1

I'm dealing with an overly vocal cat - almost all literature states to completely ignore a cat when the behavior is not as desired. This means not feeding, not giving attention, not giving into demands, and then when the cat is quiet, give him what he wants.

What's the timeline on this? The longest this cat will be quiet for is 30 seconds. I am making an effort to reward the brief pauses in screaming, but I'm concerned I'm rewarding too soon and still reinforcing that yelling and then briefly pausing works to get what he wants, in fact, it's getting to the point where my other cat, who has never in her life been vocal, is starting to meow for attention/food/etc.

I am making a strong effort to avoid negative reinforcement, but it is becoming increasingly difficult as glasses are knocked off of tables and smashed, things are intentionally broken, and computer screens are getting teeth marks as this cat continues to make bids for attention.

How long does my cat have to have good behavior before I can reward it?

Brydon Gibson
  • 141
  • 2

2 Answers2

3

It may be time for a completely chaotic reset.

You write that as soon as you go to get the treats, the screaming starts again. Have you ever heard of Ivan Pavlov's dogs? Pavlov rang a bell every time before feeding a dog and the dog started salivating when hearing the bell, even if no food was provided. You do the same, but instead of ringing a bell, you stand up and walk to where the treats are stored. Your standing up is already a reward for your cat. That means the can is actually reinforcing the screaming before you can reinforce silence.

I propose breaking the connection between standing up to get treats and actually feeding treats. You should get up and get some treats at completely random times during the day, but never feed any cat any treat. Just get a treat, go back to what you were doing while holding the treat for a while, then get up again and put the treat back. No matter what your cats do, they never get the treat. This will take several days and many repititions each day to break the mental connection between you getting up and the cats getting treats.

Apart from that, the amount of destructive energy of your vocal cat worries me somewhat. Could he be bored out of his mind? If the only entertainment he gets is getting on your nerves until you finally react, this is also a positive reinforcement from your cats point of view.

We see the same thing in neglected children. If the only time they get any attention from their parents is when they get scolded for whatever they did wrong, they will deliberately do wrong only to get attention, even if it's negative attention. That is not to say that you neglect your cat, but the mechanism is similar.

I would try entertaining your cat more. For example, you could feed them by hiding the food all over the place instead of presenting it all in a bowl. Putting up random cardboard boxes with some cat-sized holes makes a great cat adventure playground (that can also involve hidden food). You can redirect the destructive energy by making DIY food dispenser toys like this example. There are mechanical ball toys that move around on their own. A toy on a fishingrod-like stick works great.

Usually cats are less active than dogs, so you should be able to exhaust him this way. Try it out and see if the screaming improves.

And lastly, if you manage even the slightest improvement, I would introdice negative reinforcement (aka punishment), but never in a physical way. You must never hurt your cats or they lose trust in you, which can take years to repair.

Instead, I would shut the cat out of the room as soon as it starts screaming. I know you write that it's screaming constantly right now, so this method cannot work right now. Your cat needs to calm down enough for you to reward it and as soon as it starts vocalizing again, you move it out of the room and shut the door.

To get anywhere in the training, I suggest talking with your vet about admionistering a mild, slow acting tranquilizer. There are special products for cats that take 5 - 10 days to start taking effect and are designed for stressful events like moving houses or fireworks. I think it's worth a try in your case.

Elmy
  • 34,474
  • 6
  • 55
  • 108
0

This sounds like a tricky situation.

While it is important to avoid negative reinforcement, it's still worthwhile making sure your cat knows it when he does something you don't agree with, especially when you're losing sleep and having things damaged. You can still reward for positive behaviour. Unfortunately, if your cat is naturally very vocal, it may not matter how long you do this for.

Like the previous comment mentioned, if your cat has had a change in behaviour then its best he sees a vet.

As for your other cat, it makes sense that he's become more vocal as he's seen how being vocal will get him treats (as he is not aware that you're rewarding for silence, as far as he knows you are rewarding for being vocal). It's worthwhile noting here that some species of cat are more vocal than others.

I wish you all the best.

Joseph.Mann86
  • 51
  • 5