I've spent 3 months with my kitten so far and have been very consistent with the training techniques - reward good behaviour, punish by ignoring/removing reward, since I learned that any verbal/physical punishment is not productive and only makes the cat fear me and destroys our bond.
for the most part this worked really well and I can tell that my cat really loves and trusts me. loves getting my attention, trills when I greet him in the morning and loves to sit on my lap all day.
I observed that since there are no consequences - he takes his chances to cross the line and test his limits.
one example is the biting - I have been teaching him to not bite me for the past 2+ months - consistent of course. given that I do not provoke him by giving unwanted touches - he knows well that hands are not play things for biting, and that biting me intentionally is not ok to get what he wants (like wake me up for food or play time).
BUT biting me when he is hungry or bored in the morning is a habit that still continued to surface from time to time. on most days he wouldnt but some days when he goes impatient, he would bite hard on purpose to get my attention and proceed to run away.
So one morning he bit my arm hard when I was sleeping in bed and I lost it. I shouted at him and hunted him down and cornered him, dragged him out from under the bed and threw him into the toilet and locked him inside there for 3 minutes. basically scaring the shit out of him since it was the first time I had ever displayed such anger.
after that day, he never messed with me again when I am in bed sleeping. he doesnt show signs of fearing me when we are not in the bedroom, and things seem very normal otherwise.
So now I am wondering - as much as people say that you should not punish your cats - should I do it? given that I treat him well on all other occasions , should I punish him/be very fierce on certain big NO-NOs like biting me?
Note 1: I know sometimes cats get overstimulation which results in a bite - but I can tell the difference between that and when he bites intentionally when unprovoked.
Note 2: I understand that he's also in the teething stage so it's natural to want to bite things - but I don't think it's okay to bite me - I am completely fine with him biting and chewing on everything else and have never stopped him from such
for the most part this worked really well and I can tell that my cat really loves and trusts me. loves getting my attention, trills when I greet him in the morning and loves to sit on my lap all day.
I observed that since there are no consequences - he takes his chances to cross the line and test his limits.
one example is the biting - I have been teaching him to not bite me for the past 2+ months - consistent of course. given that I do not provoke him by giving unwanted touches - he knows well that hands are not play things for biting, and that biting me intentionally is not ok to get what he wants (like wake me up for food or play time).
BUT biting me when he is hungry or bored in the morning is a habit that still continued to surface from time to time. on most days he wouldnt but some days when he goes impatient, he would bite hard on purpose to get my attention and proceed to run away.
So one morning he bit my arm hard when I was sleeping in bed and I lost it. I shouted at him and hunted him down and cornered him, dragged him out from under the bed and threw him into the toilet and locked him inside there for 3 minutes. basically scaring the shit out of him since it was the first time I had ever displayed such anger.
after that day, he never messed with me again when I am in bed sleeping. he doesnt show signs of fearing me when we are not in the bedroom, and things seem very normal otherwise.
So now I am wondering - as much as people say that you should not punish your cats - should I do it? given that I treat him well on all other occasions , should I punish him/be very fierce on certain big NO-NOs like biting me?
Note 1: I know sometimes cats get overstimulation which results in a bite - but I can tell the difference between that and when he bites intentionally when unprovoked.
Note 2: I understand that he's also in the teething stage so it's natural to want to bite things - but I don't think it's okay to bite me - I am completely fine with him biting and chewing on everything else and have never stopped him from such
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