Cat Behaviour Issues

by Mitchell
(Germany)

Hi there,

we have had our kitten since she was 8 weeks old, and have had her for about 4 months now. At first she seemed easy to train, for example a spray with a water bottle the first few times she jumped on to the dinner table meant that she stopped doing that straight away. We also have a 19 month old son, and she has always been really gentle with him, even though she used to sometimes get carried away playing with us and bite or scratch us, that never happened when she played with him. We were told she is half ragdoll, half european short hair (to be honest, we're not even sure of the sex let alone the breed!) Unfortunately, her behaviour has really gone downhill over the last month. One wall has been scratched to pieces and she is forever jumping on to the kitchen table, with the water spray seemingly having no effect. We have been bitten/scratched more than usual and now she has started attacking our son for no reason, and drawing blood too. Can you give us some advice as to how we can stop her doing this? We are at a complete loss!

Thanks,

Mitchell

Answer by Kate
Hi, if you are not sure of her sex then I assume she is not spayed/neutered. If this is the case then you will have one very frustrated cat on your hands and this can often cause more aggressive behavior. Having her spayed will help to calm her down and make her a much more contented cat.

As for discipline you have to do it so that they understand what is good and bad in their language and this is all about positive and negative behaviors. Please see this page for more on this technique.

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-discipline.html

However as I say having her spayed will help a lot. It could also be that she is bored and does not have enough stimulation to keep her happy and so she is seeking more fun by playing hard and getting all her frustrations out. Making sure that her home environment is as stimulating as possible will also help to make her a much more contented cat. Please see this page for some ideas

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/indoor-cats.html

best wishes Kate

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