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?

Mine sit on the worktop and watch me cook and play in the sink. DH doesn’t like it, but we don’t tell him 😊

My two cats are 15 and have never gone on the worktops or any other high surface since being kittens. They will go on the front room window sill. I was trying to think why my cats are seemingly so good with this, and I think it might be the fact that my house can be cluttered and messy and certain surfaces are not appealing due to that!

Get the right cat/kitten.
Try all the suggestions here but resign yourself to the fact you might fail. Trust me they have more resilience, patience and purrsistence than humans have.
Just wipe down, it's easier in the long run.
Some of ours were determined to get up on the worktops and some never wanted to.

My two older cats are coming up for 15 and they don't go on kitchen surfaces either.
Oops.

Just doesn't work for all cats, unfortunately. I wish I could get mine to stop getting on the work tops.

I just roar at them if they jump up, or head up the stairs for that matter. It has mostly trained them.

I do wipe down all the surfaces with anti bac every morning though, there's no way they don't hop up if they are in and the weather is bad.

By the way my cats didn't shred the old carpet which was ancient and not properly nailed down. Of course not. They only trashed the new carpet which we had to replace with a hard floor within two years because the exposed grippers hurt my feet.

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcatsgorgeous cats 😍 and hopefully that will satisfy PP who entered the thread looking for cats on worktop pics!

What a ridiculous and awful thing to say!!

Please don’t let this happen OP, I’m a veterinary nurse and have treated a few burnt paws, they are very painful for the poor cat and can be tricky to heal :(

Will your kitten eventually go outside? They may lose interest in “exploring” the worktops once they go out etc. If not, have they got other things to climb on? Cats like to be at high points so may be part of the reason your kitten is getting on the worktops.

Read the whole thread. I have not put my cats on a hot hob. I was merely saying if they did do that then they’d learn not to.

I have read the whole thread, doesn’t change the fact it’s still a horrible thing to say or suggest.

Our current cat unfortunately did jump onto a still warm hob the first time he ever tried to get up. I don’t know if that was what put him off or if it was that I seized him and ran his front paws under cold water for five minutes that put him off, but he has never jumped up there again. Kitchen table is another thing though.

i would never attempt to recreate it. We now have an induction hob partly for increased safety for pets and children.

Nothing more to add to this thread, but I just came across this photo from round about Christmas time, which I think speaks volumes for the no-cats-on-counters regime.

WTF?

My cat learnt to jump over the hob in case it was hot. He walks over the worktop to get to the windowsill. I just wipe the work tops. He's a cat,doing his cat things.

My 16 year old cant jump thst high any more but the 4 year old can and does.
Cats fully understand what no means but the dont care.
A loud no and a clap of hands is much more effective than a spray bottle.
They hate hand clapping.

@Judystilldreamsofhorses
great photo 😀
I’m always quite surprised at some attitudes on MN towards pets; a work surface is easy cleaned, also shutting a cat in the kitchen at night, refusing them into a bedroom, all seems a bit mean. My 16 yr old boy loves a snuggle at night and his purring is lovely, I wonder sometimes why ppl have pets when they limit them so much.

Ours think hand clapping is applause 😉
They're getting better with a low loud slow Noooooo but they sometimes have selective hearing for that and only the spray will do.

I made the mistake of saying "nom noms" when feeding them as kittens and now every time I say "No" they sit there excitedly waiting for the second "m" sound

My cats get up on worktop and sit by sink waiting for me to turn the tap on so they can drink. Obviously they have several cat water devices but they much prefer to drink from the tap or a glass of water that I hold for them.

Their latest favourite is to sit on the edge of bath and miaow for me to turn on the shower but to twist the mixer tap so whilst some water comes out of the shower head there is a trickle still coming out the tap. And obviously I do this for them 🤣

@HortiGal we’re guilty of the kitchen at night - it may be mean but I really don’t want to be wakened at 4.30 on a work day! Usually he will go through himself and get into his bed as we start switching off lights, brushing teeth etc. Our last cat used to trot through if you said “beddy-bed”.

This.

Also, your cat may not have any of the annoying habits anyone else mentions and will develop their own.

Get a pet rock if you want something that is entirely without a personality annoying habits.

My cats understand the word treat. If anyone says treat they run to the cupboard where the cats treats are kept, wait for us to open it, then they run to the little bowls we put their treats in.
Misty our girl cat, is fussy though and has preferred treats, we get those cat yogurt tubes, some little meaty sticks and dreamies type biscuits. The dreamies and the yogurt tubes are her favourite. If I get out a meaty stick she will walk me back to the treat cupboard and paw at me as it to say 'not that one'. 😂

Ours are house cats, 15 months old now, boy and girl sibling. They have the rin of the house and a passageway, outbuilding and we will be constructing a catio this summer. They hsve cat trees to climb to the ceiling and my house is adapted for a child with additional needs including sensory equipment like a wall climbing ladder, swings etc and they love it. They sleep in our bed at night. When they were little (we got them at 8 weeks) I kept them in one room and had a pen for overnight as I was paranoid of them getting stuck or lost in the house. But once they got bigger they quickly got their bearings around the house.

😂

Another one who loves chewing plastic film?

I’ve recently discovered my boy loves it even more if I scritch his back just in front of his tail. He stands next to the bit of plastic waiting for me.