Do you HISS at your cat......

[victornewman03]

.......if he or she is being bad.....or underfoot or something else ? I do this occasionally and it works. Kyra scampers off in another direction. My Better Half does not agree with this approach.

Any comments will be appreciated.

 

[Gunther4ever]

I hiss at the cats if they get up on the counter or dining room table it works - also hiss at the husband when he leaves cups, plates and the like on end tables - works with 2 legged and 4 legged.

 

[chigusa]

The behaviorist who's helping me with my current introduction advised me to hiss at them if they don't "behave", so to say, because this marks me as "one of them" in a certain way.

 

[silent meowlook]

I don’t agree with hissing at cats. First off, a hiss means I don’t want to interact with you. Second, I don’t want to scare them. I much prefer redirection if they are doing something objectionable

 

[catloverfromwayback]

I don't, I doubt I'd be able to summon the breath to do a decent hiss, and they're not used to it.

 

[Alldara]

I do not and would not. Here's why:

Research has shown that cats bond to us like children belong to their parents. A child needs a parent to be the confident person in the room. They need you to manage the scary things, to guide about what's safe. In cat terms, you need to be the "mojo cat".

Hissing, is not a confident action. Studies show that the cat who hisses the most is the most bullied, so the cat whose had their confidence broken down the most.


Like with children, with cats you can generally anticipate the naughty behaviour that will arise. We know they'll scratch furniture if we don't provide appropriate space for scratching for example.
That means you can generally deter naughty behaviour before it happens.
Don't want counter surfing? Why is cat counter surfing? Is there a window there? Food? Want to see what you're doing? Find a way to meet the need that avoids the counter surfing while also teaching "off" command. For us, bringing a chair over while we cook worked. They just wanted to be part of what we were doing.

Bonus is that teaching them and building communication builds confidence. Lowers chance of stress responses or conditions.

Being able just to say, "wow loud sound." And having my cat's tail go from tucked to question mark tells me I know we are doing a good job. Our cats are sure that we can guide them safely and that we have built strong trust.

 

[game misconduct]

i used to back when i was trying to teach graycie to play gentle still. yet for myself i have found using words and talking to her like a toddler more effective in teaching her.all the cats i have lived with learned the phrase"go,go,go"meant to move away.i would add that compromise just like you would with a spouse goes a really long way

 

[IzzysfureverMom]

No I don't. Even with Izzy who likes thinks she is in charge a simple no and a point down is very effective.

 

[Mighty Orange]

I mostly meow at spotty because he talks back.

 

[Furballsmom]

I do.

Poppycat (RIP sweetheart) paid attention and stopped whatever it was. Buddy-cat couldn't care less most of the time LOL

 

[calistorules]

I will start to hiss also... I usually just ask the cat politely to get down from the dining table lol...

 

[game misconduct]

some old pics of graycie back when i was still in process of teaching to keep off the breakfast bar. hissing at her was a failhow can i be mad at a face like that? easier to just pick her up and place her into a safe area while i cook and teach her to stay there or off the bar until i finnished and reward her once i finnished. she is fairly smart knows the kitchen area is off limits while i cook

 

[GenCat]

Depends on the cat and observation of their behavior with the other cats in the house. In the scenario you describe they want to be near you and you are telling them *** you go away in cat language To maintain closeness with your cats it may be better to clicker train/snap for directions. Our eldest I would snap and point the direction of her food bowl till she got it down.

Our eldest who was raised without other cats around for the first 1-2 years of life hisses a lot, so when she commits an offense bad enough (biting hard, bullying the other cats, etc) I will hiss at her as a way of saying “this is not appropriate“. Otherwise I make eye contact and snap my fingers which we have taught them means “full attention and stop”.

XiaoXiao and KoKo are used to YanYan hissing at them to say “respect my space” and KoKo also does “warning” hisses so if necessary I would but I don’t feel like either of them commit offenses strong enough to do that. Then again maybe I should with XiaoXiao when he is too rough with KoKo…

TLDR; observe how your cats use their hissing and follow the rules of the house they set lol

 

[mainsoda]

I guess that I just love my kittens so much I don't mind if they do things that would probably annoy others. For example, if they scratch the couch, I don't mind. I love them more than the couch anyway.

 

[Hellenww]

Mostly I chain the pitch on my voice. They usually listen when my voice gets deep. The twins are almost 2 1/2. I don't remember ever hissing at Leo but have several had to several times to get Lunas attention when she was deep in "the zone". I had a boy who was easily frightened and learned to control my volume redirectng him. Now it's automatic for me to more likely whisper deeply than raise my voice.

 

[nurseangel]

I don't recall having done this. I haven't really had any reason to. Occasional if Bob starts playing too rough with one of my girls, I will say, "Hey, hey, hey." And he will look at me like "just who do you think you are talking to" and I stop.

 

[maggie101]

I do. Only at Peaches. I say no,put her down,jumps right back up,say no,put her down,jumps right back up and so on. After so many years, I started hissing

 

[Cat McCannon]

I do not hiss at Belle. Never developed the habit. I will occasionally hiss at Minerva, our year old Border Collie.

 

[GenCat]

I do not hiss at Belle. Never developed the habit. I will occasionally hiss at Minerva, our year old Border Collie.

Put the fear of CAT in them. This would have worked on our boxers for sure, they were terrified of our cat and “bowed” to her anytime she came close. This resulted from the time Sissy cat pierced our male boxer’s nose and got the claw stuck

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I have, and will. Regardless of what research may say, mama cats hiss at their kittens to tell them that what they are doing is unacceptable, and I doubt those mamas are feeling bullied by those kittens. There's more to a hiss than research shows, although I am sure that the "bulllied" thing may be accurate in some cases. SO, if my cat meows at me because it is mimicking what a kitten would do to their mama, then it follows that I behave as a mama cat would. It is remarkably effective.