Loving the Strong-Willed Cat

When we have a strong-willed cat, we never have to wonder if the cat wants something. We might not know what it is, but we are clear about their intentions.

Olwyn is six and a half months old here. She likes to run things.

When we dump some treats into the puzzle box, she growls at the treats if they are reluctant to come out. She squeals at RJ if he’s too rowdy. She talks to her canned food, but apparently it never disagrees with her.

It is never difficult to figure out Olwyn’s stand on any issue. From purring to protesting, she’s always upfront about her feelings.

This makes our task much easier. We know what she wants.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Because the strong-willed cat is also charming. We can’t help but respond when someone wants something. A lot. We admire persistence.

For times when persistence gets out of hand, try these tips:

Don’t fight fire with fire. It’s usually pointless to meet stubbornness with stubborn reactions of our own. If it becomes a contest of wills, everyone loses.

If we ramp it up, and then they ramp it up, we wind up with bruised feelings… and we haven’t stopped the behavior. We’ve just made it worse.

Seek compromise. Continually trying to block these cats from their goals will only increase the cat’s efforts. They are strong-willed. It is their keen recognition of wants which works on their psyche, and ours.

Make our request into a favor we ask of them; after we have tried something else to meet the need they are expressing. Cats find it disarming when we get busy giving them things; even if it isn’t the thing they want.

Let them have it. No, I’m not advocating giving up on our idea of good behavior. But like all strong-willed beings, cats can convince themselves that they cannot rest until they have whatever it is.

But what if they discover what they want isn’t all that great? What if we “help” them to this understanding?

We can set cat traps to persuade our cat to rethink their pursuit. We can sneak something else into the cupboard, and give them the substitute when they beg for the forbidden object. We can let them smell our wine or martini and come to their own conclusions about its deliciousness.

However we wish to discourage our cat, we have demonstrated two things: one, that we look pretty smart by maintaining they won’t be as thrilled as they think they will be.

And, two, that we are actually pretty nice… since we gave it to them anyway.

We do have their best interests at heart.

Got here from a Link or Search?
There’s more to raising and training a cat with The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See my CAT TRAINING TIPS.