why cant i spank my cat

I made an account just to reply to this. Let’s imagine that you are the kind of horrid person who sees their cat peeing in “inappropriate” places and, instead of thinking that the cat has a medical condition, decides the best thing to do is beat his cat. What do you think the cat is going to associate the hitting with — the peeing or you? The answer is you.

Cats avoid fire because touching the fire hurts. Cats will avoid what hurts — what’s hurting in this case? YOU.

Cats cannot understand that you’re hitting them because they peed somewhere you didn’t like. They just get that you are hitting. And that makes you the enemy. And for good reason.

Oh and let us know exactly what unwanted behavior your seeing from your cat we should be able to give you alternate options for improving this behavior it could be something as simple as a litter tray issue or a scratching issue all of these can be helped without spanking ..

Pusheen’s answer just about sums up the reason why cats don’t learn from being struck. Another reason for not striking a cat is that the cat will, out of self-protection instincts, learn to aggress against the source of the striking. In this case, the response does generalize–that is, the cat will learn not only to aggress against the human who has struck it, but against humans in general.

In sum, striking a cat will not produce positive behavior changes, but it will produce an aggressive cat.

Huuumm… The old peeing on carpet problem :).. Well just curious how big is his litter tray? If he is a Maine coon mix than I’m assuming even at 9 months he’s probably pretty big…

Large cats need EXTRA large litter trays ( preferable ones with NO cover). And a litter tray really needs to be cleaned several times a day…

Next time he pees on anything other than the litter tray just check the tray straight away and see what’s in it.. Some cats ( my buttons) is SO fussy! He needs a very clean litter tray with lots of litter before he’ll comfortably use it..

I can understand your frustration but you need to understand there is a healing period after being neutered so he’s probably still adjusting..

And the cats outside aren’t helping… If the front door is the only issue you could maybe get a motion sensor air canister this with emit a short sharp bust of air when outdoor cats approach and eventually this will teach them not to come around so much ( or keep them from your front door at least)

Sometimes a cat will continue to pee outside the tray because they can still smell their old urine ..
If you can get a black light ( cheap on ebay/ amazon) and goes around your apartment you’ll fin the places he’s peed on.. Cat urine is incredibly long lasting! So you need and enzyme cleaner to successfully remove all traces of urine stains.. Doing this should reduce the risk of him peeing on familiar areas..

No, Matt, it won’t help. Your cat is engaging in territorial marking behavior, which is part of a completely different instinctual system than elimination. Although spraying is the most common form of territorial marking, the cat doesn’t have to spray to mark territory. What tipped me off to this is when you said he only partially empties his bladder at various places throughout the apartment. This is what male animals do; it’s why dogs have to stop at every tree and deposit urine when they’re out for walks.

Your clothes and your bed have your scent on them most strongly. That’s why he chooses them for targets; he’s superimposing his scent over yours. This is also natural instinctive behavior. In the wild, animals will put their own scent on top of a place where they smell another animal’s scent. Sometimes they even establish a “community marking post,” a particular tree or something where everyone marks just to let others know they’re around.

Having the cat neutered at 9 months used to be recommended procedure, but it no longer is. Veterinary research has found that the concerns once voiced about the male’s urinary system not developing properly if neutering took place earlier do not happen. Shelter kittens are given what is called a pediatric neuter (or spay) as soon as they attain a certain weight. I think they hit that weight around 2 or 3 months of age. If this behavior became established before the cat was neutered, I’m afraid it’s going to be difficult to stop it. Once those hormones kick in and the instinctive sex-linked behaviors start, it can take a long time for them to go away even after neutering.

So you see, Matt, from your cat’s perspective, this isn’t a behavior problem; it’s what his instincts tell him he’s supposed to do. You can’t change that behavior through punishment of any kind. I recommend you talk with your vet about this. Make it clear that you’re dealing with territorial marking and ask for advice about that. I hope you can find an answer to this problem.

pusheen ji is correct!

Matt, I just read over your longer post to make sure that you’d said the cat was neutered. Three weeks ago! My glory, it takes time for those hormones to work their way completely out of his system–just how much time, your vet could tell you better than I can, but it’s more than just a few weeks. Cutting off the source of the hormones does not immediately take away those that are already circulating in his body. This is a process that is going to take time–time for the hormones to leave the cat’s body, time for the behaviors that the hormones triggered to drop out.

The most important question here is whether you will be able and willing to give your cat the time to adjust to his new physiology and adapt his behaviors to it. You say he is a great cat other than for this problem and you’d rather solve the problem than rehome him. Can you focus on the things that make him great while this behavior is being resolved? It seems that this issue really isn’t one of appropriate disciplinary tactics, but of your commitment to your cat and the amount of effort you’re able and willing to put forth to keep him as your companion.

I’m so glad we were able to help Matt .. You’re very correct the point were making is to put your efforts into finding and correcting the problem instead of disipling physically is more effective .. As for your last question..Honestly in all my years of caring for cats none have responded or learned from physical discipline..

Plus, animals learn much better — like the rest of us — from a ‘carrot’ rather than a stick, i.e. positive reinforcement. Praising and giving treats when they are behaving in ways you want them to behave are much more effective. It may sometimes not seem like it but cats on the whole DO want to please their owners and behave in ways that will get them positive attention and lots of love. (It’s all good practice for child-rearing later on…)