[*green*faery*]

My ds loves to chase and scream at the cats. He thinks is hilarious to 'scare kitty'. He knows we do not want him to chase or hurt them (sometimes he throws things at them, corners them, or tries to sit on them!), but he likes to make a point of telling us every time he does it. What do I do?

We have 5 cats! I've explained why we don't scare kitties & that if your nice to them they will let you pet them. I've calmly told him that it is not how we treat animals and I do not want him to chase them.

I think it's just a game to him, he loves to play chase with other kids, but I would like to find a way to make it stop. My dh gets VERY mad and struggles with staying calm about it. Please let me know what you would do or any suggestions.

ps- our house is very small, so keeping them separate would not work, plus he has chased other peoples cats at playdates & I would love for that to stop also-

Thanks-

 

[Romana]

Our house is also small - <1000 sq ft. We keep them separated. I will not - absolutely will not - allow my pets to be tormented by my kids.

When not separated, the cats have various avenues of escape that are unavailable to the dc. For example, the cats can jump over the gate that neither dd nor ds can get through. They have the two "cat palaces" that go up high, where they can escape to (tall cat furniture). Other than that, we just do the usual redirect, educate, repetition etc. that one normally does with toddler behavior. But hitting/bothering the cats is just as unacceptable as hitting a person. In some ways, it bothers me more, and I work to protect the cats from it more, because *I* can understand that my toddler is hitting for no reason and without malice. The cats, however, are very stressed by this type of behavior.

For the most part, it works well. You definitely need to create a refuge, a safe cat-friendly place where your cats can go if they feel molested.

 

[*green*faery*]

Oh, the cats do have places to escape where ds can't go. I guess since the weather has gotten colder they have been hanging out in the bedroom or living room where the wood burning stove it. The rest of the house is pretty cold, so I guess it had gotten worse lately.

So all I can do is hope it passes??

I also feel it is unacceptable, and I feel like I'm doing nothing about it--

 

[*green*faery*]

anyone?

 

[Lazy Gardens]

As a toddler, I also loved to chase and harass my family cats ... until one of them got fed up with it and let me have a faceful of claws. It took a few weeks after the scratches healed before I would even stay in the same room as any of the cats, but we eventually learned to get along well.

If none of your cats are likely to discipline him, could you do a quicky time-out as soon as he starts to harass them. No warnings, no attempts to talk him out of it (no attention for doing it), just pick him up and put him in the time out area for a few minutes. And keep doing it until he catches on.

Or, because he might be doing this because it's guaranteed to get your attention ... ignore him and rescue and soothe the cat ... you can tell the cat what you want the child to overhear. And if picking on the cats only gets more attention for the cats and none for him, he might decide it's not a good idea.