Cat Training

Posts Tagged ‘bad cat’

Have you ever seen a mother cat discipline and unruly kitten? You can bet she doesn’t stand there and say bad cat. She grabs the kitten by the back of the neck and holds it down until the kitten calms down. This is called scruffing the cat. Scruffing can be a very effective means of cat training when your cat is getting out of control.

Cat scruffing should be reserved for those times when your cat’s behavior is totally out of control. A good example would be if your cat starts biting you during playtime. It is important to use good cat training to stop this type of behavior before it becomes habit.

You are going to play a mother cat, but you obviously are not going to use your mouth to hold the kitten down. However, you need to simulate the mother cat’s behavior.

Your cat training by scruffing the cat is accomplished with the following steps:

Firmly but gently grasp the cat by the loose skin at the back of his neck. This is called the scruff.

You will then firmly but gently hold the cat against the ground and make a hissing sound just like the mother cat would.

You will continue to hold the cat down until he becomes a calm. You can tell that the cat is calm when his body relaxes and he is no longer struggling to get away.

Once your kitty has calmed down you can release him and gently stroke or cuddle him to let him know he is safe.

Remember, one of many Training methods that can be effective and scrauffing the cat should only be used when the cat is out of control and when the scruffing can be done immediately after or during the behavior.