Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

Cat going on kitchen work surfaces!

40 replies

Minta85 · 21/08/2016 20:15

My lovely eight month old Burmese boy has recently started jumping onto the kitchen work surfaces. I've tried lifting him off, but he just jumps back on again. Clapping my hands and saying 'No!' firmly also has no effect. Does anyone have any tips or ideas they could share for how to get him to stop?

OP posts:
user7755 · 21/08/2016 20:15

Shut him out and keep a bottle of zoflora spray handy for when he does!

Fluffycloudland77 · 21/08/2016 20:44

I just wipe up a lot.

Wolfiefan · 21/08/2016 20:44

Water pistol?
You'd be brave to try that on a Burmese though!
Grin

Original poster
Minta85 · 21/08/2016 20:49

I've tried lightly sprinkling drops of water on him, but he just shakes himself and carries cheekily on!

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 21/08/2016 21:10

Shut him out of the kitchen every single time. Just hoick him down and out brusquely ( but not nastily) and after 20 minutes open the kitchen door. Do not call him back in, just ignore him if he returns. And repeat.......

Be implacable about it.

bikerlou · 21/08/2016 21:12

After a few years you will just give up and let them do whatever they want. I've given up. The house doesn't belong to me it belongs to my cats.

villainousbroodmare · 21/08/2016 21:13

Exactly what cosietosie says with even more vigilance and implacability plus never leaving anything out that he could snack on.
The way they gently apply their anus to the work surface is just horrible! Grin

DixieWishbone · 21/08/2016 21:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SpidersFromMars · 21/08/2016 21:16

Foil on the worktop worked for us

cozietoesie · 21/08/2016 21:16

The sanitary aspects don't bother me - heck, I sleep with my boys - but I just can't be doing with it. No Work Surfaces is one of our very few house rules.

cozietoesie · 21/08/2016 21:18

That picture that TCN has posted of her kitchen makes me twitch! Grin

freetrampolineforall · 21/08/2016 21:19

You know the cat goes on it when you're not there, right ? Wipe down before every food prep.

Potentialmadcatlady · 21/08/2016 21:21

Open plan house, dog eats cat food if he can and gets the runs...cats fed up high on vets orders to stop the above...all equals cats on work surface whether I like it or not..I clean work surfaces every time I walk past and disinfect with wipes before doing anything in kitchen every single time...cracks me up but a poopy bottomed dog is worse so I put up with it....

Original poster
Minta85 · 21/08/2016 22:16

Have just tried putting a big piece of foil down to see if it would put him off. Nope, he walked straight onto it and was having a great time investigating it! He really is incorrigible!

OP posts:
hugoagogo · 21/08/2016 22:19

Argh I don't know the answer, but please don't use zoflora around cats as it is toxic to them!

cozietoesie · 21/08/2016 22:20

He sounds as if he has you thoroughly under the paw. Smile

SpookyRachel · 21/08/2016 22:20

You may train your cat not to go on the worktops when you are present. I doubt you will ever prevent him taking his revenge when you are not there...

user7755 · 21/08/2016 22:34

Hugo - only if you don't rinse / dry isn't it?

cozietoesie · 21/08/2016 22:35

My Siamese boys wouldn't dare. Smile

The Lodger being a force of nature (and also arriving when he was full grown and I wasn't in a mood to train him) would, I think, occasionally forget if I wasn't around and he was in hot pursuit - his old thieving habits died hard - but even he 'minded'.

It can be done.

cozietoesie · 21/08/2016 22:40

I forgot to add that you have to make it clear that 'bad thoughts' about rule breaking count as the act itself. (It's very easy to tell when a cat is having them.)

Original poster
Minta85 · 21/08/2016 22:53

Lol, yes, I can tell when he's plotting his next bit of mischief!

OP posts:
SaggyNaggy · 21/08/2016 22:57

My little tabby is 4months and gets on them too. I leave him to it and just wipe before and after use.

orangebird69 · 21/08/2016 23:01

I've got 5 cats in an open plan house. I just get through a lot of antibac/disinfectant spray. A friend used to put sheets of newspaper on the side so when her cat jumped up, the paper would slip off. Apparently that worked. But frankly, unless you're watching them constantly and locking them out when you're not there, you're pissing in the wind. Good luck!

TondelayaDellaVentamiglia · 21/08/2016 23:03

Zoflora is perfectly pet safe...that is why I use it.

Zoflora and pets

I also have to keep the cat food up high because of the dogs, so it's spray/wipe/dry before any food prep and meals. Faerie particularly likes to sleep on the kitchen table.

ifcatscouldtalk · 21/08/2016 23:24

My cat is a git for this he even even gets on the kitchen window seal as I reverse off the drive almost as if having the last laugh that he is on the worktops again. No door on my kitchen so just wipe surfaces before food prep. I probably clean the kitchen much more frequently than i use to. The worse was when he knocked the gas on so now i turn the oven off after every use. I've never had a cat like him, but he is so handsome and loves a cuddle so all is forgiven. Good luck.