Discipline your pet?
By forkatt
@forkatt (10)
United States
December 1, 2008 1:27pm CST
Ok, so a few months ago my boyfriend and I got a kitten. For the first few weeks, Cookie, followed us around and would cry if there was nobody around. Sit outside our bedroom door and cry! He grew up a bit, and became more independent. Less of a crier, much quieter, and also, more destructive. I love Cookie! He's my little man. But while I was gone to visit my parents, and my boyfriend didn't play with him much, Cookie got bored. While bored, Cookie knocked everything over! And then chewed up my favorite dried roses. (For those of you who know what it's like to find rare colorings and dry them...) I was mad! But what can you do? I make Cookie sniff whatever object he wasn't supposed to touch and then smack him lightly on the nose or on top of the head. Not enough to hurt, but enough to irritate him. It works sometimes, but sometimes he'll do things just to spite me. He knows he'll get in trouble, so he does it, and then runs....
How do you discipline your pet? What works? What doesn't? Any ideas?
3 people like this
6 responses
@thyst07 (2079)
• United States
1 Dec 08
Disciplining a cat after the fact doesn't usually work, so putting your cat's nose in whatever he's done after it's already done and over isn't really going to teach him anything. It will just confuse him. In order to train a cat, you have to be able to do the discipline while the act is happening. The best way to do this is usually with a bottle that squirts water. If you see your cat chewing on something or scratching something he shouldn't, squirt him with water and at the same time say "no!" or make a loud "pssssssst!" noise. After a while he will learn to stop the behavior, and if he does get into something he's not supposed to all you'll need to use is the command or the noise without the water. We did this with my cat, and now if she starts scratching something all I have to do is make the "psssst" noise and she stops.
2 people like this
@deebomb (15304)
• United States
1 Dec 08
The thing about cats is that They are independent. They will go and do what they want. They will even go out side the litter box to punish you for what they take as an offense. Our cat entertains her self with my granddaughter's hair scrunchies. We don't spend a lot of time playing with her. I think it's a lot in the cat's personality. Our cat doesn't get up on things up stairs but does get up on the table and computer desk in the basement. She never gets on the kitchen counters or dinning room table. If she did we would find hair. I understand that cats don't like the sent of lemons so you might pot Cotton balls with essential oil of lemon in areas the you don't want him to go. ahas cookie been fixed. That may make a difference too.. For myself I always perfered female kitties to toms. They just seem calmer.
1 person likes this
@forkatt (10)
• United States
2 Dec 08
We wanted a female kitten, and actually inittially he was sexed as a girl... He is not fixed yet, but will be in a few months. He's a small cat, and we want to make sure that he's heavy enough and healthy enough to have the operation done. Thanks for the info! :)
1 person likes this
@michpatis (17)
•
2 Dec 08
Lol, sounds a right character! I'm not going to be any help here at all i'm afraid. My little boy, Snoopy, is 3 now and still does things that he shouldn't do sometimes. I just put it down to experience and to a certain extent treat him the same way as my 4 year old foster son, put things away that I don't want him to touch, keep plenty of toys out to keep him amused if I'm not able to spend "hands on" time with him.
If he does do something wrong I usually just tell him NO in a stern voice which is used just to tell him off so I hope that he will learn that I'm not happy with what he has done and won't do it again.
Good luck and enjoy your time with Cookie. He will grow up very quickly and you will look back at his naughty antics with a smile.
Michelle xx
@michpatis (17)
•
3 Dec 08
Yes we got him done as soon as he was old enough. I dread to think what a little monkey he'd be now if not. It can really change their behaviour, for the better, I must add.
Michelle xx
@applefreak (3130)
• Singapore
2 Dec 08
lol cookie can be really naughty huh 
i have three cats at home so i kinda know what you are going through. for me, i love them too much and apparently my parents does too. if my cats do anything like that, they'll say it's my fault. i've come home to a floor of chewed up kitchen towel. i've also come home to a trail of toilet paper from the toilet all the way to the main door. the guilty one will just look at me with his/her eyes and i melt. i'll just start cleaning up and life goes on. i guess all of them are already spoilt rotten. 
i have three cats at home so i kinda know what you are going through. for me, i love them too much and apparently my parents does too. if my cats do anything like that, they'll say it's my fault. i've come home to a floor of chewed up kitchen towel. i've also come home to a trail of toilet paper from the toilet all the way to the main door. the guilty one will just look at me with his/her eyes and i melt. i'll just start cleaning up and life goes on. i guess all of them are already spoilt rotten. 
@TheCatLady (4691)
• Israel
12 Feb 09
Turn the roll backwards. When they smack it with their cute little paws it won't unroll.
1 person likes this
@doddee (53)
• United States
17 Dec 08
I have 4 cats and I've had good luck with the squirt bottle. One of my cats wanted to keep getting up on a shelf where my antique glassware was so each time I'd see him get ready to get on the shelf I would squirt him. It didn't take long,and after just a few times he wouldn't try to get up there any more. Right now I have a young cat that hasn't seen a Christmas tree before so I have my squirt bottle handy. So far I've only had to use it once. We will have to see how it goes. All cats are different and have their own personalities. I'm a cat lover but I've had a couple of cats that just weren't meant to be house cats.
@dookie03 (578)
• United States
2 Dec 08
I would say bring your little kittie to like a petsmart or petco or something. They usually have classes there that meet once a week and teach your pet tricks and discipline and to listen to you. I brought my boxer there and he listens awesome now. I've always had dogs and never cats so i couldn't tell you any personal success stories for a cat, but my dog listens awesome now so if they got em for cats i'd say give em a shot.
