Ella still hasn't learned that she can't bite. We've tried squirting her with water and bopping her nose and pressing her tongue down into her mouth, all to no avail. When we just get really mad at her, we just lock her in the bathroom. Lately we've discovered that she really likes the bathroom, though. Soft mat to sleep on. Sink that she can lick water out of. Shower curtain to play with. Some punishment, eh? It's comparable to my mom sending me to my room when I was a kid... the room where all my books were. Yeah, no punishment there.
The other day we had a brilliant idea. Put her in the cat carrier which is no fun at all. Sure enough, she hates it, and usually after we put her in a time or two, she'll get the hint and play nice. (Though, we usually get attacked when we first let her out... before she's learned her lesson.)
Today she got put in there due to some bite marks on my hand, and she's not happy. But she sure got me laughing. Somehow, Ella thinks that rolling over like a dog will somehow magic herself out.
The other day we had a brilliant idea. Put her in the cat carrier which is no fun at all. Sure enough, she hates it, and usually after we put her in a time or two, she'll get the hint and play nice. (Though, we usually get attacked when we first let her out... before she's learned her lesson.)
Today she got put in there due to some bite marks on my hand, and she's not happy. But she sure got me laughing. Somehow, Ella thinks that rolling over like a dog will somehow magic herself out.
Next time I'll try to post her other dog-trick: Chasing her tail.
2 comments:
I'd forgotten that your child's name is Kessa, and so assumed that you were writing about your baby. Spraying her with water and locking her in the bathroom seemed a little harsh, but also extremely funny.
Truth be told, I was a little disappointed when I found out it was about a cat.
Cat aren't kids. They don't understand the concept of a "time out" so that's probably not going to help. If she bites again when you let her back out then most likely she's not associating being put in her cat carrier with biting. Also, responding to aggressive behavior with aggression (e.g bopping on the nose) just makes her think that you want to play-fight more. It's better to just say something very loud/harsh ("NO!" or something) immediately when she starts biting, and then ignore her for a while. She'll learn that biting == no more playing, and kittens want to play. Also (yeah, I'm just full of unsolicited advice today) make sure she has some toys she can bite and scratch, and don't "play" with her with just your hands but instead hold a toy in your hand that she can take out her aggression on. If you're playing cat-and-mouse games and your hand is the mouse, you can't really blame her for biting it.
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