Has anyone managed to train cats to stay off the kitchen counter?

[IDontMindMarmite]

It's a lost cause isn't it?

Yesterday I was cooking and removed one particular cat from the side 7 times. I say "no" but this is completely meaningless to the two yobs.

What beautiful eyes, I miss a pair of big green eyes looking up at me. It’s worth the total destruction of the house and knitwear.

Mine never go up. The older boy although is amazing at jumping, he's never jumped up on the kitchen worktops or the bath or anything. He barely even jumps up on the window ledge.
The younger however , she'll be blatantly walking over any surface not matter what I do..so we keep the kitchen door shut.

I have had cats who jump up and steal food and cats who don't. I have decided that it is entirely a matter of luck. My current furry arsehole used to sneak up and steal food off our plates while we were eating. I did manage to get him to stop jumping on the table while we were eating so he lay in wait and jumped up the instant we were done to find leftovers. Lately though, around 4 years after he stopped doing it he's started again! Utter twat of a cat. The git only gets one carton of food a day off us, eats anything he can steal, hunts and eats his kills daily and when the teenager has a bowl of yoghurt in the evening the cat sits on the coffee table giving him death glares until he's finished and the cat can lick the bowl. Last check up the vet told me not to let him gain any more weight!

@OakleyStreetisnotinChelsea

I have had cats who jump up and steal food and cats who don't. I have decided that it is entirely a matter of luck. My current furry arsehole used to sneak up and steal food off our plates while we were eating. I did manage to get him to stop jumping on the table while we were eating so he lay in wait and jumped up the instant we were done to find leftovers. Lately though, around 4 years after he stopped doing it he's started again! Utter twat of a cat. The git only gets one carton of food a day off us, eats anything he can steal, hunts and eats his kills daily and when the teenager has a bowl of yoghurt in the evening the cat sits on the coffee table giving him death glares until he's finished and the cat can lick the bowl. Last check up the vet told me not to let him gain any more weight!

It's the same with dogs really. 2 of my Bernards wouldn't touch food left on the side, despite it being easy for them to reach. My Goldie on the other hand, nothing is safe. I caught her in the sink when she was a pup eating the tomato plants I had growing on the window sill.

@dudsville

I heard that if you leave your surfaces lined with loose aluminium foil they'll hate it and soon learn not to go there. Has anyone tried that?

Yeah, doesn't work at all.

As almost all PPs, whatever you try all they do is learn not to go up on the counter while you're there. Ten seconds wipe down in the morning and it's done, for me.

However, we have managed to train the little fuzzballs that people food is distinct from cat food, by never ever letting them have any. They'll literally jump up on your lap for a stroke while you're eating a fried breakfast or indeed anything else, and show no interest whatsoever in the bacon etc, it's amazing. That's a 'never did' though, not a thing you can train back to afterwards

MyTwoBengals I have the same cat tree, mine is also ignored in favour of sharpening her claws on the carpet of the bottom stair.

Considering Haribo likes to watch me wash dishes I would have by now expected him to pick up enough tips so he can wash them for me.

My parents spent months training their kittens not to do this. If you sneak up to the house and peer through the windows, there they are, lounging on the work surfaces. The second they see or hear you, they bolt. They know not to get caught.

My cat has never climbed on a work surface. She does leap on top of the American fridge freezer in one bound and sit up there gazing at us imperiously. And she scratches all the furniture. And the corner of the wall on the landing. I simply can't stop her.

I’ve attempted to train my cat to stay off the counters by telling him it makes me really really sad, but sadly all that’s done is train my cat to (pretend to) look guilty when I catch him on the counter.

The kitchen door is closed overnight and mostly during the day if we’re not in there, but he still finds his moments. And if you catch him he’ll jump down and do a little head tilt and buzzy meow like “i know you said don’t, but I forgot mum!” with lots of head bumping and blinking.

Adorable little git

One of ours does, and he's a lost cause generally so we just clean it a LOT. Our bathroom is through the kitchen (terrible layout) so every time I go for a wee I give the side a wipe down, and obviously before we use it for making food. Our big fat void boy just blinks stupidly at you if you tell him off, so I've accepted this as my fate now.

Haha nope! Tried for the first 6 months but now I just make sure I have plenty car friendly cleaning products.

Cat friendly not cat!

Well that isn't a great start. Now to find a water pistol...

You need more commitment. That is a tiny sheet.

God I don't want to cover the entire surface. I was hoping the bit at the front to stop them jumping up would suffice.

You can’t squirt them with water.

Why not?

It’s mean & they’ll just do anyway when your backs turned.

Foil works some of the time. One of our cats hates it, the other couldn't care less. We even have pictures of him sleeping on it. He does get down when we tell him off (but goes back when our backs are turned).

Cats are just yobs in cute furry coats.

I love my furry little anarchists. I don't have a water pistol and can't leave the house for 2 weeks anyway.

No. But in any case, now that I have a dog as well as a cat, the cat's food has to go on the kitchen counter, otherwise the dog eats it! The cat has his own little end area of the counter where he eats and obviously only goes on that bit. Not.

Yes, three out of four cats I've owned, just by telling them not to, and taking them off if they did. They wouldn't bother going on the table either once they got the idea they shouldn't.

But one cats gives. Not. A. Fuck.

He jumps up to see what I'm cooking, insists on joining us for meals (if we don't give him a chair he sits on DHs shoulders) and sleeps on the dining room table.

We feed ours when we are cooking and that keeps him busy and off the surfaces. I read that squirting with water can induce skittish or defensive behaviour. A plant mister fired towards the ceiling so that it drops down on the cat might be kinder. I guess it depends on your cat but as I have a kitten I’m keen not to encourage any behavioural problems so I’m overly cautious.

Oh and because we are keen first time kitten slaves we spend a silly amount of time redirecting our kitten so he is ignored if on a surface and fed/fussed/rewarded/responded to when he is on the floor. So far this has had little or no success. We can only concluded that his training of us humans is coming along well

It must be easier to train humans than cats.