/an/, I need your help. I have a 3 month old kitten, who is generally very loving and cuddly, but occaisonally acts up and does things like claw and/or bite my face. Today, out of nowhere, he dug his claw into my cheek. I immediately scruffed him, pinned him on my bed, screamed at him, and slapped his butt. I feel really bad but it fucking hurt. Is there a better method for next time he does this shit? Like the spray bottle method?
>>2128408
Spray bottle is love. Spray bottle is life.
>>2128408
Bop him on the nose.
>>2128408
I've also found blowing in their face works.
>>2128411
I feel like hitting him myself only makes him want to bite or scratch more, or just makes him scared. I think I'll try the spray bottle method first.
>>2128423
If that doesn't work grab it's head in one hand and legs in other lift it and bring down fast with force to your knee make sure you hold the kitties legs upward to make knee contact to its back this should disipline your cat quite well
>>2128423
Don't hit him. Give him a light bop. That is how mama cats teach kittens to play nicely.
The best deterrent is something that is startling. Spray bottle is fine but you aren't going to walk around with a spray bottle in your hands. Your timing needs to be great for the training to actually work. Clap your hands and make a loud noise, as soon as the cat does the unwanted behavior. You can screech or hiss or yell or whatever, but do it loudly, with the intention to startle.
>>2128413
This. I actually do the shriek/blow in face at the same time.
Regardless, don't ever do what you did today again no matter how pissed off you get. You're going to terrorize the cat and make it aggressive/fearful. 12 weeks old is a fucking baby; you wouldn't pin a 1 year old child down, scream at it, and spank it.
>>2128666
>you wouldn't pin a 1 year old child down, scream at it, and spank it.
I would if it shit on the floor or bit my face.
>>2128671
Don't ever have children
>>2128685
Nah, I'm just kidding. I'd never do that to my little guy. :)
I'd just return him to the grocery store I adopted him from.
Your cat is still a kitten. Cat's take a while to learn to play nicely with each other. If you want your cat to not fear you and to be able to freely play with it, this is what you do:
Any time the cat hurts you, make a pain noise and walk away/ignore cat. Repeat as necessary. Eventually the cat will recognize that being too rough will end play time. The cat will become progressively more gentle. There will still be accidents from time to time since your cat is very young. But that's it. This will fix your problem entirely.
I've done this with every one of my cats and it has always worked and worked so well that we've been able to safely play with claws out and no injuries. The worst any of my cats have ever done to me after the first few months of this training is to use their claws hard enough to leave dents in my skin very briefly. I've been comfortable playing with all of my cats and all of my cats have been comfortable playing with me.
If you punish your cat, you cat is just going to turn into an asshole that fears and hates you. Knock it the fuck off. Cat's don't respond to well to punishment.
Also, the scruffing thing; that's something mamma cats do to their kittens when their moving them to a safer location and is almost always followed by grooming, purring and affection.
When you scruffed and hit your cat, you just confused the hell out of it. You used the instinctual (for cats) message for a "I love you and will protect you and take care of you" and then hurt and screamed at your cat. WTF dude. Some people just should not have pets. At the very least, you need to learn cat behavior and body language or else your going to make your cat fucking neurotic.
