5 Easy Suggestions To Maintain Cats Off Counters

The kitchen counter is amongst the foremost hazardous locations in our house, the place we maintain meals, sharp objects, retailer electrical home equipment, and cook dinner meals on a scorching range.

Our cats are instinctively drawn to excessive locations due to their innate climbing and agile nature. Cats really feel most protected and safe when recognizing, resting, and sleeping from excessive statement factors.

Cats, likewise, are inquisitive and opportunistic feeders. Kitties which might be extremely motivated by meals will discover the counter extraordinarily tempting proving too exhausting to withstand when meals or crumbs left in plain sight.

Although it could drive us loopy and unhygienic, from our feline’s viewpoint, it’s a pure behaviour to leap or climb locations which might be thought of off-limits to us.

When you resolve your cat isn’t allowed on benches or tables, the counter should turn out to be a floor your moggie doesn’t need to discover.

How To Maintain Cats Off Of Counters?

There are a number of methods to maintain your cat from leaping on counters, together with offering elevated platforms for them to make use of as an alternative.

Comply with these pointers to forestall and handle counter leaping behaviour with the usage of coaching and different options.

1. Goal Excessive In The Kitchen

Place a perch on the kitchen window or let your cat sit on high of the pantry cabinets by stepping on and off the fridge. Sviatlana Yankouskaya / Shutterstock.com

Cats love being close to us. Sitting on the kitchen counter places them at an similar stage as their human. As a substitute, supply your feline companion a excessive viewing platform close by, like a cat tower or high of the fridge – voted by cats as “preferred kitchenette spot”.

Counter cruising is equally common in houses the place home windows are positioned close to worktops, since chicken watching is a cat’s beloved pastime. Place a perch on the kitchen window or let your cat sit on high of the pantry cabinets by stepping on and off the fridge. In case your cat is getting on the worktop to entry the window, cowl the glass with a blind or window movie.

2. Maintain Meals Out Of Sight

Holding meals out of sight will assist to maintain food-motivated cats off of the counter.

No matter whether or not meals is supplied by people, cats are generalist, resourceful feeders, drawn to meals present in novel areas. They’ll scavenge for scraps off kitchen counters, eat from bowls, steal meals out of bins, and lounge in heat spots near the range within the hope of getting a deal with.

Being an obligate carnivore, feed your cat species applicable food plan in small frequent quantities away from counters and don’t go away meat or grub unattended on bench-tops, particularly if you end up gone from house.

Present puzzle feeders and consuming stations all through the home. Retailer meals within the fridge and cabinets to keep away from foraging.

Additionally Learn: The ten Finest Cat Gradual Feeders

3. Counter Browsing Coaching

Coaching your cat to go to a mat or stool on command will assist them to cease utilizing the counter.

 Essentially the most environment friendly method to forestall counter-surfing is to change your cat’s behaviour with the usage of clicker coaching. There are three major teaching steps to resolve counter browsing:

• Prepare ‘go to mat’ or ‘sit on a stool’ behaviour exterior the meal preparation setting. The mat or stool turns into a rewarding place moreover to sitting on a better stool and is an alternate to leaping on kitchen counters.
• Slowly approximate to actuality situation with few distractions.
• Reinforce the behaviour at a excessive charge in real-life context with as many repetitions as potential.

4. Design A Stimulating And Exploratory Vertical Surroundings

By giving your cats an setting with loads of shops for his or her climbing and exploratory instincts, you’ll be able to cut back their want to leap on the counter.

Present your cat with applicable vertical choices for climbing, scratching and resting by creating an exploratory setting. Cat timber and furnishings is a large hit, though may be costly.

• Create tall resting areas indoors with cabinets, cupboards, desks, dressers, chairs and wardrobes. Place a comfortable mattress or blanket within the spot and usually go away treats or catnip to entice your kitty.
• A window shelf or window-mounted mattress will present limitless stimulation and a resting place for one or a number of cats.
• Construct an outdoor cat enclosure. Place tree branches, cat-safe vegetation, water, cat-grass, cabinets, DIY cat tree and hammock on your cat to perch whereas remaining out of attain of potential threats.
• In multi-cat houses, set-up loads of towering sleeping spots to increase territory subsequently the cats don’t really feel in competitors for assets and use the countertop.
• In case your cat should share a room collectively together with your beloved canine, they are going to be extra inclined to keep away from the bottom and goal excessive. Arrange lookout factors and cuddlers on high of bookshelves.
• Elevated resting areas can vary from just a few inches off the underside to the ceiling. A cushion on the ground, cardboard citadel or a small cat tree can also be a suitable top for cats with arthritis or affected by blindness.

5. Deterrents

Deter your cat from climbing areas that you simply need to maintain off-limits.

Deter your cat from climbing areas that you simply need to maintain off-limits. Potential deterrents embrace:

• Double-sided tape: cats dislike strolling on gluey surfaces.
• Aluminium trays crammed with a little bit of water: some cats have an aversion to water while others don’t thoughts stepping in moist areas.
• Carpet runners or mats with spiky nubs face-up: cats don’t like strolling on prickly surfaces.
• Partly cowl baking sheets or lengthy items of cardboard alongside the sting of the counter the place the cat jumps to make the floor unstable. You may add empty tin cans on the facet to make noise when it falls off the countertop.
• PetSafe SSSCAT Spray Deterrent detects pet motion and releases a burst of unscented mist inside a radius of 1 meter. Sprays work quick, so they don’t seem to be really useful for use round skittish or nervous cats. A nervous cat might turn out to be frightened and averse to particular rooms or scared to manoeuvre across the the rest of the home.

Learn Extra: Finest Invisible Fences For Cats Reviewed

Do NOT use a squirt water gun, because it solely teaches your feline to run away once you decide up the sprayer and return when you’re gone.

Moreover, some cats don’t thoughts the spray and it doesn’t work as a deterrent. As soon as your cat is persistently utilizing the allotted skyscraper or stationary place, take away the deterrent!

Conclusion

With the correct coaching and environmental modifications, you and your cat can comfortably share the kitchen with out harmful or unhygienic counter-surfing.

You will need to grasp that cats love climbing and perching on excessive surfaces. They don’t simply misbehave, they specific instinctive conduct. They don’t seem to be as cognitively superior as people, pondering when it comes to proper or improper or performing out of spite.

Though they might appear annoying, they behave in a really coherent method relative to their setting.

Reward your cat for what you would like her or him to attempt to do, not what you don’t need them to do. If all makes an attempt fail, contact a countertop leaping detective – higher known as a cat behaviorists.