We hear a lot of owners say “I’ve tried everything to get my cat to stop this but nothing works!” »
Some people even think that the cat is doing it on purpose to provoke or take revenge. We will therefore answer these questions by deciphering how to say no to your cat and how to punish it effectively.
Isolating your cat: an effective method
Isolation to say no to a cat, a method that lasts
Thousands of years ago, our cats were solitary and associative territorial. It is the basis of their social codes and their communication codes.
For our part, we were gregarious and sociable, the complete opposite of our furballs.
Obviously it can be a problem to communicate all that!
For example, we tend to raise our voices and isolate to punish our peers and our little ones. The mother cat, if she growls or isolates a little one, it is in no way to make it stop but on the contrary, so that the kitten amplifies what it is doing.
For example, the kitten does not groom itself well enough, the cat will growl and bite it and isolate it. The kitten will then be able to come to its senses and correctly repeat what she was trying to teach it.
Result if you raise your voice or isolate your cat, he understands that he must start again with more intensity! Imagine if he peed on the couch? What if he gets on the table? Or worse, what if he bites? Well every time he comes back ready to do what we ask him: pee, get on the table or bite you!
Never forget that isolation in an animal that is originally and intrinsically solitary has nothing of a punishment and everything of a reward encouraging it to repeat its last action!
Learn to say no well
Do not cede authority and territory to your cat
Turning your back on him and leaving tells him that you are afraid and that you are ceding the territory to him. For a territorial, this is once again an encouragement to defend this achievement. Also, if he bites you on the couch and you stop interacting by leaving (as is often wrongly advised on the internet) is showing him your weakness and that you don’t know how to handle the situation. It is obvious that he will come back every time you want to take advantage of the couch that has become his!
How to say no to your cat
A firm little “no”, accompanied by a touch of the nose (imitating a disapproving paw) and if it is really determined, a grip by the skin of the neck to immobilize the cat (above all, do not lift it, do not (don’t move it, you just need to stop it from moving).
No need to try to get him off the famous table or put him in his bin if he urinates: he knows very well where the latter is and it would quickly become a kind of game for him!
You may notice that the situation could quickly escalate if you do not speak the same language. Unfortunately, too many abandonments are due to a situation which worsens and becomes a vicious circle from which we no longer know how to escape without the help of a professional.
Our instinct pushes us to decipher the slightest action of our cats with our human eyes. Unfortunately, anthropomorphism is the worst way to understand cats.
I often advise listening to your instincts and doing the opposite to understand Félix.