We rescued two kittens at the start of the year and they are about 5.5 months by now. They are confined to the kitchen in the evenings currently and have been fine other than playing with their water bowl on the odd occasion. The girl has now taken to roaming the kitchen worktops only at night but is sneaky with it. She tried a few times when we first had her but after telling her off and placing her back on the floor she seemed to get the idea. About a week ago she is back up there with a vengeance.

I read online things like citrus smells – we tried lemon juice along all the edges, foil on the edges, removing anything of interest but nothing phases her. The 2nd cat is a boy and we have never seen him on the counters (maybe he is the really smart one).

We have held off letting them outside whilst her stitches and missing hair recover from spaying op but that should be ok now. Hoping that letting them outside will kerb her curiosity and climbing tendencies but I am not convinced.

Its driving my wife nuts as she is the one at home during the day so does anyone have any tips they have used with success?

Cheers
Simon

 

Someone was selling a horse on here a while back, I heard they were good at hunting small animals like cats.

 

cats dont like orange peel,i used to tease out car with a orange and it hated been near one.so maybe worth a go

 

You will never keep them off, they might wise up and not go on there when you're around but rest assured they will be up there like a rat up a drainpipe when they think they won't be caught.

 

This might on the face of things seem cruel, however it seemed to work for me.

My cat used to jump into the sink to try and get water despite the fact that it had nice clean water in its bowl.
A quick squirt with a kids water pistol cured its obsession with the sink very quickly.
I suggest you purchase a small water pistol - cats learn pretty quickly.

 

I have the same problem with our cats and I use cereal boxes.

Put cereal boxes on the edge of the worktop and they can't/won't jump up. Least mine don't. Takes a while to work out how best to place them and you do have to find a place for the boxes. Fortunately there is a gap between the top cupboards and the ceiling so I store them up there during the day. They don't do it during the day because they know they'll get told off. My female is the worst for it.

 

Cats are predatory animals, if they done it once they will continue to do it, unless you can physically keep them off by watching them 24/7 you may as well admit defeat now IMO you may think they have given up, but as someone else said as soon as your back is turned they will be back up there odds on!

 

Strap bricks to there feet, they wont jump anywhere then

 

Clap loud or make a noise of a loud dump valve lol.. It works with my 2 cats, they soon jump down of the kitchen side

 

What he said ^, and it's quite harmless.
Cat's also hate tinfoil.
Try laying a sheet of it on the worktop where they jump up.
If they start jumping up elswhere, put some there.
They do learn fast.

 

got two boy cats myself, they are 4 now. as said above you will only get them off when your around, they will be back up given half a chance even if they learn not to when your there.
mine are 4 and still just as curious as ever.

 

Indeed, they do hate tinfoil - might be a good idea also.

 

I read this one but takes a lot of orange peel to block off the entire work surface perimeter and I am guessing as it dries out it loses its smell and therefore effect.

Cheers
Simon

 

That is even useless and unfunny in equal amounts.

 

This is all well and good if you catch them doing it but as mentioned she is sneaky so very rarely catch her doing it. Just see the aftermath to know she has been up there.

 

Did try this last night albeit I only covered the edges and stuck half into the top of the drawers to keep it in place as last thing I wanted to find this morning was tinfoil shredded all over the floor. Knowing her she would eat it as well. May try this one again with large flat pieces covering the surface.

 

Thanks I will try this one. Just need to collect a few empty cereal boxes now to cover the area.

 

I'm guess my cat still does it, but I don't see any evidence that it does.
Footprints on the worktop etc.

My cat runs like hell when tinfoil is out, so maybe that's an option
Don't think the cereal box idea would work

 

Again you have to see them do it for that to be effective. We already use the “dump valve” sound as a warning to not do something. The boy takes hit and slopes away etc when trying to get into plant pots. She just ignores us now until you go over and clap your hands and shout no at her.

 

Place an angry dog on the kitchen counter. That should deter the cat.

 

Well, the water piston will fix that problem

 

Really? I've had a few Cats who love a bit of tin foil rolled into a ball.

 

Jesus I must have the only cat in the world that LOVES tin foil!! It goes nuts for it! We bought her all the generic cat toys and she only played with a couple. Then my mrs dropped some scrunched up foil and she wouldn't stop playing with it!
She's like a bloody magpie when it comes to shiny things!
When we first got her I had my silver ring, a few brand new 10p's and a couple of 5p's and 2 limited edition Olympic Games badges on my bedside drawers. I started noticing that one by one things were going missing.
I initialled blamed our 3yr old son until one day I was wondering about the house on the phone (as a real man does whilst on the phone) and I saw the kitten on the bed, dragging one of the silver badges off the drawers! She dragged it to the floor then behind the bed?! After I finished on the phone I moved the bed and found all the money and my ring from the cabinet behind there!!!

 

Rolled into a ball perhaps, but not in sheet form.
If I'm in the kitchen and need to use tinfoil, as soon as I extend the foil to cut it, the cat runs like hell immediately
I assume its the noise?

 

Hmmmmm, ours is the opposite. If it hears tin foil it will come I guess it's worked out tin foil = fun time.

 

close the door to the kitchen? lol

 

I doubt she is scared of the tinfoil visually as plays with everything and anything. Our doesn’t make much noise when being pulled out but probably as we use Tesco Value foil lol.

We used to give them the tubes from kitchen roll but she destoys one in about 5 mins then you have to pick the pieces up from various parts of the house.

 

Just picked a cheapy £1 job up at lunch so lets see how that goes

 

Only thing they both hate is the hoover. I was hoovering outside the kitchen where they both were and then decided to come in. The boy looked panicked then bolted for it but the hoover itself was in the doorway so when he got there he was even more scared and ran around in circles until finally deciding to jump over the hoover and let it upstairs.

 

So the answer is to wrap them in tin foil and put hoovers on the sides.