hi I'm dr. Lori leech and I'm here to
talk to you about how to get your cat to
not jump on the countertops the most
important thing about not having them
jump on the countertops is not to reward
the behavior for example if you feed
your kitten on the countertop then she's
gonna jump up on the countertop because
that's where food is and you only have
to do it once in order for her to figure
out hey oftentimes good stuff is up
there so I better go check it out just
in case I'm missing something so that's
the first thing when you feed your
kitten you want to feed her on the floor
or him so feed them on the floor never
feed him on the countertop that's the
first thing the second thing is don't
reward the behavior if the cat jumps up
onto the countertop and she gets petted
every time that she does then she says
gee whiz I'm gonna go jump up there
because I get petted
and if she gets patted and then put down
then she's still enough attention it's
like pretty much of a rewarded behavior
so the thing to do is if she is on the
countertop always just take her off but
don't reward the behavior and then it's
going to become less attractive to do
over time sometimes alternatives if the
cat is roaming around the house during
the day while you're at work sometimes
you can purchase you can take a tape a
carpet runner and you flip it upside
down so the little pokey things are up
if you lay that on your countertop when
the cat jumps on it then she's not gonna
be so comfortable stepping on the little
pokey spines that are in on the runner
so that might be a way to make the
activity less attractive when you're not
at home sometimes too you can distract
the cat you can put some pennies in a
soda pop can and shake and make a big
noise and that may distract her and and
have her jump down the thing is is you
don't want to use things like a squirt
gun because the cat knows that it's you
on the other end of the squirt gun she's
going to start associating you with the
adverse stimuli so the best way to get
the cat not to jump on the countertop is
just to not reinforce the behavior don't
even let it happen in the first place if
that can possibly happen thanks very
much
I'm dr. Lori