Carry it like its mother

I am a very new cat owner/babysitter. I am watching someone's cat and thinking about getting my own. The little guy I am baby-sitting is not as well behaved as I had hoped. I learned a lot of techniques from this website, but I just wanted to see what everyone thought about carrying the cat behind its neck like its mother does when it is a kitten. Does this show any kind of dominance over a cat.

Welcome to TCS, we are all glad you've found us!

No it does not allow you to show dominance at all and in fact, it can actually be harmful if not done correctly. Please do not attempt to do this without first learning the proper method for it so as not to cause injury.

That now being said, why do you feel the need to express dominance over this cat? What types of behavior is the little guy exhibiting that you consider to be "not well-behaved"?

There are many other, more effective methods for redirecting undesirable behaviors. But if a cat is doing something well, cat-like, then you shouldn't necessarily restrict or prohibit the behavior, rather direct it to a more appropriate area, object, etc.

Welcome to the site "neighbor" (I'm in south jersey).

I agree that scruffing the cat isn't a good way to hold it - I only scruff animals when they need to be restrained, say for taking a blood sample (and I used to work at a vet, so I was taught how to correctly do it)

I agree that if you give us a little more detail on how exactly the kitty is "being bad" we might be able to help a little more.

Well some of the behavior I was worried about has been cleared up thanks to this site. The biggest problem I have is that he wants to play with me. He will lay down in the doorway and when I walk over him he will pounce on my legs. I just want him to understand that I am not a toy, nor are the things I am holding necessarily toys. For example when I iron, the clothes hang off the board and he swats at them (I do not want him shredding my clothes), I just want him to understand that it is not always time to play.



Thanks for all your help, this forum is great.

He is just being playful because he likes you. Sometimes my cats want to play and I am not in the mood or busy. For lazy play I do the red light toy or I put in the Cat Sitter.
Batting at your clothes won't shred them. Usually cats have their claws retracted when playing.
Now pouncing...it depends on his age and if it hurts. There is a thing called ambushing when they come out of nowhere and scare the daylights out of you which is negative behavior.
But none of these things are all that worrying. If you want the pouncing to stop. Just stop in place so it is no longer fun and then move on.