How to scold my cat

As with any other pet, cats require discipline and rules to coexist properly in our home. However, unlike dogs, their independent and somewhat wild nature can make parenting difficult if we do not know exactly what to do and how to act. In this article of .com we explain how to scold your cat, but we also give you some clues so that you understand the behavior of your animal and discover how to correct it properly.

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You must be very clear that the cat has an independent nature and some customs of their wild ancestors that endure 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 easily be 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 so at the time you are 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 capacity of association that we do, therefore it is incapable of assimilating that you are scolding or punishing for something that it did 3 hours ago or 15 minutes ago.

Even if he has done something very bad, if you do not catch him with his hands in the dough, the scolding will not help at all, that's why you can save him.

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When you find your cat doing something he should not, for example, on top of the dining room table, then it's time to scold him. Shout, alter or start saying like crazy that it will not be hard for something, you will only get the cat to flee at that moment but not stop doing that that bothers you.

Therefore you should:

• Approach the animal and take it gently from the neck, lowering its head towards the ground. The movement should be smooth but you should hold the cat firmly.
• At that time just say No. Repeat the movement once again and do not 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 that it should not, the cat will understand little by little and with patience that he should not do that . Of course, keep in mind that cats are not as docile as dogs and that it is possible that your pet keeps doing 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 other options that you can apply if the goal is to move your cat away from a specific object or space, for example the sofa or the balcony. For this we will use two phobias of the felines: water and loud noises.

Under no circumstances are these proposals to torture the animal, much less are only tools to dissuade him from certain spaces. Here's what to do:

• Water sprayer : cats are not friends with water, so if you want your animal to leave, for example, to get on the sofa you should surprise him. When you see it doing it then you must spray your 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 you should not know where the water comes from. In this way, you will think that it comes from the sofa and will avoid it in the future.
• Strong sounds : we know that the cat is easily startled with a loud sound, so when you catch it you will have to infantry, again without seeing you, to sound a can against a wooden spoon, for example. A couple of blows are enough for the feline to panic and associate the action with the noise. Repeated several times, it will gradually produce its effect.

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

When you scold your cat, never use violence because your cat will not react well to it. Not only is it possible for you to be attacked to defend yourself, but also to make you fear and distrust, creating a bad relationship between you.

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There are some common cat behaviors that make us angry but that, in reality, occur for logical reasons that we can easily correct instead of constantly scolding the cat in vain.

Some of them are:

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