A cats education
It is impossible to imagine life today without the cat. As pet he slowly but surely climbs in the popularity-chart. After all, the cat is less labor-intensive in connection with care compared to the dog and the cat can give a lot of love and affectionA cat is often kept in the house and is left alone by day when everybody goes to work or to school. The necessity of a well-raised cat is therefore huge, because nobody likes to come home after a long day in the office, having to place the plants back, cleaning the earth and seeing the wallpaper torn to shreds etc etc. Too many cats are expelled from the house because of all the mischief they get into, due to the fact that the owner hasn’t raised them well.
Raising a cat is possible despite of the widespread opinion that it is not possible.
The human being should also raise the cat in a “catty” way! The human being should understand the cat psychology in order to be able to reward, punish, raise in a way the cat understands!
Our house cat is a solitary animal in contrast with the dog which is a real pack animal.
The dog ends up in the family = the pack and is a pack member (if he is raised well) with the lowest rank. The dog feels perfectly happy in a stern hierarchical system in which he perfectly knows the order and acknowledges and recognizes the family members as his superiors. A cat doesn’t. A cat will live together with the family members on a different basis: no submission, but inferiority. This means: Where several cats live together there will exist a superior cat but he DOESN”T manifest himself as the superior dog of the pack which will eat first, mate first, gets the best sleeping place etc.
The superior cat makes sure that living together can take place without fights, growling etc, but he gives a lot of space to the inferior cat. This cat shouldn’t be incorporated in the family. The cat must be inferior with respect to the family members but must get space to live his/her life. This is the point where most mistakes take place with a very nasty consequence: “aggression” of the cat. The owner takes a cat, usually a kitten and this lovely playful little ball of wool is allowed to do anything with the owner: biting the hand or ankles, scratching, possibly even blowing because that looks so tough on a kitten. WRONG! This lovely little ball of wool is busy proving and obtaining his superiority. The kitten grows, the claws get larger, and they shed their teeth. The owner wants to stroke the cat, wants to move the cat to another place, wants to take the cat to the veterinarian, or in worse cases: just wants to do something in the house (this something might vary from cleaning to watching TV) near the cat, and the cat attacks: hard and painful.
Sometimes the situation is intolerable and the cat must leave the house due to “aggression”, although the cat is only superior. Such a superior cat is hard to re-educate (see further in this article); therefore: prevention is better than cure.
When the kitten joins the family, immediately make sure that he knows that he is inferior with respect to the other family members. If the superior owner does something which the cat doesn’t like, the inferior cat will react on this by ignoring it or by lying somewhere else.
Unfortunately you need “punishment” for this. This part of the education is the only part in which you directly punish the cat and in which the cat clearly sees that you punish him. So, if the cat behaves aggressively towards you, you should punish him and the punishment should take place in a “catty” way: a firm tap on the nose or on the body, together with a firmly spoken punishment word (for example: no, may not, shame on you!). In many reference books you will read that hitting a cat is fundamentally forbidden. However, the cat psychology provides evidence to the contrary: Observe how many cats punish each other. For example: a mother cat with kittens. Kittens are allowed to play but when it comes to biting and scratching there are limits, if they cross the limits the mother cat hits them with her paw and continues this until the kitten surrenders. If you don’t continue to punish until the cat surrenders, the cat will consider this as a victory and the result will be much worse. You must be consistent: If
the cat blows, growls, bites or scratches when you play with him or if the cat manipulates you must react EVERY TIME and you must react CORRECLTY. At a certain moment your cat will understand that you are superior and will not act aggressively towards you anymore. If the cat tries again, saying the punishment word will probably be enough to make him change his mind.
Difficult and easy characters exist; kittens which love people and kittens which don’t.
Character is partly hereditarily (genetically) determined, but the final expression also depends on the environmental factors. These factors can be divided in 3 periods.
1. The imprinting phase (2-4 weeks)
2. The socialization phase (3-6 weeks)
3. The education phase
The imprinting- and socialization phase are extremely important for a normal character development. During these periods the kitten should have been in contact with everything: people, child’s hands, domestic noises, dogs, a transport cage, the car etc. The animal must also get used to all kinds of manipulations: checking the eyes, checking the mouth, checking the skin etc. Everything the cat observes in these periods will be experienced as normal; everything which he hasn’t observed will be experienced as frightening later on.
A kitten which hasn’t (hardly) seen people in this phase will grow up as an unsociable cat, which will react frightened and aggressive towards people. That is why it is so important that you buy a kitten with people who have been extremely active with the kitten during his first weeks: Only such a kitten will become a pleasant housemate.
Basis rule for education. A cat’s education needs to take place from the very moment that the kitten/cat enters the house.
After all, it is amazing how fast and practically irreversible the cat will accept certain habits in the house. You must therefore determine in advance what is allowed and what isn’t and from the very first moment you should reward desired behavior and punish undesired behavior. You must give the reward: a stroke, a cuddle etc together with friendly spoken words (a short word, always use the same word), possibly with a cat candy. You mustn’t visibly give the punishment (except for punishments for aggression towards you): you must be very creative to cause unpleasant feelings with the cat when you punish him for his behavior.
Both punishment and reward must be applied immediately or after a few seconds. Otherwise the cat will not understand what he did well or wrong.
a) Scratching wallpaper and furniture:
A cat needs to be able to scratch something: in order to sharpen his nails and to mark his territory. After all, his soles have smelling glands which exude smells which we cannot smell. That is why a cat always returns to a spot where he has scratched before, because of the smell. You should therefore give them some spots where they may scratch: a couple of rolled up (inside out) mats are good enough; you can spread them in the house. You firmly rub the cat’s soles on the mats in order to leave the smell behind.
During his first weeks in the house you must carefully watch the cat and immediately react if the cat wants to scratch something which is not allowed. Punishing will take place for example by using the plant spray. Another way is to produce a very loud noise (rolling a can filled with marbles towards the cat, prick a balloon…) or throw a soft object to the cat (you must hit him). You punish him while you are busy with something else. You certainly don’t look at your cat or you hide yourself so that the cat doesn’t suspect you.
If the cat has scratched something while you were absent you must “protect” these objects by means of sanctions. Wallpaper, chair legs and furniture can be covered with sandpaper: if your cat scratches this, it will give him a very unpleasant feeling and he will stop scratching. You can place a can filled with marbles (in unstable balance) on the armrest, you attach a rope to it which hangs down on the place where the cat scratches. During scratching the cat will definitely hang in the rope, so that the can with marbles will fall down on him. The balloon trick also brings good results: You hang the balloons on the places where he scratches. During scratching the cat will touch one of the balloons which will break and will frighten the cat. You must keep on punishing the cat during two weeks in order to teach the cat that scratching the undesired spot has unpleasant consequences. b) Cat scratches earth out of the flower box.
Some cats have the strange habit to scratch earth out of the flower boxes and much worse, leave a pee behind. The solution is simple: You place coarse wire netting in the box and cover it with an earth layer (about 1 cm). When the cat starts scratching in the flower box, his claws are caught in the wire netting which gives an unpleasant feeling: the cat will stop it. Leave the wire netting in the flower box at least 3 or 4 weeks. Another trick: filling the flower box with aperitif sticks; place them vertically with the tips 1-2 cm above the earth. c) Cat jumps in closets filled with delicate things
A cat is usually very careful and will not easily knock over things during his explorative expeditions. After all, something that falls makes a sudden loud noise, something the cat doesn’t like. But accidents can happen and it mostly concerns things the owner loves the most. Solution: Empty the closet or only leave unbreakable things in it and place a balloon in the closet. When the cat jumps on the closet, he will hit the balloon with this nails; the balloon will explode and will make a lot of noise. The cat will get scared (an unpleasant feeling) and will never jump on the closet again. You must keep up this measure at least two weeks.
5. Right approach to make the cat get used to:
A.The new home
The cat is purchased and is taken home. Of course each family member immediately wants to stroke, cuddle the cat. This is a wrong approach in the cat’s education. After all, a cat, despite of his calm and serene appearance, is a very stress-sensitive animal which must be supported calmly in new situations. Only leave the new cat during his first few days in one room of the house, the room with the cat’s box and the food/drink. The animal might crawl away panicky and might not be able, due to fear or ignorance, to find the room again, which might cause uncleanliness. Make sure that everyone leaves the cat alone: The cat may explore himself. He will sniff at many things, will nuzzle against you (the cheeks have smelling glands which exude an own smell during “nuzzling” so that everything gets personalized. Avoid fixating your cat.: Of course you are very proud and you want to look at your cat but the cat considers this fixating as a threat. Have the cat come close to you himself for a cuddle even it this lasts a couple of days. If the cat feels at ease in the room, you leave the door open so that he can explore the house if he wants to. Keep the cat in the house at least 3 weeks, before you open the door and windows to your garden. The animal should first have marked his territory, should know that he will get food and attention there and will recognize the house as his house.
B.Children
Children tend to hold everything very firmly, It is their way of cuddling and they also tend to make a lot of noise and movements. A cat hates such things and will react by floundering, scratching and a lifelong fear for children. Method: Leave the child on the couch and place the cat next to him or on his lap. Let the child stroke the cat. The cat will show that he feels at ease with the child by purring, nuzzling at him and by licking (signs that the cat feels at ease with the person). As soon as the cat shows any signs of fear or agitation, the child must let the cat go. When the child learns to don’t make any unexpected movements or noises, a nice child-cat relation can arise.
C.Another cat
As mentioned, a cat isn’t a group animal and will react furiously on a new cat in his territory. The newcomer will not even want to challenge the old cat since he is busy adapting to his new surroundings. Right support: Lock the old cat up in one room of the house (during a couple of days) with his cat’s box, drink and food and with attention of his owner. In the meantime the newcomer can get used to his new surroundings and can mark his territory. Then, the old cat may walk in the house. Because of the fact that the new cat has spread his smells everywhere in the house, the old cat will no longer consider the new cat as an intruder. Of course spectacular fights might take place: a lot of noise (growling, crying and spitting). As an owner you must not interfere in these fights: The animals will learn to acknowledge and know their superior and external interferences might turn everything topsy-turvy. After about two weeks most cats have accepted each other. You still must make sure that you have at least two cat’s boxes and separate troughs and water bowls. The superior cat might plague the other cat by not letting him on the box. Once the animals have made a pact with each other they may not be separated again. For example, they must be placed in the same cage in the kennel during the holiday period etc. Even if one cat has to go to the veterinarian you better take the other cat with you or a blanket with the smells of both cats. Cats recognize each other by their smell: If they are separated from each other, the familiar smell will fade away and they will become strangers for each other.
If both cats are really irreconcilable, it might be a good solution to place both cats on neutral territory during two weeks, for example in the same pen in the kennel.
That territory neither has the smell of the old cat nor the smell of the new cat so that they can both exude smells at the same time and will accept that they live together in that territory. In the meantime the smells of the old cat fade away in the house so that, when they come back in the house after two weeks, they will find themselves on a neutral odorless territory. They will have to exude smells again together and they will accept each others presence.
D. A dog
Situation: Cat = First animal, the pup is the newcomer
This situation is the easiest. The cat will react furiously: blowing and spitting when the pup approaches him, but will seldom attack himself. He will keep on trying to avoid the pup. The pup will take a swipe across the nose from the cat when he is too nosy; the cat learns the pup to be respectful, which is not bad. Don’t interfere in it: let the animals get used to each other at their own pace.
Give the cat an extra hug: Although she will mostly refuse your attention. Place an extra cat’s box in order to avoid uncleanliness problems during stress situations and make sure that cats which go outside must stay in the house until the situation is normal. After all, cats with stress can stay away from home a long time, with all its consequences.
Situation: Dog = First animal, the cat is the newcomer
This situation is harder, especially if the dog doesn’t know any cats. The adult dog loudly chases the cat; a real nightmare for the cat. When the cat comes in, you better take the dog for a walk. During this period the cat can learn where his cat’s box is located, which are perfect hiding-places and he can leave her smell everywhere. Make sure that the confrontation between dog and cat takes place in a room which has good hiding places for the cat and which isn’t filled with breakable things. Let the dog in and keep him on the leash until both cat and dog are calm. Let the dog go then but count on it that he will chase the cat. Correct the dog effectively and try to make as less noise as possible. The cat will closely observe everything from his hiding place. If you observe that the dog isn’t really aggressive you can easily bring them together. At a certain moment the cat will get more guts, will not escape anymore and will hit the dog on his nose. The stunned dog will learn to leave the cat alone.
A good tip: If you know that your dog is aggressive, don’t take a kitten then but a young adult cat which has better developed reflexes and is more able to jump, escape or defend himself.
Never keep the cat in your arms (unless you are a real cat authority and know how to fixate your cat correctly) when the first dog-cat confrontation takes place. A scary cat might bite and scratch firmly in order to escape.
6. Re-educating the neurotic cat
As mentioned the cat is very stress-sensitive. If something upsets him, he will express this by abnormal behavior like uncleanliness, excessive sharpening of his nails, excessive cleaning himself, excessive eating, depressed behavior or aggression.
Situations that might bring stress are for example: move, a new baby, a new pet, and for the mega-sensitive cat: a new couch, new cat’s box filling etc.
Re-educating the neurotic cat requires a lot of cat psychology knowledge, a lot of patience and perseverance.
A. Firstly :
Try to find the cause and if possible, eliminate it. If it concerns a new cat’s box grit brandor a new cleansing agent…..no problem. But a new home or a new baby………you need to deal with your cat roughly. You should always give your cat extra attention and involve him in everything: For example: if your baby takes a bath with you, have the cat observe this quietly. If you move, make sure you spread many (unwashed !) blankets, on which your cat has lied, in the new house etc. It’s a hopeless task to mention what you can do to reassure your cat; after all this depends on the situation, but these basis rules might help you:
1. Give the cat a lot of attention
2. A cat and familiar smells are very important: Let the cat smell new things and let her mark her smells (nuzzling, licking)
3. Try to imitate the old situation as good as possible (Food/playing on the same time, same blanket, cat’s box etc…)
B. More about uncleanliness:
You must first check if uncleanliness isn’t a consequence of the fact that the (not castrated) tomcat or female cat grows up sexually or suffers from for example a bladder infection or problem in the gastrointestinal tract.
If not, you deal with a real stress-uncleanliness.
What you shouldn’t do is rubbing your cat with his nose through the urine or droppings: This is the worst humiliation which your, already stressed, cat can have. He will not understand that this is a punishment for his “uncleanliness”.
Since your cat will seldom urinate outside his box while you are present, it might be very hard to catch him red-handed and punish him.
That is why there are two therapies:
1. You bring your cat to a cat kennel, in a space where more cats live together.
The stressed cat will have to adjust himself to the group’s rules and despite of the fact that this is a stress-situation on its own, the cat’s psyche must be restored.
You must leave your cat in the kennel at least 2-3 weeks. In the meantime you must clean you house well. Not with ammonia because this only attracks the cat to pee there.
You must sprinkle the urinated places with eau de cologne twice a day during your cat’s absence: You use this to perfectly camouflage the urine smell (which a human being cannot smell anymore). Besides eau de cologne is an unpleasant smell stimulant for the cat. Sprays are also available for this, amongst others Feliway (available at your veterinarian).
2. The cat’s box training in the house
You lock your cat up in a small room which has enough space for the cat’s box, trough, water bowl and pillow of the cat. The cat will not dirty his nest anymore and is obligated to use the box.
The animal should at least stay two weeks in the small room, which might sometimes be hard for the owner. The choice, however, is simple: either two weeks training or a stressed cat which dirties the house? During the training you must treat the urinated spots as mentioned above.
7. Supposed neurotic behavior
Often, the cat owner will notice certain behavior which he finds abnormal neurotic behavior. Behavior which is perfectly normal is:
a) “Going crazy” :
Sometimes the cat runs around in the living room, jumps on everything and after a few laps he starts washing himself as if nothing has happened. This often occurs after he has left the cat’s box. This is perfectly normal behavior in order to lose excessive energy.
You certainly many not punish this, and you may not think that your cat is crazy or ill.
b) Suddenly jumping on your legs and bite them :
This rather (for the owner) unpleasant habit isn’t more than a real declaration of love (mostly of the tomcat). In principle you shouldn’t punish him since he expresses friendliness with respect to the owner. Nevertheless, such a caress hurts and you may calm down your cat.
c) Take the prey homes.
Some cats take preys home (mouse, bird, wild rabbit) and bring it to their owner.
If there are no preys available, they bring moss and little plants. This doesn’t mean that they don’t get enough food, they are bored or they are crazy: It is a declaration of love and respect of the cat towards the owner. You absolutely may not punish your cat for this; in principle you should even reward him. If you don’t like such friendliness, just clean everything and ignore your cat.
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