Teaching Good Manners To Your Cat

If prevention is the best medicine (and it is, by the way), setting appropriate house rules for your cat will help both of you live happily ever after. Here are a few feline fundamentals.

• Many grumpy, biting adult cats would have grown up gentle and loving if they’d had better early socialization.

• • If your kitten gets feisty during play, ignore him and make it a calmer experience next time.

• Cats are genuine predators. The normal instincts to stalk and maim must never be directed toward humans.

• • Start early with remote hunt and pounce games. Casting a furry mouse toy with a child’s fishing pole or just walking around with feathers tied to a 2-foot string on your ankle will cause great excitement.
  • Never allow aggressive play directly involving hands or feet.

• You can walk away from a naughty kitty who tries to bite. Simply ignore, stand up, allow her to drop onto the floor, and walk away.

• • No bopping on the nose, please. Physical punishment ramps up the aggression causing cats to associate hostility with hands.
  • It’s very important to reward calm behavior with petting and quiet praise.

• Beneath the smooth veneer of some beloved cats beats the heart of a thief.

• • Investigating the home is normal but counter surfing and garbage raiding are risky.
  • Don’t attract your cat to your kitchen counters by leaving food out.
  • Some feline felons are known to hoard treasures like pilfered rubber bands and other trinkets.
  • We are most concerned about kitties who conceal their ill gotten gains in their stomachs and intestines.

• Prevent access to forbidden items by picking up your clothes and doodads and stowing them in child proofed cabinets.

• • Provide better alternatives for the curious cat. A floor-to-ceiling cat tree with hidey holes and hanging toys is more fun to investigate than your laundry basket anyway.
  • Hide your kitty’s toys so you can “rotate” them daily.
  • Avoid toys that resemble things your cat would love to consume. No discarded clothing items or shoes, please.

• Wool chewing cats do well with tightly stitched wool toys; rubber band eaters can enjoy a Kitty Kong with rubber whiskers.

• • Wheat grass, lettuce, small dog chew toys, slightly moistened rawhide chews, catnip, or a kitty herb garden are all healthy alternatives.
  • Make toys irresistible by smearing them with meat, cheese spread, or fish oil.

• Some marauding cats need barriers to their success.

• • Discourage scratching, pooping, and other forms of desecration to parts of your home with a motion activated compressed air can called Ssscat (www.ssscat.com), or an upside down carpet runner.
  • Success is almost assured if booby traps are in place before a new cat enters your life.

• Potential furniture wreckers, while in a class by themselves, can be preempted with sisal covered scratching posts and upright fireplace logs.

• • Booby trap the real estate surrounding the good furniture.
  • Remember that a punished cat is a sneaky cat.
  • Reward your kitty when you catch him not actively destroying your home.
  • Play hard and play often.