An adorable cat is like a real friend beside you every day. Every morning you wake up, the first thing you see is your cute and tiny cats.
You love them, but sometimes you find them have unwanted behaviors. Being intelligent and playful are indeed the famous characters of most cats. Although they are quiet at times, it is more than usual that they are like innocent kids. Because of being immature, they are not as docile as we thought. Small cats would like to scratch, jump on tops of counters or chew on wires. They even bite you.
It is said that teaching children when they are young. You also should apply the advice to cats. It’s time for you to have a plan on how to discipline a cat. To impose discipline on felines is relatively simple. It is similar to training your cats, helping them have good habits.
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Common Cats Misbehaviours
Typically, some misbehaviors take place in most cats. However, some only occur to specific kittens at one point in their life. In general, the primary destructive behaviors of cats include:
- Jumping on counters: No cats hate jumping on platforms such as counters or tables because these are their instinct.
- Chewing on wires around the house: Cats also love chewing small items such as wires or ropes
- Scratching household items: Cats often are the guys destroying your home furniture such as carpets and couches with their sharp nails
- Biting: Sometimes cats find it funny to bite your figures. While they are not doing this as often as they would when attacking preys, it hurts anyway.
- “Gift”: A few cats also love bringing dead animals to your home as their ancestral habits.
- Play: Often, cats sleep for more than 14 hours a day. However, some cats do not sleep and wake up at the same time as humans. As a result, this leads to frustration and annoyance at their owners.
How To Discipline A Cat
#1 Use voice
The easiest way to make your cat stop doing what you do not like is using your voice. Whenever your cat has bad behavior, using a stop word such as “Hey” or “No” with a loud and firm voice may be enough. When using the word, keep in mind to stick to it a long time enough so that your felines can associate that sound with destructive behaviors; it needs to cease.
However, pet owners should remember not to yell at their cats. Unlike a human, cats can not understand what we say. Accordingly, they might not recognize if that you raise your voice means you want them to stop. By contrast, that activity can lead to worse behaviors or scares your feline friends. Just saying short words with great consistency is a valuable way for kitty’s antics.
#2 Clap your hands
Another way to stop your cats from their destructive behaviors is by clapping your hand. While misbehaving, cats may be irritated or unsettled by the sudden loud noise coming from the clapping of hands. The key in this method is also repetition. It would help if you clapped hands a few times before your felines can understand they cannot do misbehave.
#3 Use noisy cans
In case clapping hands does not work, considering using noisy cans if possible. The method is dramatically effective, with cats often climbing on top of cabinets or other platforms and snooping around some places.
All you need is a few empty soda cans. Place these cans on one top of the others cause them all to wobble. Once cats make approaches to these cans and make them wobble, they will be chased away right after that by the noise. The advice to do this particular activity is to repeat it two to three times until your cats realize your sign. However, avoid doing it more than five times if needed.
#4 Use deterrents
Most cats have their hatred for particular stuff, such as citrus smells and red pepper flakes. You can take advantage of these habits to force them to stay away from your furniture. There are always commercial sprays available for smells cats do not like, so you can purchase them and use them around places you want. However, you should carefully check if these products are harmless or not if cats have an allergy to them.
#5 Reinforce good behaviors
Cats do not like punishment. Instead, they are familiar with well-taking care of, praising and sharing healthy treats. To encourage your cats to do positive behaviors, you can significantly reward their good acts with food or slightly petting them. These treatments can make your feline friend recognize the connection between her behaviors and the excellent reinforcement and keep doing them.
#6 Play with the cat
Except for the time for sleeping, most cats are active and even stubborn. They like to run around the house, chase things, swipe at your leg while you pass by, and so on.
Therefore, if you ignore them and forget to play with them, it is likely that they will have misbehaviors, particularly with playful kittens. Moreover, some older cats find themselves insecure or confused while being left alone, which may make them bite you a lot.
To correct the behaviors, you can consider buying some toys for your feline to scratch and play with if you are busy. Anything that helps take their energy off is worth trying.
#7 Consider your cats’ health
While tiny kittens might need some time to be familiar with your discipline, older cats already know what they should and should not do. However, if your old cats start to have abnormal behaviors such as using the bathroom other than their litter box, urinate or defecate in other areas of your house, you should think about their health. The simplest solution to tackle the problem is asking your vet for help. They can determine an underlying medical condition such as undetected wounds, imbalances in their hormones, distress, roundworm, flukes, tapeworm, and other psychological disorders. To avoid this, running a complete medical checkup on the cat is crucial.
Furthermore, since your vet is familiar with your cats, you can ask their additional tips on correcting their behaviors.
#8 Make a change in the environment
If your cats often jump on your tables, claw your leather couch, or chew wires in your house, you can consider changing these furniture’s materials or put them far away from your cats. As with small children who are always curious about everything, stubborn cats tend to do what they want to without understanding your stuff’s value.
As a result, making the change in the environment can help you discipline your cats. For instance, you can put a soft and silky blanket on your leather couch to make your felines slide down whenever they try to climb onto the cushions. Besides, they won’t be able to get access to the table once you place a cookie sheet on the edge of it.
On the other hand, pet owners are recommended not to make changes that can harm their cats. To do this method well, you can search on the Internet to determine the most suitable changes to influence your cats’ behaviors.
How To Discipline A Cat FAQs
How do you punish a cat for attacking me?
To punish a cat for swatting or playing attack, you can use some non-physical form of punishment such as a water sprayer, can of compressed air, cap gun, handheld alarm, or perhaps a loud hiss. Just keep in mind to stay away from the physical punishment if you do not want your cat to have worse behaviors.
How do you calm an aggressive cat?
To calm your combative felines, you can consider some practical ways. Firstly, providing a safe place is somewhat effective in many cases. Secondly, checking with your vet is necessary if the cats become increasingly aggressive. Thirdly, keeping small kids away if possible. Many kids might not completely understand the consequence of their behaviors, including teasing cats. This might make cats scratch or bite your minor children. Finally, avoiding yelling and nipping fights in the bud are essential tips for calm aggressive cats.
Why does my cat grab my hand and bite me?
Most time, a cat that grabs your hand and bites you is trying to simulate hunting behaviors. When your cats catch preys, they would bite and grab them similarly to tear them apart. Your feline does not want to hurt you but only to exercise their instinct.
Final Words
In a nutshell, using voice is the easiest way to discipline your cats. Also, it is pretty valuable to discourage cats’ bad behavior without wasting much money and energy. Moreover, if you have more time or money, you can play with your cats and buy them some toys to prevent them from misbehaviors or loneliness.
In conclusion, above are some valuable ways to discipline your cats. Besides, the article also gives you a few necessary pieces of information to effectively discipline your felines. Hopefully, you can train your cats to have good behaviors and cease misbehaviors after the information!
