How To Keep Cats Off Countertops | Chewtorials
If your favorite indoor cat is all about that counter-surfing life, follow these tips from feline experts to learn how to keep your cat off the counter.
6 Ways To Keep Cats off Counters
As much as you’d love to let your favorite feline friend go wherever they please, countertops should be off-limits for kitties since it’s where humans prepare and keep food. Dirty (adorable) kitty paws and the items we consume simply don’t go together. Plus, kitchen counters can pose some potential hazards, like sharp knives, hot surfaces, open flames, or toxic foods your kitty shouldn’t eat.
Follow these expert tips and tricks to help keep your cats off the kitchen counters.
1. Give Them a Tempting Alternative
We can’t completely eliminate a cat’s instinctive desire to sit in a high place with a nice vantage point. Not allowing cats to express instinctive behaviors causes them stress and may create even worse behavior issues. Punishing them when they climb onto the countertops—by using loud noises or squirting them with a spray bottle—also won’t work.
Instead, we need to provide them with an appropriate alternative to the counter that’s going to satisfy their needs, then use positive reinforcement when they use that alternative.
Some good alternatives include:
A chair or stool next to the countertop: Find their favorite treat and reserve it for when they’re on the stool. Never set the cat on the stool—they need to choose to go on the stool on their own and then get rewarded for it. When you catch your cat on it, reward them with something of great value to them.
A cat tower: Put a cat tower or climbing tree in another room to provide your cat with a place to perch. If it has cubbies, scratching posts, catnip, and toys associated with it, these things can help draw and keep your cat’s attention. Shop cat trees: https://www.chewy.com/b/trees-condos-...
2. Use Environmental Deterrents
As mentioned above, it’s really important that you don’t punish your cat for jumping up onto the kitchen counter. This can potentially harm your relationship with your cat (even if you’re gentle!), and in many cases they’ll just associate the scolding with you being in the room—not with them being on the countertops.
Passive, environmental deterrents won’t hurt or scare your cat, but will convince them not to walk on counters. Cookie trays with water in them, aluminum foil, and double-sided tape on the edge of the counter are examples of remote correction in which you don’t get the blame.
3. Remove Temptations
Cats have an impressive sense of smell, so if there’s anything tempting on the countertops, then you better believe their nose will take them straight to the source. As a good rule of thumb, don’t leave food out on the countertops.
For cats who can’t resist a climbing expedition when you crack open that can, consider turning a different part of your home into the food area. Your cat will quickly learn this and will follow you to that area at mealtime.
4. Provide a Running Water Dish
If it’s the running water your cat seems to love, then consider providing them with a water dish with a water fountain feature. These keep water flowing, which is enticing to your feline friend.
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5. Engage Their Mind With a Puzzle Feeder
Prowling the kitchen countertops for scrumptious morsels or other interesting finds is mentally stimulating for your cat. You can recreate that same sense of curiosity by providing your cat with puzzle feeders. Keep one in the kitchen and loading it up with their daily allotment of treats.
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6. Try Clicker Training
Clicker training involves teaching a cat to associate a sound with a reward, and it can be a powerful teaching tool. If your cat jumps on the counter, place a treat on their cat tower, the ground or their bed, and then use the clicker once they jump off.
Over time and with enough repetition, your cat will associate the clicking sound with jumping off the countertop whether there’s a treat involved or not. When you’re in the room, this allows you to simply click the device to get them off the counters.
Curbing this cat counter-surfing can take some time, so practice patience with your four-legged friend and stay the course.
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