How Do You Train And Discipline A Cat?

[GDPR]

My sweet,adorable little kitten has turned into an evil creature that thinks she's in charge of my house and I am her property.

She is very demanding and when she wants to be fed she starts biting and scratching my legs.When I am not in her sight she cries,very loud,until I tell her where I am.When people come to my house that have little kids she gets jealous and tries to bite and scratch them and I have to put her in a different room and shut the door,but then the crying is so loud it gets on everyone's nerves or someone will let her out just so she will stop.

I have never had a cat like this,she expects to be with me constantly.If I go somewhere,she is watching out the window when I get home and runs to greet me when I go in the door,like a dog would.She terrorizes my dogs too,they are large and she should be afraid of them but instead she jumps on their heads,bites their ears,stands on her back legs and approaches them like she is a bear that's going to attack them and swats their faces with her front paws.The dogs don't do anything about it,they just look at her like she's lost her mind.She gets in front of their faces when they're trying to eat and sometimes even gets in their food dishes so they can't eat.

She looks for cups/glasses that have any liquid in them and knocks them over,carries things into the bathroom and tries to put them down the sink drain.She tears wallpaper off the wall,if she sees a prescription bottle she hides it from us,or any small bottle foir that matter.My husband found a bottle of ibuprophen that I had bought but then disappeared just a couple of days ago.

I could go on and on.I love my cat but she is out of control.I have tried spraying her with a water bottle when she's doing things she shouldn't,but she likes it.I have tried tapping her nose with my finger,that only works for a few seconds.I have tried rewarding good behavior with treats,have tried scolding her...I don't know what else to do.

I wish she would behave like other cats I have had,sleeping all day and occasionally wanting to be petted or held.She acts like a toddler going through terrible twos.

---------- Post Merged at 10:39 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 10:25 AM ----------

She is nearly a year old now,by the way.

 

[Daniel E.]

Wow, that is horrible. My cat will sometimes scratch my leg a little when she wants food, but that is as violent as she gets. She is very nice to kids and babies and everyone else. Also, she is an indoor/outdoor cat, so we can just kick her out if she drives us crazy at night. She likes to knock over things until she gets wet cat food.

My guess is that your cat needs to be an outdoor cat, and I do not know if that is an option for you, especially since you have other pets to consider. Of course, there are always no kill-shelters, etc.

My husband and I adopted a beautiful one-year-old Shepard Huskie from a no-kill shelter and after a long, painful month of dealing with her, we told the shelter when we returned her that they needed to find someone who could have an outdoor dog and no other pets for her to bother outside. A week later, the dog was at the local PetSmart on their Facebook page and was someone else's problem. The dog was beautiful but would pee multiple times on our bed, bother every single dog and cat we had, etc.

 

[MHealthJo]

I haven't experienced this LIT so anything I say is just a thought. One thing I'm aware of is that in some parts of the world it's common to let cats outside, (although many choose to keep them in at night), while in other places they tend to be kept indoors. I know that cat behaviour problems are often far less common when they get outdoor time or when they have an outdoor 'cat run' and good-view spots to hang out and look at trees, birds, lizards, bugs, hear the sounds, scratch trees, eat grass, etc. I don't know what your situation is in that respect though or whether that would be a possibility.

I'm assuming also that your cat is already desexed.

I have read that nose-tapping and stuff like that is discouraged, so I am not sure what is best as a deterrent.

At one stage I did find some annoying and demanding behaviour with a certain food. To different degrees, it seemed like both my cats were "addicted" to it. The thing that turned out to be best was getting rid of that food entirely and switching to only foods that they 'sorta like OK', but not love with a passionate and extreme love!

I have also found it helpful to have pretty 'set' mealtimes for them, and they get nothing else until the next correct time, no matter what. 4 small meals a day works for us but different schedules may be best for you.

Apart from these ideas I can only suggest some assistance from a trusted vet or animal behaviourist. Don't be afraid to ask them lots and lots of questions and see them more than once - figuring out and handling animal behaviour can be very confusing. A great animal behaviourist vet used to help people with really confusing problems on TV over here - you may want to try googling Dr Harry Cooper and looking for videos.

Sorry you're dealing with this frustrating situation!

 

[GDPR]

I am sure my cat would be much happier if I allowed her to go outside,but I am afraid to let her do that.I am so scared she will go in the road and get hit by a car.That's what happened to the last one I had.

But,maybe I need to let her,maybe I could go out with her some when the weather permits.Or put a leash on her maybe?I doubt a leash would work though.

 

[MHealthJo]

I did a leash walk with my cats once, heh heh. We drove out to an actual different location though, away from home, and that was the main reason for the interesting and not-so-useful results, haha. (As they were out of their 'territory', all they did was sniff around the brushy thick bush areas looking for 'safe cover', going deeper and deeper into areas a human couldn't really go, and tangling their leashes, hee hee. I even thought I was so clever, I had made long long leashes out of sewing elastic. But hey... who knows... maybe there's a chance it could work at your home?)

We're so lucky, we're on a quiet cul-de-sac in an area where each house has around 700m2 to itself, so nearby roads that have any substantial traffic are still outside of our female cats' roaming area.

Hmm... I guess there are tons of ideas for indoor cat stimulation around the web, but on the other hand, I don't want to put you on the wrong track in case it's not a stimulation issue at all and the answer is some other thing entirely...? I do remember on the TV show seeing an indoor cat's problems greatly improved by setting up places where the cat could get up high and sit with good views out of windows. Hmm... I know you can also buy crickets and grasshoppers and things for feeding to reptiles or other animals and stuff.... I don't know how your cat (and you!!) might feel about having a 'bug room' or some 'bug sessions'? Haha. We buy a box of crickets and grasshoppers for cat fun now and then. Ugh sorry poor crickets and grasshoppers, I sure hope they don't feel pain or fear in the same sense that larger animals do!

 

[Daniel E.]

The other problem of course with being outdoors on her own -- especially at night -- are cat fights which can cause expensive damage from hidden infections. (If the bite is not seen, the first sign may be limping.) Fortunately, we don't have neighborhood cats that come around here since there are more cows than people. But your cat seems she would be on the winning side if she did get in a fight

Also, a hotline in Michigan I just came across:

Pet Behavior Helpline: (763) 489-2202

Need help right away? Call our Behavior Helpline. We’re here to answer your behavior questions about your pet, and we might just be able to help you resolve an issue that will keep your pet at home, with you. All messages returned within 24 hours.

Pet behavior resources | Animal Humane Society

 

[GDPR]

I was thinking,maybe she is acting out because she wants one on one time with me without the dogs or anyone else around,like how kids act out in order to get attention even if it's negative attention.

Sounds kind of silly but I think I am going to try doing that and see if it makes a difference.I don't plan on reading any books to her or anything( lol) but I think I will try taking her in a different room,just me and her,for awhile each day and just hold and pet her and talk to her.

It's worth a try.I will let you know how it goes.

---------- Post Merged on March 27th, 2015 at 09:49 AM ---------- Previous Post was on March 26th, 2015 at 11:38 PM ----------

What a coincidence!My husband realized this morning that he must have accidentally let her out last night,that she must have slid right past him and out the door without his knowledge.And she was out all night.

She seems pretty content since coming back in this morning and is actually acting like a happy,playful cat( for now).And she rubbed up against my legs when she wanted to eat instead of biting and scratching.

Coincidence that he accidentally let her out?I'm not so sure about that,but at least now I won't be so afraid to let her out again.

 

[MHealthJo]

Hee hee, I'm imagining her excitement and thought process and wondering what she got up to.....

 

[GDPR]

Every time the door has been opened today she has ran outside.The first 3 times she did I went out,chased her down and brought her back in.After that I just left her out there until she wanted back in.

Just because my other can was hit by a car it doesn't mean she will be.It could possibly happen though,but after watching her running,playing and investigating everything out there I think it's worth the chance.I don't think there's any way to keep her inside anymore after having a taste of freedom anyway.If it makes her happy then I guess I have to let her.

She's inside sleeping right now,I think she wore herself out.

 

[MHealthJo]

Awww.

I think maybe there do seem to be definite personalities in cats, with a very intense need to be outdoors in some. As you say, it can just be luck / chance in terms of the dangers out there. Same way we all take a chance each time we drive on the road, fly, etc.

When I first let my cats outside, i'd watch them out the front, and every time they went onto the road i would pick them up and just move them back off it, back to the nearest bit of kerb. Eventually they would either not explore in that direction, or find a way there by going around the culdesac kerb. I don't know what they do when i'm not there, but even now years later they'll tend to go around on the kerb rather than cross onto the road surface.( Of course, with just a straight stretch of road maybe it wouldn't be the same.)

And even without road dangers, one of them managed to have an altercation with a venomous snake years back - thousands of dollars in vet bills, and we almost lost her. I must say she became more careful and less adventurous after that; she seemed to stay more close by.

She had always been impossible to control or hold back in terms of exploring; even with our big yard and trees, it was like the whole world was not enough for her. When they were young I tried to let them only out the back and not have any accessible tree branches etc that led onto fences or the roof, to allow them only access to the backyard.

No dice. She found ways to get where she was going. Promptly, easily, and desperately.

Meanwhile her sister likes to eat and sleep, sit and just look around, and has barely ever hopped up onto the fence in her life. Getting her to exercise is a battle and she gains weight too easily, and she'll steal her sister's food the moment your back is turned. *exasperated shrug*

 

[GDPR]

My cat is a lot different now.I just let her in and out of the house as she wants.She seems happy and content now and isn't evil like before.

Every time I let her out I do worry she will run off or go in the road or something though.But the risk is worth the change in her.

 

[MHealthJo]

Glad she is feeling and behaving so happily and healthily and is an enjoyable happy friend again. My cats send her their best streetsmart outdoor-safety vibes and high visibility reflective collar suggestions. ( Um and the adventurous one sends a message not to follow her example of playing with snakes.)

Hmm, if you do get worried again, some people do succeed with things like only using the backyard and enclosing the whole area with revolving fencetop cat barriers the cat can't climb or land on, or other systems..... It's so hard making these kind of decisions isn't it. Knowing that 'total safety' is possible, but what is the point of 'total safety' if the cost is misery /unhealthiness/big mental health & behavioral problems. I guess we can apply the same thought process to ourselves too, and all humans vary between each other in terms of where they put that "acceptable risk" mark in their own lives and all their own activities as well. There's a certain range that allows us a good level of healthiness/happiness, but within that healthy range we all still vary and make different decisions in each area of our life.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

We have a kitten who's a little too crazy and athletic to be outside alone so he is only allowed out on a harness and leash into our fenced but not cat leakproof back yard.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MHealthJo]

That's it isn't it Dr B. The leaks. It's the leaks, I tell ya.

There's an actual explanation why cats can leak out of perfectly good fences that stop dogs and stuff.

 

[GDPR]

I have a huge fenced in back yard,it has a wooden privacy fence around it,but of course that's not where my cat wants to be.She prefers the front yard,which is also huge,but there's no fence.

I noticed a few days ago that she learned how to push down the pump on the bottle of hand sanitizer,she used one paw to press down and pump it into the other paw and then licked it off.I couldn't believe she did that!I guess I will have to keep it somewhere she can't get to it.I have read about kids accidentally ingesting it,but not cats purposely doing it.Isn't hand sanitizer like 70% alcohol?

 

[MHealthJo]

Oh my gosh!! What a clever kitty you've got there. I wonder if she thought it was water or something??

Gosh with dexterity like that it's almost like living with a monkey. Cats I tell ya, they can do naughty things/reach places other pets only dream of. On the other hand on the intelligence side, I bet Turtle has a few stories about her pig....

Actually, my lazier cat at some point figured out that I keep q-tips in this little plastic chest of 9 drawers, in the middle top drawer. I watched her once open the little plastic drawer with her mouth, pull it the rest of the way with her paw, and help herself to a q-tip to play with. Correct drawer and everything.

Proud moment....... (I think?!?!)