How do you do time outs?

[Jingles000]

I’ve got a kitten who likes to occasionally be aggressive towards our adult cat throughout the day. I’ve been looking into doing timeouts with her. Has anyone had any success with this? The only room I can really put her in is the bathroom. I also have her cat cage/carrier that I could put her in, but I don’t know if that would have the same effect or if it would just make her hate her cage. Please help.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Don't use her carrier (or the cage if you need it for other purposes) - it could backfire when she needs to go to the vet. Pick her up and either hiss or say 'No' to her face (pick one and stick with it) and enclose her in the bathroom but let her out after about a minute or so. Any longer than that and she will forget why she is in there. The key to using this - or any other - tactic is to do it each and every time - consistently - but only when she is being aggressive.

Have you tried any distraction techniques? Some cats who like kickeroo toys will go after those if tossed to them and leave the other cat alone to 'play attack' the toy. I suggest you try this first to see if it will work and when it doesn't then take her to time out.

 

[vince]

I suppose she'll catch on, but you need to be absolutely consistent in your behavior for her to get the message. I think the bathroom would probably be the best place, but she'll then hate the bathroom.

Her behavior is only normal for a kitten. They can be a pest to older cats. She'll outgrow it in time. Do you absolutely have to resort to isolation?

Edit: Didn't think of a kicker when I posted. That's a real good idea, both for redirection as well as to tucker her out some, so she won't have as much energy to be a PITA to your other cat.

 

[frocky the cats]

I was gonna say the same thing. Putting a kitten in a carrier might frighten it

 

[LTS3]

Kittens have no manners so you have to be patient and discourage negative behavior. I would think an adult cat would give the kitten a whack and a hiss if the behavior gets too annoying

This TCS article has tips:

How To Set Healthy Boundaries For Your Cat [A Complete Guide] - TheCatSite

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Are My Cats Fighting Or Playing? [Answered] - TheCatSite

"'Are My Cats Fighting or Playing?' provides insights into cats' interactions and tips on how to respond to their play-fights or conflicts.

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Top 9 Cat Behavior Problems [And How To Deal With Them] - TheCatSite

Cat behavior problems can be puzzling and challenging to handle. Our article outlines the top 9 common issues and offers effective solutions.

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[ArtNJ]

Unfortunately, there are two giant problems with your strategy. Firstly, you can't teach a kitten not to be a kitten or to not want to play. I wish you could teach a kitten to play nice, but there is no evidence you can do that either. Secondly, I don't believe time outs work to teach cats anything, even things that are generally teachable (which playing nice is not). Cats aren't able to make the link if there is a delay between the behavior and punishment. A time out may get the cat to do something else in that particular instance, maybe it will nap in time out and not insta seek out the older cat afterwards for example, but that doesn't mean anything was learned.

Kitten aggressively pestering older cat to play (pouncing, etc), not taking no for an answer or respecting signals, is a tale as old as time. There is no real solution other than time, although you can do things around the edges to help. Breaks for the older cat now and then, calming products, redoing the introduction if necessary, doubling down on play to try and tire out the kitten, making sure the older cat has elevated spaces and/or hidey holes, none of these things are wholly useless. But its mostly time.

 

[danteshuman]

Timeouts for cats are more properly named reset short times (& I wouldn’t put them in the bathroom or the crate for it ever!) My cat gets occasional reset times like when he is being extra naughty and I need a half hour for my migraine meds to kick in or he is being super naughty from cabin fever and I give him 10 minutes to reset. I calmly pick him up and put him in the room.

In your case the older cat will stop bopping the kitten on the head.... you want this! It teaches the kitten manners.

Locking a kitten in a bathroom or crate will create a cat of unexplored energy when you let the kitten out. If you do reset times remain calm,keep the time short, do it in a bedroom with at least a litter box and some toys.

I’m going to give you some kitten tips (besides getting a couple cat trees, play and play somemore and giving your older cat kitten free hour breaks in a bedroom (not bathroom!)

One puzzle feeders, make your kitten work for their food! Get your kitten jumping, running & climbing up/down furniture when you play. Try things like a terrium of crickets or dart frogs to help give your kitten things to hunt. Hang bird feeders by a window/near a window and give your cats a cat tree or cat window ledge ..... when you have good weather you can let them look out through a secure pet safe window screen. Mainly like they said it just takes time, for the obnoxious kitten to grow up.

 

[ArtNJ]

I can definitely relate to time outs for human sanity or for a temporary reset of their behavior. My cat was driving me a little nutty earlier so I allowed him to go out to the sun room knowing it was cold and kinda wet. I then forgot about him for 2 hours

 

[danteshuman]

Training cats is more consistent gentle annoyance & changing the environment more than anything. You have to give them a way to follow their instincts. For example: don’t scratch the couch. The couch gets vinyl couch scratch guards (no) and you move a cat scratcher (yes) next to the couch.