{"id":3720,"date":"2018-04-10T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2018-04-10T14:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.diamondpet.wearewoodruff.xyz\/?p=3720"},"modified":"2026-02-17T10:08:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:08:16","slug":"countering-counter-commanding-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/blog\/behavior\/training\/countering-counter-commanding-cats\/","title":{"rendered":"Countering Counter-Commanding Cats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some cat owners are unfazed by finding their feline friend on a kitchen counter or the dining room table. Others \u2014 and especially non-cat-owning people \u2014 are completely grossed out by the thought of a cat walking, sitting or lounging on those surfaces \u2014 especially when they consider <em>where<\/em> those paws have tread.<\/p>\n<p>If you have a counter-commanding cat and wish your kitty would hang out somewhere else, here are some strategies to help you keep your cat off the kitchen counter or dining table.<\/p>\n<h2>Why do cats like being up high, anyway?<\/h2>\n<p>Like their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/blog\/behavior\/training\/curbing-counter-surfing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\">counter-surfing canine counterparts<\/a>, cats learn to patrol kitchen counters, stovetops and tables if they find tasty tidbits or if they\u2019re perpetually hungry. Jumping and climbing to high places are also normal behaviors for cats. They love being up high to survey their territory, escape a stressful situation or to find some peace and quiet. Indoor cat \u201ctree\u201d furniture with a variety of surfaces and comfortable platforms is an excellent alternative to your kitchen counters.<\/p>\n<h3>What you can do to keep cats off of counters and tables<\/h3>\n<p>While a cat\u2019s love of high places may be natural, the kitchen counter and stove top can be dangerous places. It\u2019s also not a good idea to stifle your cat\u2019s normal jumping and climbing behavior. The simplest solution to reduce and possibly prevent cat counter surfing behavior is to make counters and other \u201cforbidden\u201d high spots uninteresting and even unpleasant places to be. Consider these tips, provided by Vetstreet.com and ASPCA Virtual Pet Behaviorist\/WebMD:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Provide acceptable outlets for climbing, jumping, escaping, resting and surveying the environment.<\/em><\/strong> Indoor cat \u201ctree\u201d furniture with natural bark, sisal or carpeting and comfortable platforms is a great alternative \u2014 especially if it can be placed near a window for your cat to look out.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Put away food and clean countertops thoroughly after food preparation.<\/em><\/strong> You don\u2019t want to inadvertently reward your kitty with tasty surprises and reinforce the idea that the counter is the place to be.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Don\u2019t feed your cat on the kitchen counter.<\/em><\/strong> Preventing the behavior in the first place is key. But for some cat owners who also have cat-food-stealing dogs, feeding Mittens on the kitchen counter is a good alternative. If you\u2019re okay with your cat on the counter, there\u2019s no reason to change your feeding practice. But if feeding kitty on the kitchen counter grosses you (or a significant other) out, consider finding someplace else for your cat to eat.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Make kitchen counters an uninteresting, unpleasant place.<\/em><\/strong> Because most cats don\u2019t like the feeling of walking on aluminum foil or double-sided tape, you can try covering counters with these materials.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Use positive reinforcement.<\/em><\/strong> Dogs aren\u2019t the only pets who respond to positive rewards. When your cat jumps on a cat tree or chair instead of a counter or table, be sure to reward them with a favorite treat or gentle scratches around the ears.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Punishing your cat for acting cat-like won\u2019t prevent future visits to counters or tabletops. And setting booby traps to deter kitchen counter excursions could result in injury or fearfulness. Providing alternative elevated hangouts and keeping food stored away, however, can thwart counter-commanding cat behavior. And then again, we are talking about cats\u2026 who often do as they please anyway!<\/p>\n<p>RELATED POST: <a title=\"Top 5 Reasons for Your Pet's Behavior\" href=\"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/blog\/behavior\/psychology\/pet-bad-behavior-reasons\/\">Will 2018 Be the Year You Stop Overlooking Bad Pet Behaviors?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some cat owners are unfazed by finding their feline friend on a kitchen counter or the dining room table. Others \u2014 and especially non-cat-owning people \u2014 are completely grossed out by the thought of a cat walking, sitting or lounging on those surfaces \u2014 especially when they consider where those paws have tread. If you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5283,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"How to Keep Cats Off of Countertops","_seopress_titles_desc":"Is your cat constantly surfing your countertops? If you have a counter-commanding cat, here are a few tips that you can follow to help keep them grounded!","_seopress_robots_index":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[201,282],"tags":[202,100,120,59,203],"class_list":["post-3720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behavior","category-training","tag-behavior","tag-cat","tag-lifestyle","tag-pet-tips","tag-training"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}