*snip* This would, as one might expect, scare the daylights out of my cat for one second.*snip* She has also frequently been left in the house unsupervised (as a test) and she has never gone into the kitchen.
And, she has not suffered any psychological damage as a result - no inappropriate urination, no behavior changes, no aggression.
How do you know she didn't go in? Did you use a camera? Without some way of actually checking you have no idea what happened when you were gone.
As a pet sitter I've had MANY clients swear to me their dogs don't go on the furniture and their cats wouldn't dare be on the counters...guess where they are when I open the door and come in? Right where their not supposed to be. Since they know I'm not their people (different car sound, steps, etc - pets are GREAT at patterns) they don't bother to 'follow the rules' until they think I know them too.
It's my opinion that animals don't always respond well to what we humans imagine as discipline or attempts to change their negative, unwanted behaviors. Animals are not humans, and are not capable of human logic or deduction,
All this, I agree with.
...so we must instead observe how (for example) a mother cat "disciplines" her kittens when they do something undesirable - such as biting her. She will probably yowl or hiss, and will also probably swat the kitten with a paw. These are the signals that a cat understands. I do not condone smacking a cat or disciplining them physically, but I think the "loud noise"/scare equivalent of another cat's yowl or hiss is something they WILL understand.
This, not so much.
Cats might not be humans, but they do have us fully beat in other areas. We don't smell like cats, move like cats, act like cats, or sound like cats. You will never convince your cat that you are a cat - they KNOW you're not. So why would you try to act like one? If a dog suddenly started pretending it was a cat the cat would still know it wasn't another cat - they smell very different, and since smell is a cat's primary sense (aka, the one it trusts first) it's a complete waste of time to 'act like a cat'.
On top of that, human beings aren't fluent in 'cat'. We're just simply not capable. Our first reactions will always be HUMAN reactions, which means if you try to discipline you're cat as a 'mother cat would' you'll ALWAYS be doing it wrong. And on top of THAT - young cats leave their mothers when they're 6 months, or even younger. Even if a female stays with her mother, the mother stops 'mothering' when the kitten hits 4-5 months. So if your cat is older than that and you're trying to disciplining it 'like a mother cat would' you're still doing it wrong because a mother cat would be chasing it off entirely.
And then there's this:
Of course, some cats may not be teachable this way, and some cats will probably just ignore the "scare tactic", but it worked for me, and it doesn't involve any physical correction measures that often seem to result in a cat associating pain/punishment with the person instead of with the unwanted behavior.
Which is VERY true. I meet a fair number of 'bitey' or 'aggressive' cats - in a number of those cases the cat is aggressive DIRECTLY because of how it's been 'disciplined'. Scaring a cat will result in fight/flight, which is NOT something you want your cat associating with people it likes. Sure, some cats will respond well, but it's a pretty big risk as others will go straight to hard biting.
Terrifying a cat out of it's wits so it doesn't enter your kitchen seems like a pretty big over reaction to me - like if I was to chase my mother with a snake so she didn't come over without being invited. Since my mom is terrified of snakes it's an apt comparison.
Keep in mind that cat's hearing is FAR better than ours, so something that's 'loud' to you could feel deafening to your cat. Picture a rock concert where you're next to the speaker - the sound is like a physical thing that pushes on you. In this context, it's like you going over to a friend's house and them using an air horn next to your ear when you get up to go somewhere.
Wow. You DO know that your cats walk on everything in your house. Your sofa, your chairs, your blankets, your pillows (gasp!), every inch of your place. They put their little sweet feet on your lips while you're sleeping. And they walk on your counters when you're not home. They probably have counter parties, invite friends over. I hope you don't blame your cats when things get broken, because it's not their fault, it's yours, because it wasn't secured. They're just cats. They like to be up high, they're not being brats.
And there shouldn't be poisonous food where any animal can get to it.
This. All of this.
As an adult human being you are responsible for the kids and animals under your care - that means making sure they are safe. If you leave something precious or breakable out when you know you have a kitten (or cat who likes to knock stuff over) then it isn't the cat's fault. They were just being a cat.
I just thought of something. When my cat was in an off limit area I'd pick him up and set him on the floor. But maybe I need to scruff him. If the momma cat does that for discipline then maybe he'd understand that better. I always picked him up in a relatively comfortable way so maybe he doesn't associate that with bad behavior.
Please don't scruff your cat. You are not a mother cat, and mothers only scruff their kittens to move them. They stop doing it when the kitten is about 3 months old and I've never seen a mother scruff a kitten to discipline them - and that's fostering MANY litters with mothers. They either walk away (young kittens, <6 weeks), or whap them on the head (for SERIOUS offenses, 6 weeks>)
With kittens or cats new to your home the best way to teach them what you like is to redirect them to that behavior. So, if the kitten is scratching your couch, calmly pick them up and put them on the scratch post. (Don't rub the post with their paws, they'll do it themselves if they like the texture.) If you see them doing something you like talk to them happily, offer a toy or treat, or pet them (if they like being petted and aren't in 'play mode').
I just got a new computer desk last week. He likes to go behind it. I've heard wires rustling and he's grabbed the pressed-wood surface. It makes me nervous with him being behind there. I don't know what else I can do. I've got a big cat tree for him to play on and it has a scratch post but he never uses it.
The only choice are either blocking off access, or removing him every single time he goes back there. We taught our cats not to go under my SO's desk when we're present, but we know they're under there when we're not in the room. If you're not present to manage the behavior they'll do what they want unless they have no access. If the kitten chews cords then I'd suggest getting cord protectors.
My concern is that she does it when someone is in the kitchen because I get them their food in the kitchen. But I'm so scared she'll get hurt! We have a glass top stove. For me a light stays on to let me know that it's still hot for as long as it stays hot, but she doesn't understand that. How can I keep her safe from serious burns? One day she'll get up without a person there, and it'll be right after I make supper. It takes the stove a good 30 minutes to cool off, so I can't just stand there the whole time letting supper get cold.
I've thought about this myself, it played a pretty big part in us not getting a glass top stove when we had to replace ours last year. But, TBH, I know many people with glass stoves and only one ever had an incident.
If they approach the stove from the counter top they're unlikely to step on the hot part when it's really hot - they have instincts that tell them not to do it, if you can feel the heat on your hand held nearby they can feel it too and most won't step right there. The danger is only when they jump DIRECTLY onto the stove top, because that doesn't give them the chance to feel the heat before they step onto it.
That hit home last week when my cat pooped in the litter box and it was kind of a soft/gooey one, and he did it up against the side of the box so that it didn't drop down - it got on the box side and also his butt as he was up against it. Afterward, he walked out of the bathroom and straight for me on the sofa and hopped up on my lap. How cute I thought...until he got up & I noticed the cat poop on my pants. Some of it had gotten stuck on his fur from being up against the side of the litter box!
