Advice needed before my boyfriend loses it!

[Craftlady]

I have some feeding dishes placed on the kitchen counter (out of Coco's reach, he LOVES cat food, silly dog). They hop on everything, other counter and refrigerator top. I just clean off the surfaces with handy Clorox wipes when I am ready to prepare food. It would be a losing battle with my gang of 6 if I tried to keep them off of stuff.

Foil never worked, they loved the touch, sound.

[Catty1]

What Craftlady said...use the wipes, or put on rubber gloves and give the surface a light coating of undiluted bleach. Give it several minutes, then wipe well and 'rinse' with a wet cloth or etc.

You might need to do this only twice a week to get rid of the smells that Jax finds so tempting.

[Taz_Zoee]

I might have a solution! I have some orange scented dish soap, so I put some on my fingers and held it up to his nose. He jumped back squinting. So I'm going to look for some kind of spray or cleaner with an orange (or citrus) scent. Thanks Claudia!!

And another big thanks to everyone for the ideas. I will definitely come back to this if the scent thing doesn't work. Or maybe we will just let him have his way. LOL

[kitten645]

Hey kiddo! I have some potpouri called Bitter Orange that I think is divine. I'll bring you a sample to Wine & Whiskers and see if it deters wee Jax!

[mruffruff]

After several years of cats on the counters, I decided I'd had enough. The cats weren't interested in the new rule. Water pistol wasn't going to work unless I camped out in the kitchen. Plastic runners with little bumps on the top side didn't work-they just walked between the bumps. Foil just kept falling on the floor.

Bit the bullet and bought two 40X20 Scat mats. Set them for static shock and beep. Guess who got the first shock?

Yup! And a dandy it was. I remembered real well not to lean in the counter as I walked by!

After two weeks and a few zaps, no more cats on the counters. It was a real pain to work around the mats (pun intended). Now I have the mats back in the boxes, at least until I catch someone on the counter again.

I probably wouldn't have resorted to the mats if the cats didn't pee on the backsplash and roll of paper towels while they were up there.

[Taz_Zoee]

Thanks mruffruff. So if the smell doesn't work then I might try the scat mats.

[kitten645]

"Bit the bullet and bought two 40X20 Scat mats. Set them for static shock and beep. Guess who got the first shock?"

ROFL! That would be me! Sometimes you gotta be cruel to be kind. I really sympathize if they were being extra naughty with the peeing. There's no way around that. Thankfully Calvin doesn't go on kitchen countertops. Dinner table only to do lovey flips when I get home. He's really quite good. No begging. No stealing. I might need a scat mat on ME since he insists on stomping on me in the middle of the night! Standing on my wrists? Really? You cant stand on either side of the three inch surface? LOL!

[lizbud]

I probably wouldn't have resorted to the mats if the cats didn't pee on the backsplash and roll of paper towels while they were up there.

Oh man, it that case I would use ANYTHING I needed to use to prevent
cats on the counter. This is one thing I could never accept.

[mruffruff]

That's why I have a piece of plastic hanging in front of my paper towels and my spice rack. The plastic has been there for a couple of years so I guess it was time to do something drastic.

Took the scat mats down Sunday and so far no one's been on the counters.