How to train a cat to stay off tables and countertops?

Question

My cats have become very comfortable spending time on the tables and countertops while I'm out of the house. When I'm home, I have to constantly shoo them off. Any ideas how to effectively train them to stay off once and for all?

Answer 1

Put all food away when you aren't home.

I use a spray bottle with water when I'm home. I keep it handy and when I see the cat on the counter or anywhere else it doesn't belong, I give it a light spray of water. Usually it works.......

But, then again, cats are so independent and know their own minds.

Answer 2

I once had an elderly lady for a friend. She had a wonderful little dog. A mix of some sort. She had the dog trained well and it behaved very well. Learn here https://tr.im/kZnns

She kept an uncovered candy dish on her coffee table with candy in it. The dog was forbidden to eat the candy. When she was in the room observing the dog he did not even appear to notice the candy. One day while she was in her dinning room she happened to look in a mirror and could see her dog in the living room. He did not know he was being watched. For several minutes he was sitting in front of the candy bowl staring at the candy. Finally he reached in and took one. He placed it on the table and stared at it, he woofed at it. He stared some more, licked his chops and PUT IT BACK in the bowl and walked away. Did he want the candy, oh yeah. Did he eat it? Nope. They can be trained that well but most, I'll admit, are not trained that well. When I was a young boy, maybe 5 years old. We had a german shepherd. He was very well trained also. My mom could leave food unattended on the table, no problem. She would open the oven door and set a pan roast beef or roast chicken on the door to cool. No problem. He would not touch it, watched or not. But butter? Whole other story. You leave a stick of butter anywhere he could reach and it was gone. He was a large shepherd so there were not many places he could not reach. Really, I think the number of dogs trained to the point they will leave food alone when not being supervised is very small indeed.
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Now if we are talking obedience training, not food grubbing, that is a different story. Way back when I was first learning obedience training one of the final exercises was to put our dogs in a down/stay and not only leave the room but leave the building for 15 minutes. The only person that stayed was our trainer, not the owners. Most of the dogs in my class did not break their stay, which would be an automatic fail. I'm happy to report my dog was one of the ones that passed.

Answer 3

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RE:
How to train a cat to stay off tables and countertops?
My cats have become very comfortable spending time on the tables and countertops while I'm out of the house. When I'm home, I have to constantly shoo them off. Any ideas how to effectively train them to stay off once and for all?

Answer 4

I used those cheap wooden mouse traps and newspaper.
Set the traps and cover with one sheet of newspaper. The traps will trip when the cats jump on counter or table but the newspaper prevents them from getting hurt. Also the noise and unknown motion will make them more wary about jumping on it again. Took me about 3 days night and day. If they need a reminder some months down the road bring out the traps again!
PS while you are at home a squirt bottle of water works good, but they do learn to run when they see the bottle. Thats why I used the mouse trap thing. They don't know what to expect. Good Luck!

Answer 5

Take some sheets of newspaper and put some rows of double sided tape on them (or rolled up masking tape) and cover the table or countertops with them
The cats hate getting their feet stuck on the stuff
Usually takes about two or three times of stepping on it and they stop jumping up there

Answer 6

Try an air can.... SCAT I think its called, its motion sensored, and lets out a warning beep before is puffs out some air. Its not painful or ver strong but enough to startle them. After a while you can just turn it on the beep and everytime you cat hears the beep he'll correct himself, and slowly it will sink in to stay off the tables.

This worked great with my cat back in the day.

Answer 7

It will initially make a mess but will train the cats forever: sprinkle cayenne pepper on the surfaces that you don't want the cat on. When the cat jumps on the table it will get the pepper on its paws and will want to lick it off. When it tries to it will get a nasty surprise and will stop going there. This takes a couple weeks but is very effective.

Answer 8

I agree with everyone about the squirt bottle. But if that doesn't work, they make these mats you can buy that you can put on tables and furniture that will make pets stay off. I'm not sure what they're called and I'm not sure how they work.

Answer 9

If you yell every time your cat jumps on the table, your cat is more likely to think you are mad than bothered by its actions. (A really smart cat may even learn to jump up on the table only when you are not present.) But if you put something on the table to deter your cat, such as crumpled foil or bubble wrap it will deter it.

Answer 10

I agree with what everyone else has told you. I have a spray bottle of water and if one of my cats gets on something or does something they should not do then I spray them with water. One thing is once you do you have to keep up with it until they learn not to get on your table, counter-top etc.