How To Prevent Cat From Jumping On Table

Jennifer Wilson
8 min readOct 16, 2020

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By their nature, cats are quite energetic, active, and curious animals, so there is almost no corner not surveyed by them in the house where they live. The table is no exception. How to prevent cats from jumping on tables? Seeing that the owner spends more than one hour of his life sitting behind this interior object, the animal tries a particular curiosity for human attention objects.

However, for many fluffy pets, the habit of climbing tables becomes a real problem for their owners. The animal not only breaks the general order but also often spoils things that are expensive for humans. Therefore, to wean the cat from such a habit becomes vital to the house’s general moral state. And today, we will try to go deeper into the root of this problem and identify the main ways to solve it.

Table Of Contents

· About the habit
· Reasons
· Food
· Place for sleep
· Curiosity
· Sources of heat
· What to do? 🤔
· Tin cans
· Vinegar
· Double-sided tape: this is crazy 🙀

About the habit

Climbing the table is one of the most common bad habits in cats, so almost every fluffy animal owner meets it. When for some, this phenomenon becomes a quick process, it turns into a real problem for most cat lovers.

Do you know? Everyone knows that cats like to sleep. According to scientists’ calculations, these animals spend about 70% of their lives in sleep.

Most animal lovers do not even think that no man on the table climbing can end up with severe problems. Probably, nobody knows what can attract the cat’s attention. In addition to all sorts of delicacies from the dining table, a playful pet may be interested in dangerous objects (for example, sharp and cutting objects).

Also, it is worth remembering the danger of food from the human table, regular consumption of which can lead to severe damage to the animal’s digestive system.

It is important to remember the purely hygienic reason for the harmfulness of this habit in the animal. Few of us before every meal lead to the table surface’s sterility. Not many people think that an animal can carry both dangerous infectious diseases and helminth eggs.

Sitting on the table’s surface, a cat may leave a vast amount of worm residues on it, which later may become a severe problem for the whole family.

Curious fact: the fantastic ability of cats to find their own home is the unique structure of their brain cells. They have their own magnetic field, which allows the animal to use them as a compass when looking for a home.

Reasons

The animal has quite a lot of reasons to develop this habit. Climbing on the table can be the result of natural curiosity and hunting instincts. It can arise out of need due to a lack of attention from the owner. Let’s consider the most significant among them.

Food

Even the fullest and most satisfied cat will never give up a treat. Good food and diet food become ordinary products. Like a man, a pet cat has a growing desire to please itself with something delicious.

A special treat for the pet is the “improved” food with flavors and spices, strictly forbidden for all pets.

Do not forget about the natural instincts of the cat. Even though pets are often not considered predators, they boil the same hormones and needs as wild relatives.

In such conditions, the dining table becomes a real savannah for hunting, in which the cat feels like a skilled hunter. Like a man, the cat feels an absolute pleasure from the food “with his own hands”.

Do you know? The cat has been the official mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska, for quite a long time. The animal had a nickname Stubbs, and his reign period was 20 years (from April 12, 1997 to July 21, 2017).

Place for sleep

A pet cat belongs to the loyal fans of climbing all kinds of hills and secluded places by its nature. On the hills, the animal feels safe and comfortable. Therefore, to keep the situation under control, the cat climbs the most accessible for him upland.

This can be seen especially brightly at night or during daytime sleep. The cat climbs on the table, where not only can be strategically placed but in case of any danger, instantly hide in a quieter place.

Curiosity

Often, simple cat curiosity can play a crucial role in the development of this harmful habit. The fluffy animal just beckons all the abundance of interesting objects on the table, with which he can learn something new or just have fun. In this case, the object of adoration can become any object of human use.

However, such curiosity can threaten a serious danger because fascinating an animal can be a bright or shiny accessory and such a dangerous object as a ball of thread with a needle stuck in it.

Sources of heat

In the absence of a warm and cozy place, a pet can try to extract the missing comfort from everything around it. In this case, it is not uncommon to arrange a bed on the table, which is especially common in the winter season. The kitchen table protects against cold concrete floors and elevates the body of a cat to warmer air.

Also, tables are often located near batteries and radiators, which can not fail to attract heat-loving animals. So in case of lack of heat and comfort, be prepared for the table to become your pet’s favorite place.

Important: During training, the cat should not be harshly punished and shouted at the animal because cats are by nature vindictive creatures. With a high degree of probability, good intentions can turn into much more serious problems for the owner than climbing the table.

What to do? 🤔

To effectively rid your pet of a bad habit, first of all, it is necessary to find out the main reason for its appearance, as only this, in most cases, allows you to quickly deal with the problem once and for all.

If your pet is attracted to food from the table, get it out of there, and there are more suitable places for storing food. Don’t leave potentially curious objects for your cat or bright, shiny things unattended.

And the main thing is to provide the animal with the comfort it needs. If your pet searching for coziness and warmth is trying to climb the table — equip him a warm and soft place with strictly his personal space. If it doesn’t help, you should resort to more radical methods, which we will discuss further.

Tin cans

One of the most effective ways to wean the cat from the habit of sitting on the table is a loud sound irritation. Often, cats are not adherents of sharp and loud sounds, so this feature can be skillfully used to fight against the habit. Put on one side of the table or in its several corners tin cans or small metal pots.

Jumping on the table, the cat will catch them, which will undoubtedly cause them to fall, followed by sound. After a while, the animal will develop an irritant reflex, and its lousy habit will gradually disappear.

Important: If the animal tries to jump on the table with you, the development of an audible reflex can be done by clapping in the palm of your hand or other sounds.

Vinegar

As you know, the sense of smell of animals is much sharper than that of humans, so this feature of pets can be adopted in the fight against the habit of climbing the table. To do this, pour the usual kitchen vinegar into several small dishes and then place them on the table surface.

The sharp sour smell will definitely make the animal feel unpleasant. It will definitely think about whether it is worth repeating what it did next time. However, there are also disadvantages to the method.

After the cat climbs up on the table, it will likely overturn the vinegar containers, in which case this aggressive substance will be poured, not only on the table but also the furniture next to it.

Double-sided tape: this is crazy 🙀

This method is one of the most effective, especially if the table has become a favorite place for a cat to stay overnight. To do this, stick longitudinal and transverse stripes of adhesive tape as thickly as possible on the tabletop. Getting on the sticky surface, the animal will feel real discomfort, which in the future will force the cat to abandon the habit of sleeping in this place.

However, you should not expect that the adhesive tape method will instantly deal with the problem. In fact, the process will take more than one week, and you are likely to spend a lot of effort (and scotch) to wean the cat from this bad habit.

It is important to remember that this process is a long one, and you can often achieve the desired result only if you use several methods simultaneously.

The problem of pet disobedience is faced by many pet owners. The habit of climbing the table is one of its brightest and most common forms.

While many treat it with a high degree of leniency, it becomes a real headache for most. In any case, you should approach the education of the pet with restraint.

What other methods do you know?

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