How to scold my cat

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You must be very clear that the cat has an independent character and some customs of its wild ancestors that persist in their behavior and that, therefore, we must know how to handle when having this pet at home. Some behaviors that we usually understand as destructive or rebellious can be easily corrected if we know how to do it.

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To start you should know that to scold your cat you must always do it at the moment in which is committing the action and never after. This key, which also applies to dogs, is very simple to understand: the animal does not have the same reasoning and association capacity as we do, therefore it is unable to assimilate that you are scolding or punishing it for something it did 3 hours ago or 15 minutes ago.

Even if he has done something very bad, if you don’t catch him red-handed, scolding will be of no use at all, so you can save it.

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When you find your cat doing something he shouldn’t, for example on top of the dining room table, then it’s time to scold him. Scream, get upset or start saying like crazy that it will not hardly help, you will only get the cat to run away at that moment but not to stop doing what bothers you.

Therefore you must:

• Approach the animal and gently take it by the neck lowering its head to the ground. The movement should be smooth, but you should hold the cat firmly.
• At that point just say No. Repeat the movement once more and the no and let it go. Always do it with the same tone of voice so that the cat associates it with discipline.

With this action, which you must repeat whenever you find the animal doing something it shouldn’t, the cat will understand little by little and patiently that should not do that. Of course, keep in mind that cats are not as docile as dogs and that your pet may continue to do things that you do not like while you do not see it, it is simply part of their character.

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There are two more options that you can apply if the goal is keep your cat away of a certain object or space, for example the sofa or the balcony. To do this, we will take advantage of two feline phobias: water and loud noises.

Under no circumstance These proposals are to torture the animal far from it, they are only tools to dissuade it from certain spaces. Here’s what to do:

• Water spray: Cats are not friends with water, so if you want your animal to stop, for example, getting on the sofa, you should surprise it. When you see him doing it then you should spray his face with a stream of water from a sprinkler. The movement has to be fast, accurate but above all it is important that the cat does not see you with the sprayer because it should not know where the water comes from. In this way, he will think that it comes from the sofa and will avoid getting on it in the future.
• Loud sounds: we know that the feline is easily startled by a loud sound, so when you catch it red-handed you will have to, again without seeing you, ring a can against a wooden spoon, for example. It is enough with a couple of blows for the feline to be scared and associate the action with the noise. Repeated several times it will have its effect little by little.

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Other alternatives are to spray the area where you do not want the animal to be with some commercial cat repellent or, in the case of balconies, windows or open spaces, include plants such as rosemary, lavender or rue, as they are aromas that these pets tend to dislike a lot.

When scolding your cat never use violence Well, your cat will not react well to it. Not only is it possible that he will attack you to defend himself but you will also make him fear and distrust you, creating a bad relationship between you.

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There are some common cat behaviors that make us angry but are actually caused by logical reasons that we can easily correct instead of constantly scolding the cat to no avail.

Some of them are:

• The cat scratches your furniture: You must buy a scratching post for the animal to do it in this article, cats need it and it is important to have it at home. You can also do it by following the instructions in our article how to make homemade scratchers and make the animal start using it as we indicated in our article how to teach my cat to use the scratching post.
• The cat bites your hands and attacks them– It is your fault that you have taught the animal that your fingers are prey that it can play with, constantly offering your fingers to do so. In our article how to teach a cat not to scratch and bite its hands we give you keys to correct this behavior.
• The cat relieves itself outside the litter box: again the fault is yours, when the animal does this it is because its litter box is not properly clean or because you have placed it near its food. It is important that you remove the feces daily and that you change the litter once a week, if you do not know how to help the animal to use this utensil, see our article how to teach a cat to use its litter box. This behavior can also be due to episodes of stress or very sudden changes in the animal’s routine, in that case consult your veterinarian.
• The cat urinates the house: this is a sign of territoriality and marking typical of males that is suppressed with castration, in our article how to prevent my cat from urinating in the house we explain more about it.

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