Not all house cats want to get on your kitchen counters. The predisposition seems to come hardwired with a kitten. If your cat does not choose to jump on the counters consider yourself lucky. However, most cats like heights like counter tops not to mention the residual smell of tuna casseroles or little bits of bacon. Of the cat owners whose cats want to check out the counter top, there are two groups: those who do not want their cats on the counter and those who have come to accept this behavior as "just the way he is".

If you are in the former group and you DO NOT want kitty on the counter where food is prepared, there are a couple things you can do to discourage this behavior. You will need to actively discourage your cat because he is doing this because it reinforces him - so you need to discourage his natural behavior.  You can place some sticky tape to the edge of the counter. Cats do not like the feel of the tape and may be discouraged by this. However, many cats can jump over the tape and you will find that you have to replace it frequently.

Another option is to tape a strip to aluminum foil to the counter. This is also an unpleasant sensation on kitty feet and aluminum foil makes a noise that betrays the cat’s behavior in case he is trying to sneak past you. You can also keep an eye out and when kitty is jumping, you can shake a can with coins in it that makes a loud noise. Of course, this only works while you are watching him.

A product that can help discourage your cat’s counter jumping even when you are not there is called Ssscat® which you can order from Home Improvement Catalogue. Ssscat® Cat Repel System detects motion on the counter and triggers a harmless spray to scare him off. The can has a built-in 180-degree motion detector that emits a warning sound one second before spraying a short burst of a harmless spray that scares him away, so the cat learns to associate the sound with the frightening spray. After a few days you can switch to "sound only" mode, since that should be sufficient to repel him. You can adjust the detection angle and spray nozzle of the can. The spray is scentless, stainless, ozone-friendly with no chemical agents.

If you choose to use any of these techniques to discourage kitty, be sure to also give him a legal place to jump up to such as a climbing tree or cat tower.

Ssscat - Cat Repel System

Posted by Barbara.