Have you ever scratched your head and wondered why the heck your cat behaves in a certain way? Have you found yourself referring to kitty as psycho? Crazy? Possessed? Weird? The list could go on. Well, if you have thought of your cat in those ways, you’re not alone, but it’s important to remember that none of those names apply to whatever behavior kitty is displaying. As frustrating as the behavior may be, kitty really isn’t crazy.
Labels that you give your cat to describe an unwanted behavior are truly counter-productive and they can prevent you from looking at the underlying cause of the behavior in order to correct it. If you simply label your cat as “crazy” you’ll stop looking at what may have triggered the behavior – something that might actually make sense from the cat’s point of view.
Every behavior has a purpose for the cat or he wouldn’t continue to exhibit it. For example, if your cat bites you when you pet him, you might label his behavior as “mean” but the behavior serves a purpose. When kitty bites, you most likely remove your hand. The consequence of the behavior, from the cat’s point of view, serves a function – it stops the petting that he obviously doesn’t want. So instead of giving up and merely labeling your cat as “mean”, look at what might be triggering him to bite. The antecedent is what happens before the behavior – the trigger. Perhaps you’re petting the cat along the back and that’s uncomfortable for him. Perhaps your touch is too hard or maybe you’re petting in short strokes that aren’t soothing. Maybe you’re trying to pet the cat when he has clearly (from his point of view) given multiple body language signals that he would prefer not to be petted.
Looking at what happens right before the unwanted behavior is displayed can give you the clues you need to correct the problem. Once you figure out the antecedent, think about what you’d like the cat to do instead and how to achieve that. In keeping with petting example above, it may mean changing the way you pet or the length of time that you pet. It may mean being more in tune with your cat’s body language. If you change the antecedent, you may then change the need for that unwanted outcome (the biting).
For more specifics and step-by-step information on behavior
modification, refer to the bookStarting from Scratch by Pam Johnson-Bennett,
CABC.
Starting from Scratch
Pam Johnson-Bennett is a Certified Animal Behavior Consultant and owner of Cat Behavior Associates, LLC.
