What is the worst way to discipline a cat? With a lot of yelling and physical punishment.
There’s a lovely Alice Miller quote that is highly illustrative here:
All a beaten child remembers is fear and the faces of angry parents, not why the beating was taking place.
Punitive methods like yelling and hitting don’t work. And… they actually trigger more bad behavior from the cat.
more animals
The results of yelling and smacking will only undermine the cat’s motivation to please us. This will also create stress that the cat will attempt to relieve by ramping up the misbehavior that hasn’t been properly addressed, and will still linger. Why, then, do people keep trying these poor tactics?
Part of it is that we humans have an instinctive understanding of aversive feedback. Touch the hot stove, and we won’t touch it again. We feel that substituting a lesser hurt will get the message across in a better way. But we shouldn’t forget that there is a still better way; getting across the message of hurt doesn’t have to involve hurting.
We can let the cat know there are possibly dire consequences to playing with electrical wires or investigating the open oven door by acting shocked and worried when they do these things. By acting as though they could be hurt, we have communicated our concern in a caring way.
The cat doesn’t understand the lesser hurt is trying to prevent them from a greater one. All they know is that we’ve hurt them.
When the cat scratches the sofa or shuns their litter box for a different bathroom arrangement, they aren’t doing it to upset us. They are expressing a need. As the one with the bigger brain and the opposable thumbs, it’s up to us to redirect their instincts to options that work better for both of us. Upgrading their arrangements isn’t just a caring way of meeting these needs; it’s also the way we come home to a happy cat, and a nice home.
When it comes to keeping the cat away from our stuff that doesn’t want to be played with, we have to remember that the cat is asking for playthings; maybe the same kinds of things, or just more play and attention. Even cats who seek out exploration opportunities can be happy with cat safe versions; it’s a challenge to our creativity, but it also keeps our cats busy and productive.
Maybe it’s not “cat training” as we have come to think of training; getting someone to do something. But it is a learning experience. The cat learns what is expected of them.
And we learn what is expected of us.
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An important part of disciplining a cat is that you have to remember that they have a short mental horizon. “Rub their nose in it” doesn’t work; the cat has no recollection of doing something from five minutes ago. You have to discipline a cat while they’re in a naughty act.
Policy at Maine Coon Manor for keeping cats of counters, bookshelves, and tables is a particular set of stern verbal warnings followed by physical action:
“Cleo, down.”
“Cleo, get off the [name of article of furniture].”
“Don’t make me come over there!”
Getting and walking over to the cat. “Fee, fie, fo, fum, I see the fluff of a ’Coon kitten!”
Gently shove cat off of furniture they’re not supposed to be on.
Usually I only have to get to “Don’t make me come over there!”, or start to get up to show I really do intend to remove them from the furniture, and the cat will jump down.
My wife complains that the cats listen a lot more to my booming “daddy voice” than to hers; sometimes I’ll hear her starting this sequence in another room and add my voice, and the cat will then jump down where they were previously chirping defiance. (Getting back-talk from a cat is just too funny. “Cleo, down!” “Meh-eh!”)
We also have an implicit rule that upholstered surfaces are always okay for cats to be on, and the only non-upholstered surfaces for cats are floors, so they have a tactile association as well as a “which piece of furniture” association.
Controlling scratching works similarly, with the addition that they always get verbal praise for scratching on their scratching post and sometimes get treats.
An excellent outline of procedure.
I am very familiar with the “don’t make me get up” warning. As soon as one’s tush leaves the chair… it works wonders.