If you're not at home and unable to witness your cat's jumping behavior, you'll need to try a few other approaches. One approach is to take things that your cat already associates as bad, things that he knows by sight, and place them on the counter or other piece of furniture. If he already dislikes spray bottles by sight, for instance, put a few on top of the counter. Balloons can make for a great deterrent. If you pop a balloon in front of your cat, he'll likely find the noise unpleasant and soon associate the unpleasant noise with the balloon itself. Thus you can blow up a few balloons and place them wherever you don't want your cat to jump. For kitchen counter tops, a good trick is to line them with cookie sheets filled with water.

ne of the very best approaches, however, is to determine if there is anything enticing your cat to jump. For example, is there food on the countertops, pens on the desk, a great view out a window, a plastic bag, piece of paper or any other item that your cat might think is fun? Put these items away, making these places as unappealing to your cat as possible, and increase the appeal at his level by adding a new toy now and then.

More about dealing with jumping kitties.