8

If the cat does something like attacking people feet at the afternoon times, climbing places where it shouldn't be or going to be aggressive while playing, how to tell it to stop, this is bad

  • I tried shouting at her, if she is in a wrong place, than she realizes that it's bad and jump off immediately, but she will go back later and won't remember that it's forbidden.

  • I tried to use this tactic and drop her outside of the house (she loves to play outside), but it's not like a punishment, she will not notice it was bad.

  • I also tried to carefully squeeze her a little bit, she finds it uncomfortable because she can't move, and when I released her, she started to clean herself and then she leave the scene. But that still not stopping her to attack my feet next afternoon.

And waking up in the night because your kitty attacks your feet is not a good one.

0

2 Answers 2

6

One thing to remember with animals, is that they don't actually understand human words. When we train them we're teaching them to associate a word with an action. So when you shout at your pet, they might be able to grasp that the noises you're making are angry, but more likely they'll just be startled that you're shouting and want to get away.

If you're trying to keep your cat from going in a certain place, you'll need to be prepared for lots of repetition. I've taught my cats not to go in the kitchen, but it took several weeks of constant nagging.

It's a lot easier if you can set up a visual barrier to start with, that way she knows how close she's allowed to get. I use tape, because it's cheap and removeable. Also, if you place it sticky side up, you can tell when your cat tried to sneak past it ;)

As you catch your cat in a place you don't want her, pick her up, and place her just outside the border or where she's allowed. Firmly say "no" as you do this. If you happen to be at the side of the border she's not allowed to cross, you can push her back and say "no".

One thing to think about is to resist taking the punishment somewhere else. Back on the association thing, if she associates climbing onto something with punishment, she'll find something else to climb on (Note: She's going to find something else to climb on, she's a cat). The best thing you can do for a cat that wants to climb, is to provide her with a place she's allowed to climb. If a cat tree is too expensive, you can build one yourself for as much as you want to spend. Mine is a little over 5 feet tall (3 stories) and I spent about $50 I'd say.

As for the playing, you're going to want to teach her how to play. As soon as she starts playing in a way that you don't like, stop and ignore her. Push her away while firmly saying "no". Of course this requires you to play with her in ways you want her to play.

It's best to use toys that are away from your hands. The feathery toys on a stick, tossing small feathery balls (my cats really like feathers, so everything of theirs is feathery) all keep your cat entertained, without teaching her it's okay to "attack" you. Play "Attacking" is how cat's learn to hunt, and they usually do this to each other, so you're going to want to divert that attention to toys.

As far as attacking your feet goes, I worked to associate the bed with sleeping, not playing. Any playing my cats do, is outside of the bedroom, if they want a quiet place to sleep, they go to the bedroom. You can do this by moving your cat when she's sleeping to the bedroom, and moving her out of the bedroom when she's playing. If she's waking you up by jumping on top of you at night, I've done it where I've held my cats still for a couple minutes until they've either calmed down, or left out of annoyance. I would be careful with squeezing them though. You can also see this question for more in-depth advice on that.

1
  • Just an anecdote; one of my cats can't resist touching feet whenever anyone walks by him within his reach. He makes a sort of double-tap, a simultaneous touch on both sides of ankle with his front paws, and it's just the pads with claws fully retracted. When he was a little kitten he did it with claws out, and I have no idea how he learned to do it the way he does it now. Jan 29, 2014 at 20:28
0

I've heard from others that they use water pistols to spray the cat when they are misbehaving, or rub lemon in the places where it shouldn't be.

Luckily for me, my cat learned that no is no, so keep trying that too.

1

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.