# At wits end. Can someone help?



## MaxZmom (Feb 21, 2007)

Okay so yes i have animals in the house but the shedding on the carpet isn't the problem because i keep it under control with my vaccum cleaner.
The real problem is at night time when all the lights are off and everyones asleep my cats decide to get on my kitchen corner and stove. Whatever it is, they like the kitchen and they are I guess sleeping and just shedding all over the place. I've caught them on the corner a couple of times and spray them with a water bottle and they just jump down. But every morning I wake up to find cat fur all over the corner and stove. I'm so tired of having to clean and disinfect my kitchen. This is an on-going process of cleaning and I can't stand it anymore!!! Its to the point that either I find a way to stop this or the cats have to go. I DON'T want that at all so can someone please HELP! 

Methods I've tired.
Spray bottle 
cardboard with 2 sided type on it 
foil paper (b/c i heard the hate the sound it makes) YEAH right i caught Mitzi sleeping on the foil. 
Please can anyone help!


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

I'm not sure how big of an area you're talking about, but if there's some reason I really don't want Cleo to jump on my counter, I have several 2-litre bottles I line up along the edge of the counter and she has nothing to land on and can't jump over them. It keeps her off until I get home or get up. 

You'll probably get some better suggestions. Good luck!


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

They are cats. They will jump and get on flat surfaces to survey their domain. 
You have already tried some methods that haven't worked. Either you give up and let them have at it. I mean, how hard can it be to swipe a papertowel or Clorox-wipe over the surface before you make food? Be happy it's just hair and not pee. 8O 
Or, you can up the ante...use a scat-mat that will give their feet a little electric charge when they walk/land on it.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

It's pretty difficult to keep a determined cat off the counters. And even when you do, it's often only when you're around...when you're not, they do as the please. You've tried a couple of the suggested methods. They also make devices that detect the motion and either make noise or spray air....but I wouldn't count on success.

I gave up a long time ago and just wipe down the counter when I cook...it's not that big of a deal for me. 

Other than that...the only thing I can suggest it putting doors on your kitchen (if possible).


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## melysion (Mar 12, 2007)

Cats are cats. They *can* be trained to not do things, but in my experience they tend to do whatever the heck they like :lol:

Toby is on my kitchen tops all the time. I deal with it with antibacterial spray. I'd much rather do that than even consider re-homing my cat! In fact, a cat walking on the worktop is no excuse at all to rehome - in my humble opinion of course.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Most of the time, Cleo *is *allowed on the counter, because if she doesn't finish her food by the time the babies get up, I put her dish on the counter and she'll eat it a little while after I leave for work. I only had to show her twice and she got it!  

Pretty soon, this won't work because at the rate they're growing, they'll be on the counters by Thanksgiving. :roll:


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## melysion (Mar 12, 2007)

marie73 said:


> Pretty soon, this won't work because at the rate they're growing, they'll be on the counters by Thanksgiving. :roll:


Sprouting like little weeds are they Marie?


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

I'll need a wide-angle lens for their five-month birthday pictures.


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## Nini (May 6, 2007)

Heidi n Q said:


> Or, you can up the ante...use a scat-mat that will give their feet a little electric charge when they walk/land on it.


Yeah if you really do NOT want them in a particular place, I think that is your best bet... a scat mat, or a piece of carpet runner with the sticky side turned up. But do not underestimate a determined kitty :?


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## manitu22 (Apr 25, 2003)

If you can't keep them off the counters maybe you can at least reduce the shedding. Here are some tips if you don't practice these already.

1. Brush your cats a few times a week
2. Make sure they are eating a high quality wet food like Innova, Wellness, Natural Balance etc.
3. Supplement their diet with fish oil - here is a link to a product I have used before

http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/products/ ... 17005.aspx

Please don't give up yet. It would be ashame to rehome such beautiful babies just because they jump on the counter.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

MaxZmom said:


> I'm so tired of having to clean and disinfect my kitchen. This is an on-going process of cleaning and I can't stand it anymore!!!


It takes me about 20 seconds to wipe off the stove, counter tops, and kitchen table. I don't know how much you have to wipe off, but if it's causing you that much grief you must be overdoing it. And if you're overdoing it, it's really a problem of adjusting your expectations and your attitude, not of training the cats. A couple minutes twice a day or so is certainly worth it to keep your cats. You probably spend more time than that on litterbox maintenance. At least I hope you do. Cats are work. Your role is as a cat caretaker. You take care of cats. This takes time and effort. I guess if you're not up to it then you shouldn't have cats.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Tim, that's a little harsh.  

She's probably just having a really, really bad day. I know recently I was rethinking my bright idea of getting my kitties when they were being especially bratty.


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## Nini (May 6, 2007)

I have to say I was never used to having cats on countertops, as Mew and Isis were very good about it... til Wicket and Chewie came along and showed them how it's done :? 

It was very irritating to have them in my way all the time, but in a couple of weeks I managed to teach them that they are NOT allowed on my side of the counter when I am preparing food (side which includes a good stretch of countertops and the stove) and they learned to sit quietly on the sink and watch what I am doing. 
With patience and determination you can work on a compromise with your cats - actually you already have a good compromise if they don't jump on there while you are cooking!

As Tim said, disinfecting wipes make cleaning really fast and easy... it catches fur, cleans stains, and disinfects at the same time - in two minutes you are ready to work. Surely you have great times with your cats, and those times are worth putting up with one bad habit of theirs?


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## Frostine (Jun 4, 2007)

That's exactly what I use, those disinfecting wipes that come in the canister....I just pull out a couple and wipe off the counter before I cook. I end up wiping the counters down about twice a day, but that's about how often I would wipe them down anyway. Honestly I do agree that if you are spending more than a few minutes on this, you are probably making it harder than it has to be.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

marie73 said:


> Tim, that's a little harsh.
> She's probably just having a really, really bad day. .


Yes, Marie, if that's the case, you're right. And yes, I think all of us have days when we wonder what we're doing with cats. I know I have. My words may be harsh, but they're worded to get attention and shift the focus to what it's all about. When someone is whining about a trivial matter it may be that they're just venting, and that's fine, but it also may be that they're serious and need to have an attitude check stimulated.


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## carolsclan (Jun 28, 2006)

we are in the middle of the rainy season .. so I have 10 cats x muddy toes all over my counters .. 2 of my cats like to play in the kitchen sink !!!!
so its a permanent mess....

I have made up a mixture of bleach and dishwashing liquid that I simply spray on the counters and wipe of with a wet cloth .. I do this a zillion times a day because im OCD 

Its life ..... animals are lots of work :roll:


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

Just thought I'd make you all laugh and let you know that I woke up this morning to find that someone PEED on my stove. Gas stove, a puddle of pee sitting underneath the metal grates...EWWWWW. 

So, really, hopping on the counter is such a small thing, keeping a container of those lysol wipes around certainly makes clean up a breeze. It's just one of those things that comes with the territory. Hope you were just having a bad day, because this is really mild problem.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

When did you discover it, after you turned the stove on and heated it up?


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## Kittys Mom (May 7, 2004)

Yuck.


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

Luckily it was the rear burner and I'm more prone to use the front, but as soon as I got out my pots and pans I noticed it. I was going to make a nice breakfast today, but decided to skip it after that one! Little jerks. It was either Franny or Phoebe (a.ka. the Urinater) :roll: - she's lucky she's so darn cute.


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## Nini (May 6, 2007)

Ewwwww!

Sometimes I wonder what goes on in their furry little heads... what kind of purpose can peeing on the stove serve, seriously?? And how uncomfortable can that be? 8O


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Maybe they're just like two-year old kids who hold it too long and then just have to go?


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

Nini said:


> Ewwwww!
> 
> And how uncomfortable can that be? 8O


No less comfortable then whoever stood on top of my laser color printer and peed on it must have been at the time! :evil:


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## Bethany (Jul 19, 2006)

Oh, dear. I've been having problems with Stormy getting on top my entertainment center and kocking off breakable items (I've had two sculptures I had up there broken so far) but this helps put it into perspective.. at least she's not peeing up there. Yet.


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## Nini (May 6, 2007)

Whoa Julie, I would have been mighty ticked off too if one of the stinkers had peed on my printer! 8O 

You could write a whole PhD dissertation on what it is with cats and peeing in the weirdest places!


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## nanook (Jun 12, 2005)

> If you can't keep them off the counters maybe you can at least reduce the shedding. Here are some tips if you don't practice these already.
> 
> 1. Brush your cats a few times a week
> 2. Make sure they are eating a high quality wet food like Innova, Wellness, Natural Balance etc.
> 3. Supplement their diet with fish oil...


I think this is great advice! 
A couple of other things to add are to make absolutely sure there is nothing "interesting" on your counters. If they find a tasty treat once, that will be incentive for them to continue going up there. A scat mat or double stick tape can also be really effective. It may be a pain for a while but cats catch on pretty quickly. 
I disagree that you can't keep cats off your counters (well, mostly anyway). My cats RARELY go up on the counters but it took some work, time and patience.
On the other hand, I agree that I don't see cleaning up the counters after them as a big deal. The reason I don't want them on the kitchen surfaces is really more for their safety than anything else. They have the whole run of the entire rest of the house!
Even if you can't convince them to stay off the counters, I would hope that the pleasure of having them would far out weight the inconvenience of wiping up the counters a couple of times a day.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

nanook said:


> I disagree that you can't keep cats off your counters (well, mostly anyway).


I think that's too general a statement, nanook. This is one of those "it depends on that cat" deals. _Some_ cats can be taught to stay off counters, _some_ cats cannot -- they are the cats determined to be up there no matter what. _Most_ cats are somewhere in the middle between the two extremes -- they probably stay off if they feel like it only when you're in the kitchen.

Oh, and Mellie.....who never went up on kitchen counters for the first two years I had her, one day, clear out of the blue, surprised and shocked me when I went into the kitchen and found her staring down at me from on top of the kitchen cabinets!! So........even those cats who you think aren't going to go up there.......you just never know.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Even if I thought my cats didn't go up on the counters, I would still clean the counter before cooking...I wouldn't want to risk that I didn't know about a poopy foot that walked across an area where I'm preparing food. And cat hair flies around and gets on the counter even if the cats don't (especially if it's fine wispy Holly fur). So, for me, cleaning the counters before cooking is just part of the privilege of living with cats.


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## nanook (Jun 12, 2005)

Hey Tim, I don't believe I said you can teach cats to NEVER go up on counters but you can deter them from making it one of their hang outs, which is what it sounds like is going on in this situation. I did say "my cats RARELY go up on the counters" not "NEVER". Kitchen surfaces are off limits in my house and I spent quite a bit of time working on it and it truly is very rare that they go up there so, for the most part, I think it can be done. At least with every cat I've ever had.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Yeah...but what are they doing when no one is home? Unless you've been watching them on a webcam to know they really don't go up there... :lol:


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## melysion (Mar 12, 2007)

doodlebug said:


> Yeah...but what are they doing when no one is home? Unless you've been watching them on a webcam to know they really don't go up there... :lol:


:lol: Too true. When Toby first came to me it was so obvious he had been doing whatever he wanted as regards to where to park his rear end that I knew it was a losing battle before I started. It's just not something I worry about at all. And - you'd wipe down before preparing food anyway right? .

And Toby is definitely of the untrainable variety. :roll:


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## Avalonia (Oct 7, 2007)

MaxZmom said:


> Okay so yes i have animals in the house but the shedding on the carpet isn't the problem because i keep it under control with my vaccum cleaner.
> The real problem is at night time when all the lights are off and everyones asleep my cats decide to get on my kitchen corner and stove. Whatever it is, they like the kitchen and they are I guess sleeping and just shedding all over the place. I've caught them on the corner a couple of times and spray them with a water bottle and they just jump down. But every morning I wake up to find cat fur all over the corner and stove. I'm so tired of having to clean and disinfect my kitchen. This is an on-going process of cleaning and I can't stand it anymore!!! Its to the point that either I find a way to stop this or the cats have to go. I DON'T want that at all so can someone please HELP!
> 
> Methods I've tired.
> ...


Hope things are going better now-I've had those days when I've just been frustrated by everything and my cats have seemed bound and determined to drive me nuts. I had one of those on Friday too, when Snow decided to help himself to the ham I'd just carefully chopped for dinner. I made the mistake of leaving it unattended for all of about a minute. I snapped at him and gave him a little swat but boy, did I feel bad twenty minutes later when he crawled onto my lap and buried his face in my arm. Not that he was truly repentant, but he's learned to fake it by now.  Hopefully some of the tips others have given you will work. I learned that if you are very, very consistent in getting after them, it helps. If I really make sure to clap my hands and say NO! whenever my cats get on something they stop doing it quickly, but then I slack off and they know they can get away with it again. *sigh* I'm so weak.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

doodlebug said:


> Yeah...but what are they doing when no one is home? Unless you've been watching them on a webcam to know they really don't go up there... :lol:


I've heard of nanny-cams -- I guess now we'll have to have cat-cams. :lol:


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

coaster said:


> doodlebug said:
> 
> 
> > Yeah...but what are they doing when no one is home? Unless you've been watching them on a webcam to know they really don't go up there... :lol:
> ...


I see quite enough of what they do when I AM home. I would rather remain ignorant to whatever else is going on when I am not home! 8O


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Well, you know what they say: "ignorance is bliss." And, BTW, what ARE those little brown specks on the kitchen countertop? :lol:


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## nanook (Jun 12, 2005)

> Yeah...but what are they doing when no one is home? Unless you've been watching them on a web cam to know they really don't go up there...


Well' heck, as long as I don't know about it, it ain't happening. Ignorance is, in dead, bliss! 
But, honestly, if they do go up there more than once in a blue moon, I'd be very surprise. Especially when you consider, every time they go up on the bathroom sink they dump everything in..soap, toothpaste, stopper, eyeliner, nail brush anything left close by. What a fun game!


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Too funny...Callie used to insist that the bar of soap belong in the sink, not in the soap dish. She would put in in the sink...I would put it back in the dish...she would put it back in the sink...this went on multiple times a day until I finally switched over to liquid soap dispensers...


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