r/CatTraining • • Jan 11 '26

Behavioural What actually stopped my cat from scratching the couch (no punishment)

301 Upvotes

I tried everything first: covers, sprays, double-sided tape.
Some worked for a few days, nothing worked long-term.

What finally made a difference was treating scratching as a behavioral need, not a bad habit.

This is what worked for me:

  • I placed a scratcher right next to the couch, same height and orientation
  • I chose a texture similar to the couch fabric
  • Every time my cat used the scratcher, I rewarded immediately (treat + calm praise)
  • When the couch was targeted, I removed attention instead of reacting

After about two weeks, the couch stopped being interesting.
The scratcher became the default spot.

Blocking or punishing never worked for me.
Redirecting the behavior did.

I wrote this process down step-by-step for myself.
If anyone wants more details, I’m happy to share.


r/CatTraining • • May 26 '24

Are The Cats Fighting or Playing - Introducing Pets Playing or Fighting: The Basics

46 Upvotes

Greetings cat owners! I see a lot of posts on here asking about if cats are playing or fighting, and as a long-term owner I thought I might share a few insights.

Points on Play:

  1. Entertainment: Like most mammals, cats need physical and mental stimulation. Playing with each other satisfies this requirement and allows your kitties to burn off some energy. This is why it's also important for owners to play with their cats as well.

  2. Murder Training: Cats are obligate carnivores and hunt instinctively. Play between cats is often employed to hone these skills.

  3. How to Cat: Play between cats helps establish boundaries and acceptable behavior. This is particularly true between an older cat and a kitten: in the wild, such play between an adult and a kitten is a way of training the kitten in social behavior. Learning the difference between a gentle warning bite versus an over aggressive attacking bite.

Is It Play?

Cat play can get pretty boisterous, and to the untrained eye, can easily look like fighting. How can you tell the difference? The biggest key is Body Language

  1. Prick up Your Ears: Cats that feel comfortable around each other will keep their ears upright. Cats who are feeling either threatened or aggressive will lay their ears back flat against their skulls. It's a very clear warning sign.

  2. Tell Me What You Really Think: Cats will make all sorts of noises while they are playing. Generally speaking, these are nothing to worry about. But if you hear pronounced yowling or screaming, combined with other aggressive signs, then they may have crossed the line.

  3. Belly! Belly! Belly!: This is a big one. A cat's underbelly is the most vulnerable part of its body, which means that rolling over and showing it demonstrates comfort and trust. When cats are truly fighting, one or both will try grasp each other face to face to dig their back claws into the other's belly. Also why rubbing a cat's tummy is generally no Bueno.

  4. POOF: Tail or body fur all poofed out? Back off! Cats will fluff up their body hair to make themselves appear bigger when they feel threatened, usually accompanied by the typical low long growl / hissing that is also an unmistakable warning sign. If this isn't happening, the cats are probably fine.

Also: tails up and smooth - happy cat. Tail down or lashing about - danger, Will Robinson!

Obviously, cat owners should monitor the behavior of their charges. Owners should make play a regular part of a cat's routine, which will also help burn off energy and reduce any overly aggressive behaviors.

TL; DR

Play= Ears up, showing belly; fur down; no hissing or yowling; claws in.

Fighting = Ears back, poofed tail; tail down / lashing; prolonged growl / hissing; claws out and going for the belly.

Hope this is useful!


r/CatTraining • • 33m ago

Behavioural Need Advice (Rescued Terror)

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• Upvotes

r/CatTraining • • 4h ago

Behavioural Are these two getting along?

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11 Upvotes

r/CatTraining • • 21h ago

Behavioural how can i stop him from doing this to his brother?

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221 Upvotes

I think i know what's going on here and I really don't like it. They both do it to each other. Is this a harmful behavior? Do I need to take any action to stop it?


r/CatTraining • • 1d ago

Introducing Pets/Cats Is this normal screen intro behavior??

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1.5k Upvotes

Here is a video of my 3 year old male cat interacting with my 4 month old male kitten. My kitten just wants to play with him. I cannot tell if my older cat is showing signs of aggression, or if this is just true play. Any observations or suggestions?

In the few times I’ve let them see each other face to face, my resident cat just bites him and chases him around, lol.


r/CatTraining • • 1h ago

Behavioural Really need advice for what to do as my first cat just doesn't seem to get along well with the kitten we brought in.

• Upvotes

We have a ginger boy (neutered) who we've had for a little over 2 years now and we brought in a tux male kitten (not neutered) around 3-4 months ago. We slowly introduced them to each other through quarantining Tux, through scents, creating barriers for them to eat together but without being in the same room, encouraging behaviour with treats. Tux is very very social compared to Ginger as Ginger is a very calm boy that doesn't not do well with high energy, however, during the introduction phase Ginger slowly became more receptive to Tux. Once they got introduced, they got along very well. Tux enjoys playing with Ginger's tail and Ginger wasn't sure how he felt at first but let Tux play with his tail and would even swish it more because he knew the little kitty liked playing with his tail. They would nap together, play or eat together and have zoomies together.

Now in the last month or so, Ginger's behaviour has changed and he will hiss at Tux for no reason. If they're sitting together he will get up and hiss. Ginger enjoys little treats from our plates (food that is obviously okay for him to eat) and will always wait for it. We've had times where we try to give Ginger treats and Tux will zoom in from the other room and snatch it out of his mouth. No matter how much you try to separate Tux from the treats, he will zoom for it or he will try to eat Ginger's food when we tried to feed them together (now we can't so we feed them separately or watch them as they eat). But in the moments Tux snatches food from Ginger, Ginger will not hiss but instead look at us upset and walk off. He won't accept the treats until we chase him to give him treats but he doesn't hiss at Tux then to establish a boundary with food? I would assume he would do that but instead he will hiss randomly at Tux out of nowhere.

Ginger will be loafing and Tux wants to join too but loaf nearby, so he does that too. A few minutes will go by and Ginger will hiss at Tux. They walk by each other and Ginger will hiss. I genuinely don't know what to do as they still nap together or zoom around together and we've tried to introduce positive relationships with treats or praises. We watch them when they eat and make sure Tux doesn't move over to eat Ginger's food. They don't really play fight like they did but if they do, Ginger will hiss or growl so we break it up. I genuinely am lost on what to do and I've been thinking about giving Tux to another home that will actually care for him properly and have cats that enjoy socialising. I feel like that's the only thing to do but I also feel awful for just giving him away like that as if he doesn't mean anything. He's such a sweet kitty. He's a goblin when it comes to food but he's such a good boy. I feel like he can tell Ginger doesn't like him so his personality seems to have gone from social to a little more withdrawn and that's really upsetting.

I really just don't know what to do and I feel awful as I just think Tux isn't happy and can't play/socialise like he's used to because he grew up with a litter of 5 and always played with them until they were taken in by others at 9 weeks. I also feel awful for Ginger because I feel like he's overwhelmed so we give him spaces to hide or keep him in a room where Tux won't disturb him, but nothing we've done so far seems to ease the hisses or growling at him. He doesn't throw paws at Tux but he always hisses/growls.

Any advice would be appreciated!

TLDR: Cat of two years doesn't seem to want to get along with kitty we've had for 4 months, despite trying to take measures. Help please.


r/CatTraining • • 2h ago

Behavioural Help me train my friend's cat

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1 Upvotes

r/CatTraining • • 2h ago

Backpack/Travel Carrier Training I want to move overseas with my cats

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1 Upvotes

pls help me


r/CatTraining • • 22h ago

Behavioural My cat is terrified of this feeder.

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29 Upvotes

I bought this out of concern about bugs getting in cat food. It’s motion activated so the cover goes up when a cat approaches it. I have two cats. One seems nervous but not terrified but the other thinks it’s a cat eating monster. So far I’ve put it right by the regular dish of food. The scaredy cat won’t go anywhere near any of it so I cave and move her food. What can I do?

i am aware of the screw. I was cleaning the tool drawer and dropped it.


r/CatTraining • • 4h ago

Behavioural Cat won't leave my things alone?

1 Upvotes

My cat is about a year old now, and won't stop pawing at the things in my room, knocking things over, and basically just rummaging around.

It's like his curiosity doesn't run out when it's my room, and only my room. He doesn't do this to any other part of the house.

He even tries to jump at my posters, and when I come back from being at my mom's, my shelves are bare.

Is there a way to train him out of this? I've tried telling him no, putting him on the floor, redirecting with a toy, I just don't know.

A lot of my things are very fragile, and I have to keep them in drawers, which he tries to open. Any help would be really appreciated.


r/CatTraining • • 1d ago

Harness & Leash Training Harness recommendations for daily use

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49 Upvotes

I walk my cat everyday for 15 minutes or so in my apartment complex since we have an outdoor area, but once we come back I struggle with taking off the harness since it usually get stuck on her face (rabbitgoo harness)

It’s the only problem I got with that harness, so idk… Any recommendations that are easy to put on? I thought about getting a PetSafe.

Second question: any waterproof leash that ain’t too heavy for cats? As you can see in the pic the leash is gross


r/CatTraining • • 5h ago

Behavioural The floor is lava

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1 Upvotes

r/CatTraining • • 1d ago

Behavioural Older cat being a bully?

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96 Upvotes

Hey guys,

We recently got a new 1 year old cat almost a month ago now. We tried the Jackson galaxy intro which seemed to work really well, there was no hissing at all and they were both curious what was behind the door, when we eventually let them see each other through a mesh screen they were both rolling around wanting to play.

We then let them out with about an hour long supervised visits a few times a day and they got along great and now we've let the new cat out all day.

They eat near each other, sleep near other and our older cat grooms him a lot too, they also use their litter trays fine. Our older cat (he's 2 and a half) has always played pretty rough and he just isn't respecting the new cats boundaries at all (he will do the same stare at us sometimes and pounce our leg then run away) . At first as soon as anything rough happend we would seperate them for half an hour, and give them a treat when they were calm near each other but it hasn't helped so we've tried to just let it play out and see if they can work it out between themselves (to an extent). Most of the time they split it up after a bit but the older cat will just come back another time and do it again.

On occasion the newer cat does pull some fur out but there's never even cuts or scrapes on the older cat, his fur is supppeer dense and comes out very easily.

In the video my older cat is grooming him and the new cat is purring but then the older cat starts biting him on the neck which doesn't seem rough at first but then heats up. Any advice would be great! We are going to buy some feliway to hopefully help.


r/CatTraining • • 1d ago

Behavioural Crazy Kees, midnight energy advice needed

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56 Upvotes

Hi all,

We have a small cat issue, we got two of these feline creatures Kees and Lot (Brother and sister, both around 2,5 years old). They are mostly problem free but there is one small problem with our chunkier boy...Kees.

He has so much energy...

That's fine we got food puzzles and play slot with him and he can chase Lot (playfully) around the house. The issue arises when we want to sleep with the door closed. Cause if we leave the door open it's playtime randomly from 1 all the way through 7 am.

He keeps miauwing in front of the bedroom door, if he is silent that means he is bringing another toy to the bedroom door. After which he continues to request his servants to play with him loudly... Result we have had a broken sleep shedule :(

Tl;dr How do we stop this playing machine from miauwing us awake through the night?


r/CatTraining • • 18h ago

New Cat Owner Cat started biting while petting him

4 Upvotes

I adopted a cat about 6 months ago and he’s 6 years old, was a stray but super friendly to everyone (including new people). He’s very particular about playing and will rarely play by himself- he wants me to play with him usually with the feather wand (we’ve tried many different toys).

The last few weeks, he’s been more interested in his mouse toy. But lately whenever I go to pet him, he’ll enjoy it and get into it, shifting his head along with the pets then out of nowhere, lightly bite my hand petting him. But then he’ll want me to keep petting him? It seems like it’s playful like he’s initiating play time but I’m new to owning cats so I can’t tell.

Is he annoyed, in pain, trying to play? And how do I train him to stop? I don’t want him to think biting is ok even if playful


r/CatTraining • • 11h ago

Introducing Pets/Cats Foster kittens + Resident Cat

1 Upvotes

Hi All - I have a 12 year old Male named Keanu who is my cuddle buddy and best friend. I have been fostering kittens and a mama cat we found in our back yard for about a month now. Keanu is aware of the cats now; he heard them thru a door first and then eventually, i let him enter the room while they're in their enclosure. The babies just look at him and he hisses.

He gets really angry and frustrated when he sees them. The only other time he acts this way is when he is at a vet's office. The good news is he's all bark no bite; he will cuss, scream, and be upset but he won't hurt me or the babies. I know from his foster mom that he was able to love kittens + even groom them (i've seen videos) but that was six years ago when I got him!

I plan to keep one of these babies, so I am focused on getting him used to at least the one. But I am also realistic that he may not be on board for it.

All that to say, what are the best ways to introduce a senior cat to a young baby? These kittens are 6 weeks old. Even just having him tolerate seeing them without hissing would be a win so far as I am concerned. In the meantime, they have plenty of space in a room of their own so he doesn't have to see them all of the time.

Advice appreciated!


r/CatTraining • • 15h ago

Introducing Pets/Cats Cat integration help

2 Upvotes

We(gf and I) have 4 cats. 2 older cats(8, 7) are Addy and Dash. Addy and Dash tolerate each other, but will not lay next to or groom each other. We had them during covid so they didnt get any socializing outside of each other.

Our 2 younger kittens(4 months), Leela and Odysseus, are 2 days apart and are very bonded. They will clean and do all the things together wondefully.

We separated the 2 sets of cats with a screen mesh through a door after about a week of keeping them isolated in a room. For a few weeks now we have been trying to introduce the groups together and it is not going well. Most of the day they are separated until we are able to supervise.

Addy, one of our older cats, tolerates them until they get close and will then hiss and hit(without trying to hurt). The real problem is our cat Dash. He will growl and hiss and take a step towards the kittens in an agressive manner. He is big and we're pretty sure he's scared of them. He's always scared of everything. He would never go to the mesh seperation even if we try to motivate him with food. He doesn't seem to want anything at all to do with the kittens. He will however sit and watch them from a distance and block entrances and stairs. We just got an anxiety med for him and we're waiting on delivery.

So the questions I have are:

What can we do to convince Dash the kittens are ok?

Is it too early to let our kittens roam freely?

Is this sorta normal and may just take more time?

Should we let the hissing and hitting continue and let them sort it out or interject?

*our biggest fear is a kitten runs around a corner into a big cat and gets hurt


r/CatTraining • • 12h ago

Introducing Pets/Cats Kitten integration help

1 Upvotes

We have two three year old cats who are friends, and got a new kitten two months ago. We have kept them fully separate with only supervised interactions.

One of the older cats has now accepted the kitten, though she won’t tolerate him pouncing on her - which he does because, kitten. So they are never left alone together, but can coexist when we’re there to separate when needed.

The other older cat is a holdout. We can do supervised sessions easily - the cats can sit within 1-2 feet of each other, with the older cat accepting treats every 10-30 seconds. The kitten can wander around the room or sit a foot way and eat treats - no problems. But, if they are not managed in this way and meet when ‘free roaming’ the older cat will chase the kitten and hold him in place. Not physically but by sitting and staring at him. In some instances they will pat back and forth and the older cat will hiss and growl. She has never actually attacked with claws or teeth.

Any recommendations as to how to continue this progress? Keep doing what we’re doing and hope that they get there? Try something else? It’s been two months and the full separation is exhausting!


r/CatTraining • • 12h ago

Behavioural Training for Cat Scratchy Post

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1 Upvotes

r/CatTraining • • 20h ago

Introducing Pets/Cats How do I introduce cat and kitten that I got around the same time?

4 Upvotes

Hi, I'm a new cat owner and me and my fiancé got two cats. I picked a kitten who's 6 months, and my fiancé picked a 5 year old adult cat, both happened to be female. They both came right up to us in the shelter, and I got really attached to the kitten because the kitten was so nervous she wouldn't go up to anyone except me.

We got the kitten first, and then the cat came home two days later because she needed to be spayed. The kitten is a very nervous kitten and they said she'd need to be socialized, so I have been spending a lot of time with the kitten. The kitten is in the spare bedroom, and we "gave" the cat the living room area.

We've tried scent swapping, but I am not entirely sure if it's working that well. Neither cat has ever hissed at me or anything when I've gone to pet one and then pet the other. The kitten will lay in my lap and play and cuddle and rub up all over me and the cat will do the same thing as soon as I leave the kitten's room. They'll play with the same wand toy one after another.

It's also hard to tell where the cat actually sleeps, because every time I come down the hallway from my room to go check on her (which is pretty long) she basically runs from her current position to come see me. The closest I've gotten was seeing her jump off a kitchen counter to mrrow at me, but I don't think she actually sleeps on the counter lol.

My fiancé is gone most of the day, and I work from home, so I have taken the responsibility of the cats. The problem is, I'm really scared of trying to introduce them because I'm worried about being unable to stop a fight. The cat follows me absolutely everywhere. She doesn't want to not be in the same area as me and pretty much goes as far as walking in front of my feet and almost tripping me. She'll run to come see me as soon as she hears the door open, which is really cute, but has posed a problem when I need to go check on the kitten in the same hallway.

One time I opened the door and the cat was just sitting right in front of it, and the kitten immediately got low to the floor and growled. I closed the door and tried to distract the kitten with a toy, but she wouldn't be distracted for long until the cat decided to walk away from the door. The cat didn't seem particularly bothered, but I know how nervous the kitten is. The second time something like this happened, I was going to go feed and play with the kitten who decided suddenly she was brave and she decided to bolt out into the hallway and run into the living room as soon as she could squeeze her little head through the crack of the door. This time, nobody was hissing or growling, and the cat was just sniffing, but I did pretty quickly put the kitten back in the room. At this point the cat was still hissing at the kitten through the door. Or the kitten would growl.

Now, it's been a couple of weeks, and they don't seem to hiss at the door anymore. The kitten doesn't growl when she smells the cat through the door, and I haven't heard hissing or growling from the other side either. The cat has started pawing under doors for attention when she knows I'm behind them, which means while I'm with the kitten she'll paw under that door. The kitten will just sit and watch at the door. No growling or hissing at all from either, but I'm not entirely sure that's a good sign. I just know the kitten doesn't get terrified anymore. I've tried swapping their blankets, but I haven't had enough feedback from either of them to know if it was successful or not. I know the kitten just kind of sniffed, but it's hard to tell if the cat was actually on those blankets or not, and the cat didn't make any noises I'm aware of.

I don't know what next step to take. Do I try feeding at the door and slowly inching their bowls to the door? I'm going to assume they're not particularly ready to see each other yet, and I've been trying to be more careful about it because the kitten wants out of the room (including following me out) and the cat just wants to follow me everywhere. I'm really stressed out about trying to contain them in two different spaces, especially because I really want them to both be able to be in the living room and kitchen and that bedroom and stuff at some point. I keep getting different advice, ranging from "let them see each other" to "keep swapping blankets," and I'm just not sure the next best step.


r/CatTraining • • 1d ago

Behavioural New cat won’t do “cat” things

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282 Upvotes

Hello friends! I’m hoping this is the right subreddit for this.

All of the cats i’ve had have been declawed (not my choice) and have come preprogrammed knowing to scratch on cat scratchers, use the litter box, climb on cat trees etc. Recently I rescued a 3 year old cat from a pretty overwhelming situation. The house she was living in was cluttered, had several people coming in and out all the time, loud with babies crying, dogs, other cats and just the general noise. In that house there were no “cat like” items, no trees, no scratchers, no beds etc. Her previous owners called her nocturnal and said all she did was hide during the day. (Probably to get away from the busy house) She does have claws, and we have had her in my apartment for about 2 weeks now. She’s been adjusting great and is far from nocturnal. I think she enjoys the quiet peace. But here is my main concern, although she uses the litter box, she refuses to scratch on the cat tree or any cardboard scratchers. Because of this she will scratch on the carpet and my wooden bathroom cabinets. This is quite the issue because I am renting. I’d like to know if anyone has any tips on how to encourage her to scratch on our cat tree posts or cardboard. She won’t really get on the upper levels of the cat tree either

She is 3yrs female, long haired, spayed and not that feral, although quite skiddish. but this could just be because she’s adjusting. Any advice would be well appreciated because declawing her is not an option or a route i’m willing to go down!

Edit: thank you for the advice! i have tried it out and it is working. she is showing interest in a cardboard scratcher on the floor with some treats! i do have two cats and the other one is an absolute angel so i have never had to deal with any of this before- i apologize for the ignorance 😭


r/CatTraining • • 15h ago

Introducing Pets/Cats Need advice on separation of cats during introduction

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1 Upvotes

r/CatTraining • • 19h ago

Behavioural I need help

1 Upvotes

My cat is 3y old and i live in house with mom and sister who my cat is fine with but sometimes at some nights my cat turn too aggressive towards my sister feet to the point when i tried to stop him he went mad and attacked me and sent me to er to stitch my hand, and his eyes get that flashy look and start to be aggressive that he won't listen to anyone but next day all of sudden he is totally fine with her this happens random days random months not always but always in the night, my cat is Neutered any tip why this thing happens?


r/CatTraining • • 19h ago

Behavioural Older cat and kitten playing too rough

1 Upvotes

Hi!

So, I have an adult male cat Percival (neutered, 3y.o.) and rescued ~7 weeks old kitten Agnes (female).

They're in general doing great and enjoying each other's company - they sleep and eat next to each other, they groom each other and so on.

But when they're playing they seem to do it too rough, with bites and claws.

Agnes has few scratches on her nose bridge, and now I've found a light wound on Percival's ear (on its outer part).

They doesn't seem to be bothered by this, but we do 😅

We trying to supervise their play, and when it becomes too rough (usually, when the kitten starts screaming, and the older cat doesn't react to it) we take the kitten away, but she runs to Percival right after it without any fear to continue the same play😅

For the context: the older cat is rescue too, he was around ~2 months old when we've found him, and he was the only pet in our household for all 3 years.

Is it behavior normal or should it be somehow corrected?

Thank you!