Let me say right off the bat that I’m a big believer in positive reinforcement. We’d all much rather be praised than punished, right? This holds true for our pets, too.
In short, positive reinforcement means praising and/or rewarding your pet immediately after a good behavior. This teaches them to do the good things you want them to do. Your praise or reward encourages them to repeat the behavior.
Sometimes, we lash out when we see a negative behavior. This could be anything from a cry of dismay, yelling the cat’s name, or a tap on the nose. We do it because we’re used to dealing with other humans — who respond to a verbal correction. However, cats don’t act out of spite or revenge. They don’t have a human sense of right and wrong.
Remember that for a punishment to be effective, it needs to happen while your cat is engaged in the bad behavior. You need to catch them in the act. Delivering a punishment even a few seconds later won’t work. Your pet won’t associate the punishment with the behavior. Instead, you will seem unpredictable. It won’t make sense. They may learn to fear you. And if you dish out a punishment that causes fear or pain, your cat may try to defend herself with teeth or claws. You could also accidentally hurt your pet!
Your cat could also associate the punishment with other stimuli. For example, a cat who is punished for getting too close to a new baby could become fearful of that baby or all babies.
In my opinion, it’s best to avoid punishments entirely and stick to positive reinforcement. If after all this, you still want to use negative reinforcement, make sure the punishment doesn’t come from you (or other family members). Take, for example, a cat who scratches the couch. Rather than yelling at her when she scratches the furniture, place two-sided tape on the upholstery. Her paws will get sticky, and she’ll blame the couch, rather than the human who put the tape there.