Cats are innocent little creatures who are curious about almost everything, making them end up in places you wouldn’t want them to be. This might enrage you and make you want to punish them, which is not the answer to your problem.
Punishing them is like scolding a newborn baby; the punishment will never affect them. So, if you want to know more reasons why you should never scold or punish your cat, then scroll down and continue reading.
Fight Back
The top reason you should never scold or punish your cat is that their first instinct is to fight back. Cats can and will fight with you if you raise your voice at them and startle them or even if you do things that might displease them, like punishing them. If your cat is anxious or nervous, they will start being aggressive once you adapt the way of punishing them to disciplining cats.
If you were simply playing around with them and they bit or scratched you, then there must be something that scared them, which developed the urge to fight back and protect themselves. If your cat does this often, give it some space, let it calm down before planning to discipline your cat.
You Influence Them More Than You Think
Your cat’s behavior is always a reflection of how you act around them. If you own a cat, then it is a must to keep the environment neat and peaceful to let the cat understand that lousy behavior is not tolerated at all costs. You might want to change a few things in your house if your cats keep on bringing up bad behavior since it also could be a reason for them acting vulgarly.
Keep an eye on their behavior whenever you change anything in your house, as it will help you understand why your house decoration also mattered to their act of conductance.
The Bond Will Break
Once you start disciplining them and punishing them more often, it will weaken your bond with your cats and maximize the risks of those cats detaching themselves from you. If you punish them, that will make them think that you no longer love them, which later on results in them breaking their bond with you.
You wouldn’t want to have a strong bond with someone who keeps on yelling at you or smacking you, right? This is what makes cats run away from you, thinking you’ll punish them whenever you see a chance, and as a defensive mechanism, they will dash away from you.
Cats Are Innocent
Cats do not know how to tell their owner what or how something is bothering them, making them act on impulse and bring out their bad behavior. If they start doing things you strictly restrict them from doing, then there is something they’re trying to tell you that it’s bothering them. Maybe the environment of the house is unhealthy, or you got a new pet they weren’t aware of from the beginning.
There are so many reasons that could cause their bad behavior so instead of punishing them, look for signs that may have brought discomfort to your cat.
They Might Get Scared of You
Your cat being scared of you can be a reason for them not trusting you and running away from you, which is not good for your bond with your cat. There will be times of urgency that might make you act aggressively and impulsively, scaring the cat. Cats who are scared of their owners are said to be constantly confused and get panicked easily.
Behave well with your cat to maintain the bond of trust and love instead of being a reason for their stress.
Being Unaware Is Not Healthy
When you punish your cats, and they’re unaware of what they’re being punished for, they won’t understand or listen to you. Even if the cats miraculously listen to you, they will stop doing things in front of you but do it behind you, which is even more dangerous.
Stop punishing your cats, especially at times when they won’t understand why you scolded or punished them.
It Is Not the Greatest Solution
For every problem that arises, punishment is not always the solution. Never choose punishment and train them as a good cat-parent would. Sometimes, cats do things that give them a nice outcome and a result that they personally love.
Avoid punishing them for doing something that’s absolutely natural, and try to provide them with a substitute solution. Cats cannot always understand punishment, so instead of hitting or yelling at them, try ignoring that behavior and think about what made them react that way.
Timing Also Matters
Always watch when you’re scolding them or trying to discipline them is the right time to do so. Suppose your cat was sitting somewhere where it shouldn’t be, and you picked it up right before yelling at it. This could make your cat think that being in your arm is the problem and not sitting somewhere it shouldn’t be sitting.
Remove your habit of taking your anger out on your cat; it is not a healthy way to build a great and strong bond with your cat.
It Will Stress Them Out
One of the most trivial reasons why you shouldn’t punish cats is that it will stress them out and keep them depressed most of the time. It will also minimize the time they spend with you, or they might even stop playing with you.
Cats cannot understand human language, which is why you should be focusing more on the way you act around them and not raise your voice at them.
Final Conclusion
Cats aren’t supposed to be treated like spoiled kids; rather, you should understand them, and you should see things from a different angle whenever they do something that upsets you. Despite the social media saying that cats are planning their revenge for your punishment, there is nothing like that as they are innocent creatures who simply need you to be more attentive to them than anyone else.
