How do you keep your cat off kitchen benches?

I have a kitten that is around nine months old and is soon to be considered an adult cat but he’s still at the very active and playful stage. I’ve had kitten before thankfully and I do know that they do settle down but it can take up to two years for some. The reason I said that I was thankful for having experienced kittens before is because if I didn’t have the knowledge that my cat will calm down I would be tearing my hair out! The only thing that keeps me going is the memory of my previous cat that was the same and eventually became a beautiful calm lap cat! My Hewie does the same thing; he will jump on the dining room table when I’m not looking and jump straight down when he notices me glaring at him! They are very intelligent and they know when they are being naughty; mine will look at my reaction before attempting to do something bad. We tried the spray bottle and it doesn’t always work. The best thing is a very firm and loud NO! They will do naughty things until they grow; we just have to be patient! Mine drive me nuts most of the time and I can’t let him run around the house unless I can see what he’s doing because he is extremely prone to mischief!

I don't really mind my cat going on the benches etc but I know I should deter him further. He has climbed on the table and the kitchen benches, bathroom benches and all the window sills...ripping frothy lace curtains when he falls off and grabs on, ever since he first came to live with me. I have sprayed, yelled, picked him up and dumped him on the floor, pushed him off and anything else I could think of. He ignores me at every turn. I got him at 8 weeks and he'll be 4 on Oct 16th. Obviously he is an ebil kitty sent to drive me mad. The only thing is, he balances things out with smooches.

Hello rawbill. Cats can be very interesting and at the same time so annoying. We've had 3 cats in the last 20 years and only one ever got on the counters. Mr Superman would get up there if we forgot to put the butter away. We would find his tongue prints in it. Now when you say bench I imagine you are talking about what we call counters. They never got on the dinning room table either. But did have some place that were high they liked to go. Babs like to get in the china hutch but never disturbed any thing. The only thing that I can think of is we never gave them any people food and always kept their food dishes with food in them. If we didn't you would feel their condemning looks boring into your back. They never meowed just stared at you. If superman thought you were ignoring him he would crawl up you leg and dig the claws in just far enough to get your attention. Superman and Babs are both gone now and we have a 5 year old kitty that we got when she was about 5 months old. She also never gets up on the counters or the dinning room table. But she will get on an empty chair and look over the edge of the table to see what is going on. She also is not given any people food. When we first got her she was always sticking her nose in our drinking glass of tea or what ever we had in the front room so I got her a fat short glass and put it on a work table and she has left our drinks along ever since. Some thing you might try is putting enough coins in a can so that so when it falls it will make a loud noise. Seal the can. then balance it so that if the cats brush up against it will fall and scare them away from the counter or any area you don't ant them to be.

Hey RawBill, I hate to break this to you but they will continue to do this until they are too old to jump high. I grew up with cats & when my mom was alive, she had my 2 for company & even at 12 years old, my cat was still jumping on the dining table. I guess you could try deterrants like getting a spray bottle with water & giving them a little quirt when they are doing something you consider naughty - cats generally don't like getting sprayed with water plus some of the spray bottles make sounds that cats don't like. Good luck :)

Be very diligent while they are still young and reinforce that they are not supposed to do that. I have also heard that cats can not stand how aluminum foil feels on their feet or the sound of it. So try covering the counters and benches with aluminum foil before you go to bed at night and leave the house, hopefully they will not like it and stop jumping up there. Then after they have stopped for a while hopefully they will not jump up and do it anymore.

By not keeping a cat, at all! ;)

Easy for me... I dont have a cat - but, in your case I think you'll have to get rid of the dining table & benches

I use a spray bottle of water to keep them off the kitchen area. One of my cats likes to jump up near the burners due to the fact that I use to keep the catnip in a shelve above. So, I removed the catnip and anytime the cat jumps up near the stove, I shoot it with the water spray. It worked for me.

It is not possible to watch them 24/7. Animals like that will go through phases, and it can be difficult to train them otherwise. While you might not like it. Clean off your food-prep areas before preparing food, and be sure to clean it as soon as possible afterwards. This will help with possible contamanation issues you may be having concerning food. The cleaning will help detir them as well because animals often don't care for wet places. Also seal off areas you don't want them going if at all possible for times when you can't watch them.

Good luck on this one, my rug rats will do as they please and whenever they want to do it. They don't go outside at all and they'll get their baths about twice a year, so we just go with the flow. Christmas trees and plants were outlawed in our house ages ago, they're the boses, i guess. (lol)

The best way to keep your cat of the kitchen benches is to kill the cat..lol