Cat - Keep Your Cat Off of the Counter

Quality Cat Supplies available at Low Prices and Free Shipping! Kitchen counters are like magnets to cats. Cats love high surfaces, and, as a bonus, the kitchen counter smells delicious. Your counter is often full of good things to eat, or at least, still smelling of them, and any self-respecting cat is required to investigate. It may seem impossible to keep your pet from "counter-surfing." Before kitty drives you to your wits' end, try a few simple tricks to discourage him. Cats hate the sticky feeling of tape, so try applying some sticky-side up to the edge of the counter. The sensation of stickiness on your cat's paws may be enough to keep him off the counter. The disadvantage to this method is that you will have to keep applying the tape as long as you want to repel the cat, and cleaning the adhesive off your counter later can be a chore. Strips of aluminum foil are also suggested, as some cats hate not only the feel of it on their toes, but also the crackling noise. Be careful, though. Some cats find aluminum foil highly attractive and will pull it down for a toy. Make sure that your cat does not ingest any foil if this happens. Another method of repelling your cat from the counter is to employ a loud noise that will upset your cat when he has done something wrong. A few pennies in an empty aluminum can, shaken when the cat is on the counter, can make him learn that the counter is off limits. If you place a few of these cans along the edge of the counter where the cat will be sure to knock them off when he jumps up, the resulting racket will bring down the cat. Other loud noise methods include a popped balloon, or slapping noisemakers based on mousetraps. The traditional water spray method can also work, though it is important to make sure that the cat connects the discomfort of being wet with the counter, and not with you. It is also important to make sure that temptations that entice your cat to jump on the counter are reduced. Keep good smelling food off of the counter top, make sure that there are other high places that your cat can sit, and make sure your cat has ample space to roam. These steps, combined with the above preventatives, can help keep your cat off of the counter. Lauren has been the proud owner of a European Shorthair cat named Pumpkin for 12 years and an Australian Shepherd dog named Mollie for 8 years. She loves cats and dogs and is happy to provide pet owners with wonderful kitty condos, scratching posts, and dog stairs found at http://www.luckycatfurniture.com Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lauren_Brehm Cat - Is it an Outhouse or a Cat Litter Box You will be forced to have a litter box in your home if you own a cat. There's a good chance that you have somewhere out of the way to keep it, and it may not bother you very much if your home is spacious. However, a cat litter box can be very annoying if you have a small place like I do. I am not fond of dealing with the litter box, although I love my cats. Scooping it a few times a day may seem like an easy task, buy I can't do it all the time. I have no choice but to keep the cat litter box in my bedroom because my place is so small. I can't put it anywhere else so there's really nothing I can do. For instance, putting it under the dining room table would not be a good idea because of sanitary reasons. The problem is that I forget to scoop the cat litter box in my room every once in a while. This can be a big problem when I go out for the day. It is very obvious that my cats have been using it when I get home. The resulting bad smell is very hard to get rid of and it just makes a lot of extra work for me. My male cat also seems to have a sense of humor because he always decides that it's time to use the cat litter box whenever I lie down to go to sleep. This is a huge problem for me, even though this would not be a problem for most people. This is because the cat litter box in my room has a lid on the top of it. This gives the cats some privacy and the device also prevents me from looking at the contents when I walk by. However, our male cat scratches the top and sides of it when he is done for some unknown reason. This irritating act can last for more than five minutes. You will hear the most hideous noise you can imagine when he runs his nails along the side and the top of the cat litter box because it is made of plastic. My attempts to get him to stop doing this have always failed. He walks out of the cat litter box and finds somewhere else in the house to go if I get upset and hiss at him. This is not an option because I would have a far more annoying problem to deal with each day when I wake up. This means that I have to put up with his noise instead of scaring him out of the litter box.