posted 11-26-2003 01:19 PM         

If by chance I do get ahold of him while he's still on the counter he goes in the bathroom for a few minutes, which he hates.
For now I have the policy that he only gets shut in the bathroom if I take him directly off the counter. I wouldn't want him to think hes being punished for getting down.

posted 11-26-2003 02:19 PM         

You dont say how old your cat is or how long he has been doing this behaviour. From experiance it is harder to break an older cat of a habit especially if he has been doing it for more than a month but if he is a young cat and just started to do it you have more chance.

I have found the best way to teach animals is by positive reward not by punishment. Though I do allow my cats on the kitchen work surfaces there is one food preparation area they are not allowed on. I initially started to take them down of the surface and when they were on the floor to reward them with a treat, always a treat on the floor never on the side. Also the surface is near their food bowls, so when I am dishing their tea up if they get on the side they must get down before they get fed. The repetition is a must though and you must always be consitent otherwise they don't learn.
They don't go on the worksurface at all now, we don't even get dirty paw marks from when we're not around.

The best way though is to train them from kittens, my mom's cat was simply told 'no' from when they first got him and he has never been on th side even when there was raw meat left out.

I don't like punishing animals especially because they don't really understand what they have done wrong plus you can build a negative attention seeking pattern. Where they do wrong just so you notice them, even if it is to shout at them. If you must punish him to stop doing it then a water bottle is probably best.

posted 11-26-2003 03:07 PM         

So, I guess the problem isn't just the coutners, it the whole attention seeking. He does get played with quite a bit (several hours a day), but if he had his way, every second from when I get home to when I go to bed would be spend dangling a feather on a stick. I can only do that for about an hour before I'm bored out of my mind. Since I've gotten him my TV watching has probably trippled because its the only thing I can do while playing with the cat at the same time.

Basically, Footsie demands much more attention than I've ever seen from a cat. I know I sound like I'm complaining, but honestly I would love for him to just take a nap sometime (I've never seen him sleep any place but on my lap. He sleeps while I'm in bed or at work, and rarely at all when I'm around) so I could read a book! Hes 6 months old, so I'm hoping he'll grow out of it. But in the mean time I'm going nuts.