Punishing Your Cats?

Over the past few weeks, I have been seeing a lot going around about punishing your cats. So much so, that it I started to think that maybe this was a topic that I needed to address. Do you punish your cats? SHOULD you punish your cats? And if so, how should you punish your cats? So many questions. Questions that bring up even more concerns. Especially with everything that I have learned about cats and how we affect their energy. And keeping in mind that the behaviors that you are trying to correct through punishment usually stem from an emotional or health issue. So, how do you handle your cats when all you want to do is give them a time-out?

Harmful Effects of Punishment

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a video posted by Julie-Annes Thorne from Naturally Cats about using a water bottle to correct your cat’s behavior. Now, Lora Lee from 20 years ago would think that this was an appropriate way to “train” your cat into behaving in a way that was appropriate. In fact, I have used a water bottle with my cats in the past. A fact that present Lora Lee is not very proud of.

At the time, I thought it was an acceptable way to teach my cats the right and wrong way to behave. Now, to be honest, the water bottle did accomplish what I was setting out to do. It even got to the point where all I had to do was reach for the water bottle and they would run. However, looking back now, I realize that I wasn’t correcting their behavior. I was instilling fear in my cats. They were not running from the water bottle. They were running from ME! By using the water bottle to correct my cats’ behaviors, I was, in turn, harming my relationship with my cats. Not the results that I wanted.

Best Way to “Punish”

So, how should we “punish” our cats? How should we correct inappropriate behaviors? The first thing you need to do is understand why your cat is “misbehaving”. Cats do not do anything out of spite. They are not walking around going “So, what can I do today to be annoying?” There is always a reason for why a cat is doing something, especially something inappropriate. But you must keep in mind, a behavior that you consider to be inappropriate may just be your cat being a cat. Your cat scratching your furniture is inappropriate to you, but it is completely natural to them. Placing a scratcher near the furniture and redirecting them is the best way to correct that behavior.

Knowing that most inappropriate can be traced back to emotional or health issues. Actually, most health issues stem from emotional issues. We can all agree that using the bathroom outside of the litter box is an inappropriate behavior that needs to be addressed. Yelling at your cat, or even worse hitting them, will not correct this behavior. In most cases, it will make it worse. If this is something that you might be dealing with, the first thing is a vet appointment to rule out any health issues that is causing your cat’s inappropriate bathroom behaviors. If there is a clean bill of health, then you can figure out why the behavior is happening. Is it the litter or placement of the litter box? Do they not feel safe in the litterbox.? Are they being attacked by another cat or is it the area not quiet enough? Answering these questions will go a lot further than punishment in correcting the inappropriate behavior.

Positive Reinforcements > Punishment

Just recently, The-Two-Crazy-Cat-Ladies did an article about punishing your cats. They offered ways to correct inappropriate behaviors through positive reinforcements. When your cat uses the scratcher instead of the chair, praise them. Give them a treat. Show them that you are proud of their behavior. Positive reinforcements will go a long way in helping your cat learn what behaviors that you deem inappropriate and will actually deepen your bond with your cat. Which is something that we all want with our cats. A deep bond based on love and respect.

“I had been told that the training procedure with cats was difficult. It’s not. Mine had me trained in two days.” – Bill Dana