How do you all correct your fur babies?

I've calmed down now, but yesterday i gave a friend such a tongue lashing!.
Rosie has a thing about chasing after my feet!. The other night while she was chasing after them, i got more than i usually get which is just a little nip. She threw her paws around my ankle and bit quite hard, so much so that her fang had actually punctured the skin,which has left a bruise on me. But i was too worried about her because i thought i had snapped her fang as i pulled away, and i think she got a shock as well because she licked her lips for a few seconds afterwards.

But whats annoyed me is when a friend had said " I hope you smacked her"!. I said i NEVER smack her, not even a tap on the nose. It got quite heated between us, but she backed down, because she knows i can be quite cutting with my tongue when it comes to harming animals.

Rosie knows the word NO!, thats my way of educating her, not smacking her!.

It's not just me is it?.

Susan

No, it's not just you. I NEVER EVER hit my cats (or ferrets) if they do something wrong. Not that they ever do anything wrong (according to them). I just say NO!! loudly, not yelling, just raising my voice slightly above normal. They understand that. But I'm lucky and they all behave quite nicely, rarely doing something they shouldn't.

I DO NOT believe in hitting animals for ANY reason. To me it breaks the trust (especially in cats) between the two of you and in dogs, in can break their spirit.

I usually remove them from what they are doing, and give them a stern "NO." Pepe' is still very young, so he is always in to something, so if I have to remove him enough times from something, I will hold him in one arm, and grab him by the scruff, (never lifting him by it) and give him a time out. I will sometimes tap him lightly on the head with my fingertip to get his attention, but I never strike any of them. The others I can just say something to, or shake the water bottle. I don't usually even have to squirt them unless they are very persistent. Sometimes I can just distract them from what they are doing. Tossing down a toy away from what they are getting in to usually works. If one of them bites or scratches, I will scream and make a much bigger deal of it than it really is. That will often result in instant bout of remorse and kitty loves. But.......
usually they ignore me and do what they want!

My lot just get a loud, firm NO. They understand all right, its just that they dont always take any notice. If they are on work tops where they shouldnt be I just point to the floor and say DOWN and they jump down very reluctantly. I have never smacked them.
they seem to learn pretty quick, even as kittens.

I agree with the others. Snowball is an older cat who doesn't misbehave very often. If he does occasionally need to be corrected, the only thing I have to do is say the word "no" in a firm voice. I don't believe in hitting animals to correct their behavior.

You are absolutely right. My two get a firm NO and get removed from whatever they are doing.

When I first got Simon (he was a stray kitten that I took in) he was hand shy. If I moved my hand too quickly, he would flinch. I'm certain that whoever had him must have hit him. He's been with me over three years now and no longer flinches, but he is still a one person cat. He doesn't really want much to do with my husband (although he can pet him now, which is a vast improvement!)

Stand your ground with your friend. All hitting a cat does is make it afraid.

Exactly Cheryl!. I'm a member of The Cats Protection here in the UK, because they never put an animal to sleep no matter what. And there are so many poor cats who cannot be rehomed because of the way they have been treat, and the only people they do trust are the people at the shelter who will be looking after them for the rest of their lives.

It just infuriates me that people think animals don't have feelings like we do!!!

Mark my words if i ever saw her smack her animal, i would'nt have to think twice about doing the same to her!!. Im not one for violence, but when it comes to animals!! then again i think she'd know better!.

Susan

A firm "NO" is all my cat's get. And sometimes I'll ignore them for awhile. They hate that! When Peaches was constantly attacking Henrietta I used to put her in time out. I'd shut her in the craft room by herself and ignore her. She hated that too!

With Doku all I have to do is say "Doku, no no!" and she will stop what she is doing, turn around and give me a little meow as if telling me to shut up. But Neko on the other hand I have to shake my vitamin bottle and if that doesn't stop him I have to pick him up and carry him away. The others don't usually do much wrong, except Onyx goes overboard with growling, if Neko looks at him he gets mad. Then I have to say no or cover his eyes, he does't care as long as he can't see him!

The most I ever do is either say "No", or clap my hands. He got squirted twice with a water pistol when he was little and insisted upon jumping up on the stove, but he hasn't done anything like that since. Here's a story for you. We were "birdsitting" a cockatoo a few years ago, and within a day or two the bird was saying, "No, Jamie, no-o-o-o-o!" whenever JC started to "stalk" it! It startled JC so much that he would stop.

Snowball is an extremely well behaved cat. On the rare occasions that she does do something bad (like when she's overstimulated from seeing another cat and nips at me) I try to react like another cat would. I hiss, clap loudly, and then ignore her for like 5 minutes. Then I come back and give her some lovin'.

My kitties get a loud, stern NO when they are doing bad. They know what it means too. Sasha was being bad with my puzzle this morning and I said No, he jumped off the table into his chair and just stared at the puzzle table. He is such a good boy. But every time I turned around he was right back on the table until I said NO again. He was just too curious for the NO to last too long

Steven has a bad habit of saying their names loudly instead of the word NO. I am trying to break him of this habit because I don't want the kitties to associate thier names with being bad. He is getting better at it

We say 'No' and sometimes put her in time out. Jeepers ignores us and carries on with what she's doing

I just got my "comeuppance". I didn't realize JC had followed me into the powder room a few minutes ago, and shut him in there when I was finished. I freed him as soon as I heard him yowl, and got a "No!" in the form of a great big hiss! LOL

I read that when you correct your cat, you should use a word and a tone of voice you don't usually use. When Ivo's getting into something she shouldn't, I say "uh-uh-uh" loudly and in a deep voice. Works every time. However, I find myself using it at work on occasion My co-worker gets a kick out of it (I explained it to him when I did it to him once).

Lotsa chuckles in here.

But, seriously, "NO!" is the most effective, generally speaking. If Cindy and Suzy are having one of their disputes, it sometimes becomes, "OK you two, cool it!" and they do. Visits to forbidden counter tops generally get "What do you think YOU'RE doing?? DOWN!!" It's good for a few days, at least.

We haven't had inappropriate biting for a long time. They got a very light tap on the nose, along with the "NO!" for that and it didn't take long for it to stop.

But smacks? No. Never. Not on.

A loud "NO" usually does the trick. Gus knows when he is doing something he shouldn't be and when I catch him at it, he runs before I even get the word no out of my mouth!

I never have to say no to Peppurr! He is such a good boy! Zeus is a destructive little guy. He'll climb curtains, go into the sink and chase my feet! I would NEVER EVER EVER think about hitting a cat!

My girls get a very loud NO and a hiss from me. I even do a little dance with my feet (like a 3 yr.old having a tantrum). OK I'm weird.
But I lightly tap them in the behind when they go to places they shouldn't. I don't think they even feel it, it's more like a push.

yayi I do most of the same stuff you do, so maybe I am not crazy? Hah!