The Kitty needs your help !

[rynosmum]

We have a wonderful little 18 month old son - he is an absolute joy to us. Is very generous, loving and eager to please.

We also have a wonderful little kitty-cat who is wonderful and loving, even to DS. He shadows DS everywhere, even bath-time.

Our problem is this. Whilst DS loves the kitty - he also loves grabbing huge hunks of fur and pulling - hard ! :eek: The cat screams (as you would expect) and tries to get away but can't. He bares his teeth and claws but has never used them on DS but it is obvious that it hurts him.

We have tried all sorts of deterents to stop DS from pulling on his fur but to no avail. I guess it's fairly normal toddler behaviour but I'd really like to make it stop if possible. We don't smack as discipline - as DS is the sort of boy who learns better by positive reinforcement (and a few well placed 'NO' 's!)

This is the only issue we've had so far - does anyone have any good advice ?

K

[LilShenanigans]

Interesting.

My little brother used to do that to my cat too, all whilst trying to have him understand the words "be nice" - it's getting there as those words are still used around my DD and his younger brother too.

No help really. Cats learn to stay away when they don't want that sort of treatment, if they swipe at a child they do it without claws at first, so remember to keep them cut!

It took me a while as a child to learn not to torment the cats (we had about 4 growing up), I never realised how hard it was for mum when worrying about the cats and me, but sometimes you just have to let nature go with it.

On the topic of my brother, yeah he was scratched once, and he got the message not to strangle the cat. I myself never learnt but I now enjoy play time with the cats :p

[MonMic]

Our DD ws playing a bit rough with our 2 cats and we kept saying that it hurts them which would stop it a bit but unfortunatly she didn't really learn to keep her distance until she got scratched. Nota bad one but it was enought o teach her to respect thema bit more.

Other than starting something like sitting in the naughty chair or whatever you do, whenever he torments the cat, or distraction i.e. move on to another game, I don't really know on this one the cats reaction seems to be part of the game.

M.