Haiku by Cat: Counterintuitive

Haiku by Cat: though strongly denied / footprints confirm cat’s visit / to kitchen counter

Today’s haiku is by Elsa Clair.

Cats are vertical creatures. My house has numerous places for Dawn, Athena, Calvin and Elsa Clair to get high. I even feed them up on a buffet.

But there are a few places in my home that I like to maintain as cat free: food preparation and eating surfaces. That’s because I knew where their feet have been.

We have a rules:

  • No cats at the table when we’re eating.
  • No paws on the table, ever.
  • Kitchen countertops are cat-free zones at all times.

To enforce these rules usually requires nothing more than a redirect or a gentle removal.

But the kitchen counter poses a few challenges; we are not always there to observe the trespasser. And cats are ninjas, able to jump right up on the counter without a sound.

To solve this problem, we used to use a handy product called StayAway, which is nothing more than a can of compressed air with a motion-sensing doohickey on top. Cat jumps up, alarm sounds, compressed air is released, cat learns the counter is Not a Pleasant Place. (Unfortunately, we can’t seem to find StayAway anymore, so we use Ssscat by Petsafe: same concept, but no alarm. I like the alarm better because the cats learn to jump off when they hear the alarm.)

For the most part, the cats have learned to stay off the counters. But Athena is a tester; she knows that sometimes one of us forgets to turn a StayAway on. She doesn’t mind the occasional compressed air shot because the payoff (A crumb of cat food! A molecule of cheese! A yogurt container!) is worth risk.

And thus one of us will enter the kitchen and find a few clues that a certain feline someone has breached the no-kitty borders: a knocked-over glass, footprints left behind, and a smug look on Athena’s face. Oh.Wait. That’s her normal look.

Do your pets go places you wish they wouldn’t? How do you attempt to control that?

You may also like:

Read more Haiku by Cat >>



Posted in: Haiku, Haiku by Cat

10 Comments on "Haiku by Cat: Counterintuitive"

Trackback | Comments RSS Feed

  1. easy rider says:

    we need gloves or socks to avoid pawprints… I guessed it :o)

  2. We are sure the footprints are planted!

  3. Robin says:

    Cats can be stinkers sometimes! I don’t have too much trouble with cats on the counter tops (we barely have counter tops in this apartment), but they do like to try and swipe my food while I eat. Usually I just keep redirecting them, but if they are being particularly difficult, I will shut them in the bedroom until I’m finished eating.

  4. Kitties Blue says:

    Our humans had rules once upon a time…like no paws on the placemat, and they still try to enforce that and keep us off the table while they are eating. They lost the counter battle years before most of us were here. We have a bowl for sleeping on the counter as well as a water dish by the sink. Lily and Astrid and sometimes Misty May eat on the counter. This is why our counters are constantly being disinfected. Way to go Athena. Not smart to leave those footprints behind, however. Wishing you a happy and blessed Thanksgiving. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

  5. da tabbies o trout towne says:

    wuz de nay bor cat
    that wuz in de kitshun and
    made all oh thoz trax !!

    happee pie day guys……

    rememburr…pie furst….spudz….second….burd…..forgetaboutit ♥♥♥

  6. Emma says:

    We have given up because cat bro Bert is always on the counter. We’ve tried air, noise, water, he doesn’t care. We just have the counter cleaner handy and wipe it down always before cooking.

  7. The mom has given up trying to keep us off the counters. Now her only rule is that we can’t be on the counter when food is being prepared. And we can’t be on the table when the peeps are eating. For the most part, we abide by these two rules.

  8. meowmeowmans says:

    We’re lucky … none of our cats tries to go on the counter or table. As far as we know. 😉

  9. Deziz World says:

    We too have da No kitchen counter rule as well as no surface in da kitchen. And yes, we obey dat rule at all times. Mommy never allowed us on da counter in da furstt place. When we was little and givinn’ da counter dat look, mommy wuld sternly say, “No or don’t you even think ’bout it.” She did once have a kitty dat disobeyed da rule, and she put sum pennies in a old coke can and set it on da free edge. She moved everything on da counter forward so the only free space to jump was sumfin’ she kuld control So she put this penny filled can on a piece of foil and set it on da edge. Kitty wuld jump up, knock off da can which made a lot of noise, and of course kitty kuldn’t get a grip on anyfin’ cuz of da slick foil. And voila, a few days later and kitty’s no longer counter surfin’. MOL

    Luv ya’

    Dezi and Lexi

  10. We just gave up. Instead, I have food grade H2O2 which sanitizes the counter in 30 seconds (it’ll also eat your face off, but I digress 😉

    We also need to invest in cabinet locks!!

Post a Comment

%d bloggers like this: