Cats jump. It’s almost a rule of nature. The sky is blue; gravity keeps your feet planted firmly on the ground, up is up, down is down, water is wet, and cats jump. Ragdolls didn’t skip out on this natural, feline propensity for leaping, even though they are pretty hefty cats.
In other words, Ragdolls will jump on counters if they can. But, of course, it also depends on their diet. The largest Ragdolls are typically around 20lbs. So if it’s an overweight Ragdoll, the counter may be out of reach, but that will be the same for all cats.
Like any cat, Ragdolls want to explore, and cats love to explore things that are high. This is because they can see better, and as natural predators, height gives them an advantage over any potential prey.
It also plays into their keen sense of exploration as well as feeding their lovable nature because it’s a way to be closer to you rather than following around beneath your feet.
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Is Jumping on the Counter Common for Ragdolls?
As aforementioned, Ragdolls are like another appendage for their owners and prefer to be at their owner’s side at all times. If there are a lot of counters in your home, or any elevated platform for that matter, your Ragdoll will want to jump on it, closing the gap between it and you.
Do you leave food on the countertop a lot? Ragdolls are smart as a whip, and if they see that you leave food on the countertop, jumping onto the countertop will become a more common activity. Your Ragdoll will eat just about anything you leave up there, and it’s like bait for a cockroach.
The old saying that “curiosity killed the cat” certainly applies here. Not the part about killing. Your Ragdoll isn’t going to die a horrible death because it likes to jump onto the countertop. But curiosity is a driving factor behind the behavior.
However, your Ragdoll will mostly jump on counters because they instinctively love to be up high. Likely you have seen Tik Tok or YouTube videos where people built elevated platforms throughout their homes for their cats to climb, and it works. Cats love to get up high.
Ragdolls are no different, and if there is a platform for it to jump to it will do its level best to get up there.
Can You Train a Ragdoll to Stay Off the Countertop?
Ragdolls aren’t stupid. In general, cats are relatively intelligent creatures that are more than capable of learning all kinds of behaviors, tricks, and things to avoid.
You can definitely teach your Ragdoll not to jump on the countertop, and there are three ways to do it.
You can head them off early when they are little more than kittens and are growing and exploring their new, wide world. However, once you notice that your Ragdoll is starting to jump, it’s time to start laying some ground rules.
The second way is through dedicated and consistent training after becoming adult cats. In other words, training through correction and repetition.
The third way is to place deterrents on the countertop that your Ragdoll doesn’t like. Again, it has to be something that makes your Ragdoll lose all interest in jumping up onto your counter and prefer to stay well-grounded when it comes to your countertops.
Make sure that you do a fair bit of research on what constitutes a deterrent and what could possibly bring harm to your Ragdoll.
We all know that placing thumbtacks on your counter would be harmful and abusive, but you might be surprised at what deterrents are actually dangerous. Here are some things that can possibly be effective deterrents that will make your Ragdoll want to stay away from the countertop:
- Place a rubber snake or two up there
- Place sticky tape on your countertop
- Spray your countertop with vinegar
- Sprinkle pepper or curry powder on the countertop
- ScatMats
- Motion-activated noisemaker
Cats are not scared of snakes so much as they are startled by them. A cat will often fight a real snake because it recognizes the danger and wants to eliminate it.
However, there’s a difference between a prepared cat squaring off against a snake. And a cat that leaps onto the counter directly on top of or near one.
Cats absolutely abhor something stuck to the bottom of their paws. Placing double-sided sticky tape on the countertop will drive your Ragdoll crazy if it steps on one and is a very effective and funny deterrent.
Ragdolls, like all cats, loathe the smell of vinegar. They don’t want it on their paws or anywhere near them, for that matter. The smell physically repulses them, and all it takes is a few sprays of diluted vinegar to keep your Ragdoll away.
Pepper and curry powder drives them crazy as well.
ScatMats are mats that you can place on the counter that has a small electric current running through them. Not enough to harm your Ragdoll in any way, but definitely enough to make it highly uncomfortable and want to vacate the premises immediately.
No products found. typically blow air or make noises that will definitely startle your Ragdoll.
How High Can Ragdoll Cats Jump?
Cats have the extraordinary capability of jumping—vertically, no less—nine times the length of their body. This is no different with Ragdolls, despite their larger size.
This means that a Ragdoll can leap up to 15′, which means that there is nothing in your house that your Ragdoll can’t reach. Even something that is preposterously high can be reached if there are other platforms beneath it for your Ragdoll to jump up to.
Fortunately, Ragdolls aren’t frequent leapers, with the lone exception of jumping around when it means getting closer to you. Ragdolls are intensely lovable and affectionate and love to spend time with you from the moment that you walk in the door to the moment you leave.
Do Ragdoll Cats Like to Climb?
In general, Ragdoll cats are floor cats, meaning that they don’t want to climb anything unless there is something worth making an effort to reach. Ragdolls would prefer to stay close to the ground unless there is a way to get closer to you, closer to food, or closer to a good observation point.
That doesn’t mean that all Ragdolls don’t like to climb. On the contrary, many Ragdolls do, and many Ragdolls don’t. The thing about Ragdolls is that the driving force behind their personality is closeness to you, but they are not defined by a single personality.
Like humans, Ragdolls have personalities all their own, and each one is unique. For example, if you owned three Ragdolls, one might be a climber, one might be a jumper, and one might be a ground cat that never wants to go anywhere higher than it can reach by simply standing up.
Final Thoughts
Ragdolls will definitely jump up onto your countertops if there is a driving reason to do so. However, it’s easy to deter that behavior, and if it doesn’t bother you, then it’s nothing that you need to worry about one way or another.
Ragdolls all come with their own personality, so you can be assured that they will be loving, affectionate, and loyal clingers that may or may not enjoy jumping on your countertops.
Related Articles
- Do All Cats Like to Climb?
- Are Ragdolls A One Person Cat?
- Why Does My Ragdoll Meow So Much?
- Can Ragdolls See In The Dark?
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