Discipline in General
The first and most important thing to remember is that she’s a cat, not a very short, 4-legged person. It also helps to realize that she will likely think of you as a very large cat, admittedly with some peculiar non-cat foibles (such as an appalling lack of talent at mice-catching). Try to look at things from her viewpoint–she really does have a reason for what she’s doing.
Second, never, ever hit your cat. I have found that an attempt to be reasonable, as odd as that may sound, works best. (Example: Stanley was in the habit of taking other cat’s tidbits out from under their nose; he’d been doing it for years. As I was sitting on the kitchen floor one day, giving out handouts, I observed him doing this – I pushed my hand up into his face, pushing him back slightly, and said, “Stanley, we DON’T steal from each other.” He hasn’t done it since; in fact, he looks up at me to ask permission to eat another cat’s leftovers when they walk away.)
Using the same reprimand word works best – though I tend to talk in full sentences to my cats (they are, after all, much more intelligent than anybody else’s cats), most people find that simply saying “NO!” in a firm, no-nonsense voice for all infractions works well. If he won’t listen, keep a squirt bottle of plain water handy (be sure to keep the bottle away from your children, so they don’t use it as a toy against your cat). Or toss your keys toward him – not at him – so the noise will startle him. At least one of my cats can’t tell where a whistle comes from, and she looks over her shoulder somewhat nervously when she hears one – so if she’s being “bad,” I whistle and she almost always stops what she is doing.
The first and most important thing to remember is that she’s a cat, not a very short, 4-legged person. It also helps to realize that she will likely think of you as a very large cat, admittedly with some peculiar non-cat foibles (such as an appalling lack of talent at mice-catching). Try to look at things from her viewpoint–she really does have a reason for what she’s doing.
Second, never, ever hit your cat. I have found that an attempt to be reasonable, as odd as that may sound, works best. (Example: Stanley was in the habit of taking other cat’s tidbits out from under their nose; he’d been doing it for years. As I was sitting on the kitchen floor one day, giving out handouts, I observed him doing this – I pushed my hand up into his face, pushing him back slightly, and said, “Stanley, we DON’T steal from each other.” He hasn’t done it since; in fact, he looks up at me to ask permission to eat another cat’s leftovers when they walk away.)
Using the same reprimand word works best – though I tend to talk in full sentences to my cats (they are, after all, much more intelligent than anybody else’s cats), most people find that simply saying “NO!” in a firm, no-nonsense voice for all infractions works well. If he won’t listen, keep a squirt bottle of plain water handy (be sure to keep the bottle away from your children, so they don’t use it as a toy against your cat). Or toss your keys toward him – not at him – so the noise will startle him. At least one of my cats can’t tell where a whistle comes from, and she looks over her shoulder somewhat nervously when she hears one – so if she’s being “bad,” I whistle and she almost always stops what she is doing.
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