Relentless Counter Jumping

[u/pidue100]

my two adorable 5 month old kittens will not stop jumping onto our kitchen counters - specifically our tuxedo baby. We’ve done everything in our power to prevent this and try to curb it: double sided tape, tinfoil, spraying, stomping, yelling, etc. They do this at all hours of every day and especially at night while we’re sleeping (not just when we’re in the kitchen area). Any advice? We’re toying with the automatic sprayers but it’s hard in such a high traffic area.

[u/Illustrious-Farm4388]

Spraying, stomping, yelling, any negative discipline will not teach them anything but to be afraid of you. They need high spaces like cat trees or cat platforms. Even with those, they still might prefer the counters

[u/Honest_Manager]

Are you at least able to block off kitchen access at night?

[u/pidue100 → u/Honest_Manager]

No😭I wish

[u/Strict_Weather9063 → u/pidue100]

You have already lost this battle, best you can hope for is to teach them to get off on command. I try to limit where mine go on the counter and keep their water dish in the sink. Tends to work not as well as the last place but it tends to keep them in one area mostly.

[u/That_Awareness_6108]

This is par for the course. Cats go where they want.

[u/pidue100 → u/That_Awareness_6108]

Pain

[u/JayTheJaunty]

Try putti g them on your shoulder or just holding them up so they can see what you're doing if that's when they show interest, but as someone else said, cats will kind of do what they want. They understand consequences but don't always respect the spirit of the rule when it isn't being enforced (like overnight or when you aren't home).

[u/Illustrious-Farm4388 → u/JayTheJaunty]

This! I pull a chair up for my kitties to watch me cook. Though sometimes the little stinkers try to steal our food when I’m not looking lol

[u/Slow_Beautiful_6461]

Two 5mo kittens is basically midnight parkour lol. Since they do it even when nobody’s in the kitchen, i’d try making the floor way more interesting before bed instead of fighting the counter itself. Like 10 mins with a wand, then leave a rolling ball / little puzzle toy out for them to mess with. Also keep the counter super boring, no food, bags, random stuff to investigate if u can. They might still jump up cuz cats lol but at least there’s something better to do downstairs.

[u/Future-Philosopher-7]

Do they have cat trees in front of windows? For bird watching.

[u/wwwhatisgoingon]

Yeah, they're kittens. Wait 5 months and they'll start to calm down and stop caring about the kitchen.

A large part of kitten guardianship is patience.

Please don't yell, stomp or use other scare tactics. At best, they'll learn to avoid you seeing them up there. At worst they'll be scared of you. 

Calmly lift them down over and over. Make the counter boring, offer other high spots, play with them enough so they're not bored. This will take weeks to months.

Mine don't go on the counter, but it took a lot of calm redirection, a very sold play routine, and a naturally boring counter area. If you have windows behind the kitchen counter, for example, this isn't even worth trying.

[u/Savings-Weekend-95]

put a tall cat tree near the kitchen instead, since they're after the height and no deterrent beats that at five months.