How to Discipline a Bad Kitten

When you discipline a bad kitten, you are trying to make it understand that its behavior is unacceptable.  When they are very young, this is especially difficult.  When kitten reach about four to six weeks old, they will begin straying farther away from their mother and getting into all sorts of interesting trouble.  It will be up to you to help the mother make them understand what kind of behaviors will and will not be tolerated.  Because of their small size, you will need to be careful to not physically injure the kitten, but there are a number of guidelines you can follow when you discipline a bad kitten that will help you both along the way.

When you discipline a bad kitten, the best thing to do is to use its natural instincts to your advantage.  In this, you will be taking on some of the behaviors of a mother cat.  When the kitten is actually performing the unacceptable behavior, make a loud noise to shock it out of its activity.  Clap your hands, yell, or shake a metal can with coins in it.

Rewarding good behavior is often overlooked.  Not only do you want to discipline a bad kitten, but you will want to reward a good one.  When the kitten is performing a good behavior, stroke its fur and tell it in a soothing voice what a good kitten it is.  Lavish it with care and attention.  This along with punishment is a powerful combination.

Scratching is a bit of a different procedure, combining both punishment and reward.  Cats need to scratch to hone their claws, so it is a behavior that you will not be able to stop completely.  Instead, every time it scratches, take the kitten to its scratching post or safe scratching area and make scratching motions with its paws while rewarding it so that it knows exactly what you want it to do.

All babies will misbehave on occasion.  Still, they are very fragile.  Resist the temptation to strike the kitten when you discipline it.  Just follow these basic guidelines and your kitten will understand its boundaries in time.