Cat swatting child

by Doug
(Oshawa)

My inlaws cat, who luckily is declawed, hits (they call it 'bats') my son(22 months old) in the FACE when my son gets close (he does not hit him or touch him, just sometimes even walks across in front of him).

What can THEY do to train the cat to not hit my son (I am making my son aware and watching him like a hawk around the cat - but just like a bad dog whom you train, the cat has to change too)?

Answer by KAte
Hi
I understand your concern for your son but unfortunately cats do not train like dogs. As far as I am aware you cannot train a cat not to do this all you can do is to try and build the bond betwenn the cat and the child so that the cat does not feel scared of your son (for that is the reason why cats will hit out like this, fear) It may just be that the fast and sudden movements of your son frieghtenes the cat, or it could be the way your son approached the cat or it could simply be that the cat had a bad experience in the past with another child and is associating that fear with your son.

To build the bond between cat and child can I suggest that you take a look at my page about bonding and try to do the bonding process with your son togeather so that the cat can build some trust in you both. However this has to be done at the cats speed, any forcing of the isuue will just make things worse.

Here is my web page about bonding

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/new-cat.html

I am sorry if this is not the answer you were hoping for, but as I say you cannot train a cat the same way you can with a dog, they just don't learn or respond that way.

best wishes Kate

---