How do I stop my cat from jumping on kitchen counters and eating food?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I am so sorry that Bingley is being so bad! First for your sanity, at night I would confine him so he isn't keeping you up at night. Put him in the basement (with food, water and litter boxes) or a separate room. That will keep him from getting in to things and allow you to sleep. The good news is that he will grow out of this behavior, he is very young still. As for getting up on the counters, etc: cats like high places. First provide alternatives, get a couple of cat trees or other things to enrich his environment. Make sure all food is put away and the facet doesn't drip so he isn't attracted to the counters. Then you have to make the counters unpleasant: cover the counters with textures cats hate — aluminum foil is one example; cardboard covered with double-faced masking tape or shelf liner is another. No, you won’t have your counters covered forever, but you will need to keep them covered while your cat learns to use the new perches. For the more determined cat, you can look at harmless automatic devices that discourage counter cruising by making sounds cats dislike when they trigger a pressure pad or electronic eye by jumping up. I hope this helps and have a great day!

Training kittens is not like training dogs. Their brains are different. Water in a squirt bottle typically works very well to correct them when they do something you don’t want them to do like get on the counters. You can’t really train them to not get into your food if you leave it out. They are opportunistic. While you are with the food, you can use the squirt bottle to teach them to respect the boundaries while you are with the food. Most cats will learn quickly but most will take adavantage of a situation. You can also avoid these situations by putting the cat away at meal time. Always remember to rewards good behavior with praise, play, pets or treats. I hope this is helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. If you want to train your cat not to jump on the counter, you can try the following method. Obtain a spray bottle and fill it with water. Whenever Salem jumps up onto the counter, lightly spritz him in the face and say "off!" to show that this is an unacceptable behavior. I've had some clients use noise deterrants before where a motion sensing noise device is placed on the counter and whenever the cat triggers the motion sensor, a loud noise goes off. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

You could cover the counters with textures that cats don't like. For example, aluminum foil, placemats or cardboard covered with double-faced sticky tape. Many cats don’t like those surfaces, so the hope is for the cat to jump down once he/she touches the surface. Leave the mats on the counter at all times when not in use and, hopefully, she will stay off. After a few weeks without signs of her on the counters, remove a small section at a time and see if she will stay off.

If she was a stray, this behavior could be related to starving at times while on her own. It will take time for her to adjust and she may always worry about food. Here are some links which may help: https://www.petcoach.co/article/how-to-stop-a-cat-from-jumping-on-the-counter/ https://www.petcoach.co/article/how-to-stop-your-cat-from-biting/ Make sure to always keep the food put up so that Minnie stops getting a reward when she gets on the counters. You may also feed her far away from the kitchen to help decrease an association with food. Be patient and positive. I hope this helps.

Is the biting related to petting? https://www.petcoach.co/article/petting-related-aggression-in-cats/ Or is it more aggressive play? If so, please post again describing the circumstances of when Bonnie bites. Make the countertops as unappealing as possible to her. This can be done with pieces of tin foil or a carpet runner (flip it so the grip points are facing up). The idea is that they don't like the texture. Do this until she learns countertops are not a fun place to hang out. Provide toys, a cat tower, a scratching post and other things that will be more fun. Many cats do get burnt on hot stoves, you may want to keep something like a tea kettle over any used burners (once they are turned off), to block Bonnie from stepping on them. You may also simply shut her in another room while cooking and let her out once everything is cooled down. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

That's a very good question! If you are concerned about Boris associating treat with getting on the counter, I recommend turning the action into a "get down" command, and treating once he is off the counter, rather than when he is on it. That way he can start to associate the command (and treat) with being off the counter instead of on it. You can also use a nice toy such as a feather on a stick to sort of lure him off of the counter, and then proceed to treat and interact with him on the ground. If he starts hopping up onto the counter regularly and 'demanding' a treat, you may need to do what is called extinction behavior. This is where you ignore the behavior (being on the counter) until he hops back off on his own, in which you then reward him with attention and treats again. Something to note, extinction behaviors usually get worse temporarily before they start to improve as the pet will try to do the behavior more to try and get attention before giving up -- this doesn't mean you're failing, it means it's working!