Advice or when do kids start being nice to cats ?

[MommytoB]

My son he is in kindergarten and only a few more weeks left of it . He is so nice to dogs . Does not chase dogs , pets dogs but when it comes to our cat it's a way different story .

He pulls the cat hair, tail, picks him up by the fur , chases after the cat , the cat growls, then the cat scratches and bites him which Brendan doesn't get that the cat is not liking what he's doing plus Brendan laughs when the cat scratches & bites him.

It's like what ??? I'm telling him over and over to not do that to the cat of course he doesn't listen .

The cat even starting to get more defensive and just this week he did a really bad bite and really bad scratches which has brendan crying but I'm like your not listening to the cat so the cat hurts you because he's saying Stop Leave me Alone.

I had him draw pictures of what is being nice to the cat and what is being mean to the cat .

He drew pics of being nice to the cat then he drew pics of him being mean to the cat with the cat having a frowny face so I asked him what he should do he said just to pet the cat .

What to not to do no chasing , no hitting , no pulling his fur but he still continues to do this even though he knows not too .

He knows what the right thing to do to the cat so why is he continuing to do the Wrong thing ??

[Kuba'sMama]

Hi. We have a small dog (almost a cat, lol). My kids are generally very good with her. But since the beginning, the rule was "she's part of our family, if you hurt her, the consequences are the same as if you hurt your brother/sister". In our case that usually means being separated until proven to be nice. Since your ds has repeatedly demonstrated that he will not be nice to that cat, I would seriously enforce a separation. So if the cat is in one room, either leave that room with your ds, or shoo the cat out (whatever works in the situation). Keep explaining to your ds why he is not allowed to play with the cat "mommy has to protect (cat's name) because you were mean to her. She is scared now and needs to be left alone".
If he tells you that he will be nice from now on, I'd shadow him when with the cat, to make sure he is. If not, I'd seperate them again, immediately. I see so many kids hurting, pulling, pushing or otherwise being mean to their pets and many times this is ignored. (I know you are not doing that) Imagine this was a younger child in place of the cat. What would you do if your ds hurt them? I think animals deserve the same protection.

[MommytoB]

I have tried to seprate the cat from him but that's impossible even when the cat goes hide under my bed he still goes in there to get the cat . I have told him he's not allowed in my bedroom when the cat is in there he doesn't listen and still goes after the cat .

We live in apartment so he's determined to get the cat no matter what I say or even when I say the cat is off limits .

In the past me holding the cat saying No Cat Privlege he will try to pull the cat from my arms and I have to put him inside of my coat which is a more easier way to protect the cat .

He has had his separation periods and I'm always around when he has the cat but it doesn't change sigh .

[earth2birth]

Good luck with this. It must be really hard to deal with.

[sapphire_chan]

Get him a stuffed animal. My guess is that the cat is so small your ds doesn't think of it as a feeling creature like you guys and the dog. When he's sitting and thinking about the cat as an animal, it's okay, but in the heat of the moment while playing he gets caught up in how easy it is to move the cat around.

When he's in a quiet mood, like listening to a story, or watching a movie, I'd bring the cat to him and let him sit and pet the cat. When he's in a rambunctious mood and goes for the cat, divert him to a stuffed animal.

And get a cat toy, and when the cat's in a playful mood, encourage your ds to use the cat toy.

Basically, since he's being thoughtless about the cat when he thinks he wants to play with the cat, create mindful moments to interact with the cat and disrupt the pattern of treating the cat like a stuffed toy.

[MommytoB]

he has tons of stuffed animals which he never plays with ! Just sitting on a shelf . So stuffed animals won't work for trade offs . He has tried to play cat games with the cat that the cat will like to do but the cat goes off and doesn't play those games with him. I even get the cat started then trade off then as soon as brendan starts the cat doesn't do anything .

[One_Girl]

I tried a lot of things to help my dd through her cat hurting phase. She tended to hurt the cat when she didn't feel like she was getting enough attention, especially if the cat was getting attention. I prevented her from accessing the cat as much as possible and sent her out of the room the cat and I were in when she did hurt the cat. It helped a lot because I was able to stay in the room with the cat and make sure my dd didn't come in and hurt her again. When my dd came back in the room I would interact with her promptly to prevent another cat attack. My vigilance and sending her out of the room (as oppossed to just vigilance and other methods I tried) cut down on cat hurting incidents a lot, but it was still a very trying time. Luckily the cat ran away when she was close to four and we didn't have to deal with this anymore after that (we did try to find her, but I wasn't sad when we didn't succeed). It was such a big relief to not have to deal with such a big problem anymore.

[lonegirl]

Good luck.....from day 1 I taught both the cats and DS "Gentle"
I reinforced this again, and again and again. He is great with the cats and the cats with him. My son has been warned about being rough...I taught him what to look for for grumpiness in the cats. He has been swatted...I make sure it isn't serious and then I remind him that unfortunately he hurt the cat and that's what happen if you hurt them
Protect the poor kitty....one day hopefully they can become friends.