The Aluminum Foil Hack People Use To Keep Cats Off Counters (& Does It Really Work?)

Bread and butter, mac and cheese, PB and J, countertops and cats? Just like the greatest food combinations, your kitchen also hosts another love story: your cat(s) and your cooking surfaces. Feline friends seem to really enjoy hopping up and wandering around on these areas, and while it can be adorable and almost like hosting a fluffy sous-chef while you cook, it is also unhygienic and can be frustrating if you don't want them on your countertops. One hack that people have suggested cat owners try is placing aluminum foil on their surfaces: After all, it works to keep pests away from your home and garden. The foil is meant to deter your whiskered pals because they supposedly don't like the feel of it or the sound it makes. However, it seems this trick is more myth than fact, and while initially cats may be put off by the sound, which is extremely loud to their sensitive ears, many adjust quickly and even enjoy playing on the foil.

Pet hacks like covering your potted plants in aluminum foil or wrapping your furniture in it to prevent curious claws from ripping them apart can be helpful around the house, but just setting a piece of foil down on the counter isn't quite as effective as cat owners wish. You might get a couple of days where your feline avoids your surfaces with this hack, but true to form: Cats are resilient, and unique, and mostly do whatever they want.

The main reason people seem convinced this trick works is because if a cat jumps from the floor or another piece of furniture and lands on a piece of aluminum foil, the noise is both loud and alarming. While humans are sensitive to sounds in the 3,000 hertz range, cats' ears can capture sounds up to 8,000 hertz, which makes them more sensitive to loud noises. TikTok videos like this Ladbible example show the sound can be quite extreme (or perhaps they just didn't expect it), so it's no surprise cats are perturbed or scared of the foil trick at first. While the internet is ripe with videos about cats freaking out when they touch aluminum, House Digest's Senior Lead News Editor Nancy Sheppard tried this trend with her four cats, and it simply didn't work.

Her cat Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt (above) and her other cats went so far as to begin "tap dancing" on the foil, as she explained it, creating their very own musical stage from where they could entertain one another and the household at large. This hack can only be considered a one-and-done or short term solution, since cats are naturally curious and once the initial scare is over are more likely to use the foil for fun rather than fear it. You can always give it a try to see if your feline friends avoid it, but you might just be introducing them to a new obsession that involves tap dancing and making a ruckus.