Growling at Ollie like mad cats

[ollieoxenfree]

 We have a small basement apt in which we house Oliver and the bunny. The bunny is in a secure homemade condo and Oliver has been focused on her since we brought him home. Spraying water and hissing doesn't work, shouting doesn't work, clapping hands doesn't work.. The only thing that we recently discovered was to growl like when 2 territorial cats meet on the street. It stops him and kind of freaks him out a bit.

 I don't want to spook him but I need to find another method to have him stop digging and pouncing at the condo. Last thing I need is for him to get her and kill her. It is not playful when he gets at her, he is a hunter and a 'retired' outdoor kitty I can see in his body language that he's prepping for the attack. And the worst part is my bunny is not afraid of cats!! 

  Negative reinforcement is the only thing. I try to give him something else to do like play with the slimcat ball but I don't need him to gain weight on treats and he won't eat food out of it. He almost seems to go over there out of spite when he's bored because he knows it guarantees attention. We tried ignoring him for a period of time but he's tearing down the barricade I built with his nails. 

  Anyway, my question, if we growl and he stops picking at her condo, is it okay to do? 

 

[momofmany]

If growling works, I don't see that it would harm him, but I suspect it won't keep him away from the condo when you aren't around.

Modifying instinctual behaviors that have been previously reinforced (he was an outdoor cat that used to hunt) is very difficult to do. I've been able to do that with dogs, as there is nothing more that they want to do than please their masters. But cats don't have the same motivation as dogs - they do things for them, not for you. The only suggestion that I have for you is to redirect him to something he likes when he goes after the condo, and reward him when he does so. For example, move him to a toy or cat tree, and once he starts to play with the toy or quite down on the condo, give him a treat. You never want him to relate the reward to condo, you want him to relate the reward to his positive behavior. You would need to be 100% consistent with him on this. I suspect it will take a while to modify this behavior.

 

[ollieoxenfree]

Thanks for your reply!! I wish we had a dog. We got Oliver when my dog passed away, and what a handful!! We still didn't get him out of biting, he will randomly come attack hands and feet which sucks because does he ever chomp hard! 

 I take a different approach to it than my bf which might be the problem. We just are consistently not on the same page with discipline, no matter how much we discussed it. He claps his hands and shouts "Oliver" and I try to re-direct by playing good-cop and offer head rubs if he comes to me. The water is a quicker method when Oliver sticks his paws in the bars (he has taken clumps of fur and the worst thing my bunny can get is an abscess which would be hell to treat) but he is not affected by it unless we spray his head/face. I know water in his eyes and ears is bad but we get so fed up sometimes. I would make a terrible human-parent with my temper. I know Oliver needs better guidance, but he's such a pain in the butt! 

  Thanks for your suggestion, I know training him is different than a dog.. What is the window for giving treats? Can I pick him up and take him into the kitchen and give him one, or is that still too soon and he might learn to associate the two?

 

[momofmany]

You need to try to get your BF on the same page as you, since retraining a cat is more difficult that retraining a dog. Sorry, I have absolutely no suggestions for that one!

The window between removal from the condo to treat is hard to describe. If he still has condo on his mind, then giving him a treat at that time is bad. If his attention entirely shifts away from condo while you walk to the kitchen, then giving him a treat then is OK. What you don't want is for him to think that if he goes after the condo, that you will always pick him up and give him a treat. He'll only go after the condo more often. I would put the amount of time at the time that his attention is fully directed at something other than the condo. Does this make sense?

 

[ollieoxenfree]

Yes thanks! It does make sense- tonight while we were watching our, sorry TRYING to watch our show Oliver was at it again. My feet hurt from walking to and from work and school so I didn't want to get up, only growled once used water for the rest. Then he got up and scratched the wall in a stretch, ugh- like nails on a blackboard. The cat is trying to drive us mental. Half a nerve to put him back where we found him!! lol no, that's not funny. I would never do that. We'll try the removal technique and hope, overtime, it works!! (either that of the bunny dies of old age -_- )