Mr and Mr Cory fall asleep in a ball, dribbling on the other. In the mornings sometimes we are stuck to each other.

Deliberately provoking OP... he's an indoor cat, he's much cleaner than you or I could ever be.

I figure cats are pretty clean, but I wouldn't let them eat off my pizza. Didn't mean to be rude though, genuinely meant it when I said each to their own!

Whenever I bring a frappuccino home, the MantraCats get in on the action. MKitten hassles for the cream, MCat is obsessed with the coffee. Sometimes they put mud in it, with their peskity pawing. Which is unpleasantly crunchy.

I'd be honored to share a pizza with the delightful Mr. Cory.

Sadly he's taken.

Cats do stop jumping up on kitchen worktops - when they get so old and arthritic that they can't jump that far any more. So you only have maybe 15 more years before they stop. Only way to stop them before that is to move house and don't tell them where you live.

Mine is now at the arthritic stage, but I'm still in the habit of using large chopping boards for any and all food preparation and keeping the boards off the worktops on a rack or on the top of the cooker while not in use.

Over time I've found I can arrange things in ways that they don't get knocked over, e.g. by putting smaller plants behind big heavy ones, or by filling an entire part of the windowsill with plant pots so there's no room for the cat to get up there at all. It's just something you get the hang of after you've lost a few dozen things to a clumsy cat.

Sorry but plant sprayers and tellings off do not usually continue to work while you are not in the house. Moggy is fully aware that nobody is going to spray her with anything when nobody is at home. If they learn that you don't like it and they learn not to do it while you're there, they can also learn that they can do what they like while you're out! If they still actually want to get up somewhere they will, although some learn that there's nothing very interesting on the worktops so stop actually wanting to get up there. The day it smells of bacon up there you better be standing in the kitchen all day with your finger on the trigger!

I also keep counters clean and clear. There's nothing interesting there for them. Cat food isn't kept in the kitchen either, so the cats are not interested in the counters.

I don't keep anything interesting on my kitchen counters but they like the sink and tap. And from the counter, a cat can jump on top of the cooker and stare up the chimney ...

There's nothing like the telltale 'thud' of a cat jumping down from a work surface as they hear you coming into the kitchen. I am resigned to just wiping them down before use.

Give them a bath in the kitchen sink. They see the kitchen in a whole new way! (Provide plenty of water elsewhere too.)

I'm not saying all (or even most) cats can be trained in all places. Just trying to think what has worked with this cat.
I really don't want cats on my counters though, so I do all these things. I think I've definitely been particularly lucky with our current cat, as her main interest is sitting on my lap, and avoiding getting wet or being shouted at. She isnt typical. Our boy cat was quite different when he thought we were not home and would occasionally be caught on a counter if there was food left out. He would deliberately push things off shelves in front of me. He would beg for food at the table too. His main interest was always food!

Our late cat never went on the kitchen work surfaces. I think our trick is that our kitchen is tiny and the surfaces were often kept spectacularly cluttered when he was a kitten so he couldn't get up there. So he stopped bothering.

Rubbish - thank you for the compliment, Mr C is very chuffed with himself. A super Happy New Year to you and the Mantracats of loveliness.

Happy New Ears to yourself and your suave gentleman Monsieur Cory.

My cats no longer go on work surfaces but now one sleeps in the bath & another cat in the bathroom sink

I hate the fact that my cats get on the kitchen work top. It turns my stomach that they scrabble around in their litter trays and then walk about where I prepare food. Both cats know they're not supposed to be up there but, ya know, they're cats so completely ignore that fact.

Thank god for bleach.

Also don't like my cat on my work surface, but I fear I don't have enough high up spots.

he's caught rapid each day I come home from work as I see him om the kitchen window ledge. He then scrambles down when he spots me and is then found by the front door attempting to look innocent

We have a chunky BSH girl who is so unathletic its ridiculous! She can't jump a fence, a stair gate or thankfully up on to the worktops!