Kittens on worktops

[Teenmam]

Any ideas how to stop this? Tin foil, sticky tape and baking trays haven't worked! Or do I just give up?

See what @newnameoctober said.

Don't do it. I regret it for this reason.

Other reasons: loudly miaow and cry when shut out of our bedroom, destroyed my felt Christmas ornaments from my grandma 😢, kicks litter out of the box excessively, attacks and bites my hair if I wear it in ponytail, tries to climb my legs when I'm wearing shorts (big ouch!).

Some of these will just be our cat, but yeah, I regret it.

Water bottle on a mist setting as others have said, and I found using the same word in the same tone every time I squirted her did the job. I use "OI!" slightly drawn out. She linked the two quite quickly and I didn't need to use the mist bottle much after that, the word alone would do the job.

Still works 5 years later on the rare occasions she jumps on the kitchen table or starts playing with me a bit too aggressively

Try spraying the worktops with a citrus spray, cats don't like the smell.

Me too

Cat tax please @Teenmam

Olbas oil in strategic places works for me.

A length of kitchen roll along the edge of the worktop with plastic tubs ( yoghurt pots / takeaway containers etc) every few inches with a little bit of water in each one works , as they jump up they pull several pots of water onto themselves.
Yes it's a pain having yo set it and dry the floor but I only had to do it for a few days.

I never used anything other than picking them up and dropping them back down on the floor and being extra careful with cleaning. Two of them figured out within a couple of weeks not to even try.

Some cats are not really capable of learning though, so watch out for any signs of that as repeated attempts using things like spray bottles can be traumatic for them - they don't understand cause and effect so think you are randomly attacking them.

My middle cat of three has some brain damage from being starved as a baby before we got him and can not learn certain things. He's thirteen years old and has been taken off the counter 2-3 times a day his entire life and still doesn't get it. He's tried to climb into a hot oven more than once because he liked the smell so we just keep the kitchen door locked while cooking now and clean surfaces before starting.

He struggles with a lot of other things too, and any attempts at training him using things like spray bottles just made him scared all the time and aggressive.

One of mine is very anxious and does an occasional wee on the worktop. Medication has helped a bit. The vet advised against deterents on the basiis it might lead to harder to deal with wees on soft furnishings.

I tend to think that cats don't suit everyone because tbh they can be right little sods.
Even if you keep cats off your work surfaces when you are in the room, it doesn't mean that the minute you turn your back they won't be on them pissing themselves laughing at your feeble attempts to control them.
Suggest you give up and instead find a nice in-tray for them on the surface so they can happily coexist keep an eye on you while you you prepare your food.

I feed mine on the work top (albeit a bit thats for storage not food). He likes it because he can tiff off his food bowl onto the floor when he's had enough and feed the dog.

DC (no longer with us) happy in the dish drainer

You can't stop a cat from doing anything it wants to do. It will soon become your master and you will do its bidding.

It is until he’s pulling my hair at 4.30am asking me to get up for breakfast. Our previous girl would cuddle down and settle in between us, but this lad is rekentless until you actually get up - and no, he has no truck with a timed feeder! The kitchen is a big room and he has his cat tree, a bed, my “office chair”, a wicker hamper full of his toys, plus obvious litter, water etc. I promise he’s fine in there. He also has his beloved old battered Amazon box on top of the fridge…

I trained my kittens from day 1 kitchen surfaces were out of bounds, took a couple of weeks but they wouldn’t dare now. Spraying water (not at their heads) and a nasty hiss from me was what it took.

I’ve read loads of replies like this - how do you know they don’t go up when you’re not around?

Mine definitely does. That method has only trained her to not get on the worktop when I can see her 🙄.

Just spray worktops before use that’s what I do and kitchen table they are cats they will do what they want and will be on those worktops when you are not there to spray them or tell them no get down.
Just better off cleaning daily and making sure as previous pp have mentioned not leaving anything out that can harm them or have them eating your food.

Someone I know put his kittens on the kitchen counter every time they went into the kitchen. They would jump down, he would put them back up again and repeatedly this quite a few times for a couple of weeks.

I don’t know enough about cats as a non-cat owner to know if this would be stressful for them, but what I do know about cats is they are contrary and stubborn so when he explained the logic it did make sense! Cats hate being told what to do and where to be, so of course they now won’t go where he kept trying to put them!

One of my cat has never shown any interest in the worktops. He likes his paws firmly on the ground. He panics if we pick him up!

His sister jumps on them all the time. It is pointless trying to teach her anything - she just does what she wants. (The vet has described her as “special” due to her tendency to fall off things) However, she does seem to understand heat. She keeps well away from the rings on the hob! I never put food directly on work tops. We cut food up on dinner plates.

Another problem with cats is - we give the cats space, when they are eating, sleeping or using the litter tray! Do they give us space in return? No, they don’t. They are all over us!

As requested, cats on worktops. Bobbles the larger one and Misty his sister, she is smaller but very definitely the boss.

No matter what I did they went on worktop. I just wipe it regularly and before preparing food, if Misty isnt on the worktop she is sat on my shoulder like a parrot. Honestly cleaning up kicked litter, and wiping the worktops is a small price to pay for the cuddles, emotional support and joy these 2 give us. They have even helped my sons tics, he has tourettes. They are my sanity savers.

Thank you @Teenmam

They are gorgeous. I love their expressions.

Cats are the best and it sounds like you have two very special ones, 😻

We just clean the worktops before using them.

Don't worry about it. I assume you use chopping boards, and don't lick the counters. You'll be fine.

All the cats I have had knew not to go on the counters. However once your back is turned, or overnight shut in the kitchen, they will roam looking for treats. Muddy footprints all over the tops first thing in the morning.

Mousey poo and wee and innards are worse, although usually confined to the floor.

Mine wouldn't have dared to do it when I was around. But every morning I would come down to footprints on the glass hob!