Although I am frequently asked to help people change the behaviors of their ill-mannered dogs, for some reason, people rarely ask for help when it comes to their badly behaved cats. Cats can and do misbehave with the same frequency as can dogs. Is the reason people don’t ask for help because they think a cat’s behavior can’t be changed? Do they just not mind the bad behaviors as much as they mind it when the dog acts up? Or do people simply “get rid of” the original cat and try again?

I think that the answer is “yes” to all three reasons.

A cat’s behaviors can be changed. In many cases, more easily than can a dog’s. For instance, most cats scratch furniture, not out of the need to “sharpen their claws”, but in order to get the owner’s attention. They may knock knick knacks off shelves for the same reason. Cats will miss the litter box when they are sick or unhappy, and may bite as a way to release frustration. I once had a cat that had learned to beat up my older, fragile cat whenever he wanted out. It was, until I figured out what he was doing, his method of telling me to open the door. Cats are smart and manipulative. Their desire in life is their own pleasure. I love cats, but let’s be honest, they are anything but altruistic. Sometimes, in order to change a cat’s behavior, you simply have to be smarter than they are. A cat isn’t going to change his behavior simply because you want him to. That sometimes works with dogs, but, never with cats. In order to change a cat’s behavior, you have to figure out why the cat is behaving the way he is. What is he getting out of the behavior? And then, you have to respond in such a way that he stops getting what it is he desires.

In the case of my cat Simon, I had inadvertently taught him that every time he touched Jaime aggressively, he would go sailing out the front door. It took me weeks before I figured out that it was actually Simon who had taught me to open the front door by going over and throwing a punch at Jaime. Simon knew that I was hesitant to let him out early in the mornings when the coyotes may be about. But, that hesitancy literally went out the front door when he would beat up on my beloved Jaime. Out the door he went!

What I had to do in order to change Simon’s behavior was build a cat room outside of the bathroom window. Anytime Simon wanted out he just went out the bathroom window. The enclosure gave him the illusion of freedom and his poor behavior toward Jaime stopped.

A cat that scratches furniture, misses the litter box, yowls operatically at night or insists that you get up early in the morning to feed him is a cat that has learned to manipulate his environment in order to satisfy his needs. The key to changing the unwanted behavior is to satisfy his needs in some other, owner-friendly way, and replace the outcome of his behaviors with consequences he won’t like.

It can be done. Be smart. Think like a cat.

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