Caring For Cats And Disciplining
September 2, 2010 by Jeff Parke
Filed under Health Fitness
As important as it is to hear that it will be your responsibility to understand your cat and decipher the signals that he or she may be sending you, you may be wondering why. Many pet owners often respond with something like “what the heck?” If you are a new pet owner or a first-time pet owner, you may not understand just how much your cat relies and depends on you.
If you have just witnessed your cat in an aggressive state, fear may be the first thought that enters into your mind. Many cat owners have questions when they witness their cats attack. Many owners want to know if something is wrong with their cat or if it is a danger to those around him or her. In all honesty, you will find it depends. Before deciding if you should contact your cat’s veterinarian, there are a number of important points you will first want to take into consideration.
So, what does work? I have two cats and at one point both would spray to mark their territory. My vet suggested I use a water pistol to make them stop. It’s the belief of many veterinary professionals that the cats would associate the water pistol with bad behavior and they wouldn’t do it anymore. Did it work? Briefly, but for the most part the cats just feared me and, as I said before, this is never the outcome we want. Plus they would just spray when I wasn’t around.
Some things that never work are: 1.) Yelling at the cat or making any loud noises. 2.) Raising a hand to them in an aggressive way. 3.) Any physical contact that is meant to scare them no matter how “lightly” you hit them. 4.) Spraying a cat with a water pistol. This one is debatable but I’ve seen cats that just get use to it or just fear you.
The bottom line is what worked for me may not work for you because not all cats are created equal. It took a few tries but once I tried understanding why the cats were acting the way the were it all paid off.
Our cats rely on us to take care of them and understanding them is key when caring for cats. Obtain tips and info on doing so at the caring for cats webblog!
