how do keep the my kitten from jumping on the counter?

Question

i just got a new kitten and she thinks its fun to jump on the counters and my mom found her in the refrigerater once!
how do i keep her from jumping on the counters and into stuff
without scaring her?

Answer 1

little squirt guns are great for this... you can also add vinegar to the water...

Vinegar sprayed on a males hind end if you catch them in the act of spraying will also stop them

Answer 2

The Cat - I LOVED your answer; also the one who gave an answer, then suggested if THAT didn't work, put the dog on the counter. LOL.

Now for high seriousness; a lot of great answers here, but I've had the most luck with the squirt bottle. If you can possibly inconvenience your household for some days or a week, couple that with Sticky Tape - works like a charm - they hate it. Truthfully, I have often found that "No" or "Down" or other such words may work as long as you're there, but not when you aren't. The sticky tape especially, you won't be directly giving a bad reaction to the behavior; it just "happens" and really discourages a cat. Perhaps the crinkly or aluminum foil might help (haven't tried that). But a bag definitely will NOT - kittens LOVE to play with bags.

Answer 3

Hi there...the best solution to train a cat to stop counter-surfing is by placing double-sided sticky tape on the counters as cats dislike being stuck. Why this method works better than a squirt bottle is because a cat soon learns that source of the squirt can't prevent them if the human isn't around. Therefore they return to counter-surfing walking past the bottle left there and realize it doesn't attack them until people are around to hold it. Counter surfing is what animal trainers call a self-rewarding behavior. That means it is something the cat has taught themself that results in a reward -- without any action or intervention from humans.

Also by lifting the cat from the counter and putting them onto the ground later to reward them with a treat only teaches a cat that in order to get the treat they must first jump onto the counter to get your attention and then the rest will follow with the treat.

The goal to get any cat to learn to stop unwanted behaviours must be done without direct/visit human intervention. This applies to inappropriate clawing of furniture too.

Answer 4

This is the only occasion when I feel it is appropriate to use a spray bottle for cat training.

What did your mom do when you were a beginning toddler and had to touch everything on the coffee table? For me it was a question of removing things from the table or spend my days in fruitless "No!" with my child.

Like in the martial arts, sometimes going around the problem is more successful than hitting it head on. This is typical kitten behavior (how marvelous to be able to jump up several times the length of your body to a high place) I would keep the counters well wiped down and do not keep any human food on them unless you are in the kitchen preparing meals.

If you can afford to get a really tall cat tree (better to have it when she is older anyway). One of those will allow her lots of fun jumping from level to level. Ones with sisal rope also make the best scratching posts.

Answer 5

I read this in a book somewhere. At night, when cats are exploring (the kitchen), place pots and pans on the edge of the counters, and when the cat jumps up, it'll knock down the pans, scaring it half to death. I tried it, and it worked for me! A year or so later when I wanted her to get on the counter to catch a mouse, she jumped right back down as soon as I let go!

Answer 6

A spray bottle would scare her, loud noises and uncomfortable feelings would too!

also there is a special spray that you can get that they don't like!! it doesn't smell like anything to us but to them its bad (people use it so they don't jump on Christmas trees or in flower beds) you can find it in wal-mart and almost every pet stores!!! And it works very well!! i use it and all of my friends use it!! if you use it for a while, as the kitten grows up it will learn to not jump up on places that you don't want her too... even without the spray!!

also a less convenient solution: try to make high barricades with baby pins to block the door into the kitchen, and if her food is their try moving to a different room..
You can teach cats very easily and my dad always does this when the cats get bad - he picks up the cat.. brings it to the object or place that we don't want it to get into and he says "no!" and that usually works

Answer 7

I have two cats and I trained them by making eye contact and saying "down" in a firm voice. If they don't get down the first time I do it again while pushing them off the counter. It didn't take them long to catch on, plus it's effective if I'm not carrying a water bottle around. One other thing that works is putting saran wrap or tin foil on any surface you don't want her on. Some cats hate it and some love it, but it works with mine. Good Luck

Answer 8

Get a water bottle and spay her when she jumps up on the counter. Pretty soon all you'll have to do is pick the water bottle up and she will jump down.

Answer 9

Use a squirt bottle. You can spray the cat with it when it does wrong. we trained my cat with it. She is great. She doesn't ever get on the counter tops or the table. It will take a few times. but the cat will understand that it means no.

Answer 10

Teaching her without scaring her is close to impossible... if you want to startle her and make it uncomfortable for her to be up on the counters, try putting paper bags, aluminum foil, or another crinkly type of paper or fabric on top of the counter. Kittens don't like the feel of crinkly things on their paws, and they become startled by sounds they create.

Answer 11

Yes squirt her with a water bottle. You will not hurt her. You will need to show her whos in chrge or elce she will keep doing it. Never feed your cat on the counter becasue then she will just think its ok to do!