By Rita Reimers, Cat Behaviorist

Intentional Implementation Matters

“But I tried that. It didn’t work.”

You’ve talked with a cat behaviorist. You have a shiny new cat behavior plan. You understand why your cat may be biting, spraying, avoiding the litter box, fighting with another cat, waking you at 4 a.m., or displaying some other behavior that is making your life difficult.

So why isn’t anything changing?

Sometimes the problem isn’t the plan. It’s the implementation.

I say that with compassion, not criticism. Changing cat behavior takes work, and when you’re already stressed by what’s happening with your cat, it’s completely understandable to want something that works quickly.

But cat behavior rarely changes overnight, especially when a behavior has been developing or reinforced for months or even years.

Intentional Implementation of the Cat Behavior Plan

Some clients tell me they’ve tried this, or they’ve tried that when I am explaining the plan to them. Sure, perhaps they have tried a few things briefly, saw little to no result, and stopped. However, they really did not really implement an entire modification plan.

Trying some things and intentionally putting an entire plan on place are not the same thing. This is one of the biggest distinctions I make when helping people with their cats. Doing something once, twice, or occasionally is very different from implementing a complete behavior modification strategy consistently and methodically.

For example, buying an interactive toy and putting it on the floor doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve tried play therapy. Talking to your cat throughout the day isn’t the same as deliberately pairing a specific word or phrase with an action until your cat learns what that cue predicts.

Even something as simple as walking away when your cat bites requires consistency. If biting sometimes makes you walk away, sometimes gets your cat attention, sometimes results in petting or reassurance, and sometimes gets a completely different response, what exactly has your cat learned?

Probably not what you intended.

Behavior modification is about creating predictable patterns your cat can understand. Along with intentional implementation, knowing what steps come first is a big componenets of success.

Key Components of Success

There are several components that go together to implement a cat behavior plan successfully:

• Calming
• Consistency
• Technique
• Time
• Patience

Calming Comes Before Learning

Calming is especially important when working with anxious, fearful, reactive, or highly aroused cats. A cat who is already in a heightened state of anxiety may not be able to learn what you’re trying to teach. And of course this results in frustrated humans and scared cats.

Think about yourself; when you’re extremely upset or frightened, is that the ideal moment for someone to teach you a complicated new skill? Probably not.

Cats are no different.

Sometimes the first step toward creating a successful cat behavior plan has very little to do with the unwanted behavior itself. We may need to work first on reducing the cat’s overall stress and creating a calmer, more predictable environment.

That might involve changes to routines, environmental enrichment, calming strategies, additional resources in a multi-cat household, or a conversation with your veterinarian about whether medical issues, pain, or anxiety could be contributing to the behavior. Review my article, 10 Signs Your Cat is Stressed for ideas about recognizing and calming feline stress and anxiety.

Once the cat is in a better emotional state, then we have a much better foundation for teaching new behaviors and discouraging unwanted one.

Consistency Is Everything

Cats are excellent at recognizing patterns. This ability is one of the instincts that keeps cat alive and fed out in nature. We can use this to our advantage when teaching cats something new, but it can also work against us when our responses are inconsistent.

Let’s say your cat wakes you at 5 a.m. everyday for breakfast.

• Monday, you ignore him.
• Tuesday, you get up and feed him because you’re tired of listening to him.
• Wednesday, you tell him to stop.
• Thursday, you give him a treat so he’ll leave you alone.
• Friday, you ignore him again.

From your perspective, you’ve been trying to discourage the behavior all week. But from your cat’s perspective, waking you at 5 a.m. sometimes works, and even if you don’t get up, he DID get your attention. 

Even yelling at him re-enforces that yes this works to get human’s attention, and if i keep it up he WILL eventually feed me.

And that’s enough reason for your cat to keep trying. You may have a difficult week, but ignoring him or shutting him our of your bedroom is the needed strategy.

Additionally, everyone in the household needs to respond consistently. If one person is trying to change a behavior while someone else continues rewarding it, progress will be much more difficult, if not impossible. A cat behavior plan only works if everyone is on the same page.

Technique Applying the Cat Behavior Plan Matters, Too

Sometimes people genuinely have tried a particular strategy, but the way it was implemented prevented it from working.

Interactive play is a good example.

Waving a toy in your cat’s face for five minutes isn’t necessarily satisfying play. Cats are hunters. Effective interactive play mimics the movements of prey and gives the cat opportunities to stalk, chase, pounce, catch, and experience the satisfaction of a successful hunt.

The same applies to desensitization. If your cat is frightened by something and you expose him to it at full intensity hoping he’ll eventually “get used to it,” you may actually increase his fear.

Successful desensitization starts at a level the cat can tolerate and progresses gradually, while creating positive associations along the way.

Here is a fun video of Sweetie Pie playing hide and seek with me!

It Takes Time 

As with any new behaviors even we humans are wanting to adopt for ourselves, it takes some time for things to click and become the new norm. It’s the same with our cats, particularly if they were getting some payoff for those behavior you are trying to stop.

What “payoff” do cats get from some of those behaviors we want to prevent.  Here are a few examples. Note – these payoffs may be different for your cat:

• Biting: Payoff = getting your attention, getting you to play
• Peeing: Mixing his scent with yours to soothe his anxiety
• Spraying: Telling other cats, real or imagined, that object belongs to him
• Scratching: Marking, nail health, paw exercise

And the list goes on… It will take time to discover your cat’s particular reason and payoff for the action you are wanting him top stop, and time to get him to learn new habits and ways of getting a similar benefit another way.

Patience Putting the Cat Behavior Plan into Action

Going hand in hand with taking time is patience. We all want change to happen immediately. Sometimes it feels like its taking forever and our patience can wear thin.

Remember, all new habits and behaviors take patience before rewards come. Even in our own world, you want to lose weight? Time and patience. You want a new car? Time and Patience. You want your signification other to propose? Again, Time and Patience.

You can read more about Time and Patience in my article, It Takes Time.

Word Association Works Only When the Words Mean Something

I talk to my cats all day long. But simply talking to a cat isn’t the same thing as teaching word associations, or as my Fear Free class calls them Predictor Cues.

If I consistently say “Dinner” before preparing food, that word begins to predict what happens next. My cats have learned if I enter the kitchen without saying the predictor cue, they are not getting food (and most are too lazy to follow me to verify that fact.)

If I say “I’ll be back” every time I leave the house, my cats can learn what that sequence means. Separation Anxiety does not happen with my cats because they have learned what it means.

You can create specific predictor cues for bedtime, getting down from a counter, going into another room, entering a carrier, playtime, grooming, and countless other everyday activities. It can be a word, a sound, click of a clicker, or anything else you wish to use. I once taught a deaf couple to use CLAPS to communicate certain things to their cats.

But the word or sound needs to predict the same action consistently, or it becomes meaningless. Also, if the same word (such as NO) is used to mean ten different things, it eventually means nothing to your cat and will have no affect on his behavior.

You May Need to Change Your Behavior, Too

This can be one of the hardest parts of behavior modification. Sometimes we unintentionally reinforce the very behavior we want to stop.

• Your cat bites, so you give him something to distract him.
• Your cat screams, so you give him food.
• Your cat scratches at the bedroom door, so eventually you open it.

Your cat demands your attention, so you stop what you’re doing and give it to him.

In each case, the cat may have learned: That worked once. I’ll do it again.

This doesn’t mean your cat is manipulating you or plotting against you. He simply learned which behaviors produce a desirable result.

Cats learn by Reward and Consequence. He does something, gets a reward aka payoff, he will do it again. Conversely, he does something, he gets no payoff or reward. Likely he will stop doing the action; cats don’t repeat actions hoping for a different outcome. Only we humans do that: the definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.)

Changing the cat’s behavior therefore often requires changing our own response. And yes, sometimes that means holding a boundary even when your cat objects to it.

How Long Will This Take?

If a behavior has existed for five years, it’s unrealistic to expect five days of behavior modification to erase it. You may see small improvements quickly, but lasting behavioral change takes repetition, especially if the behavior has been happening for years.

Understand, there may also be setbacks. Sometimes when a behavior that previously produced a payoff stops working, the cat may temporarily try the behavior more often or with greater intensity. This is called an Extinction Burst. It can actually look like the behavior is getting worse before it gets better.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the plan has failed. Stay consistent with the strategy rather than giving in because the behavior has temporarily intensified.

If the behavior you are wanting to correct persists, ask yourself these questions:

• Am I doing the strategy exactly as intended?
• Am I doing it consistently?
• Is everyone in my household responding the same way?
• Have I addressed the cat’s underlying stress or anxiety?
• Have I given this enough time?
• Am I measuring progress, or am I expecting perfection?

Those questions can tell you much more than simply saying, “I tried that and it didn’t work.”

Your Cat Behaviorist Can Give You the Map, But You Have to Drive the Car

When I work with a client to create a new cat behavior plan, my job is to look at the entire picture. I often ask for videos so I can assess the behavior by watching what happens.

I can suggest what may be driving the behavior as look at the cat’s environment, routines, relationships, history, triggers, and patterns. Then I develop strategies designed for that particular cat and household.

But baby, I can’t drive your car (despite what the Beatles sang). I’m not living in your home. I can’t be there Tuesday morning when your cat wakes you too early. I can’t be there when two cats stare each other down across the hallway. I can’t be there when your cat bites, scratches the sofa, refuses the carrier, or decides your bed looks like a perfectly acceptable litter box.

That part belongs to you. A behavior plan is not something you receive. It’s something you do.

And the more consistently you implement it, the more useful it becomes, and the quicker you will see your cat behavior plan achieve lasting results.

Progress, Not Perfection Execution

None of this means you have to execute a behavior plan perfectly. And that’s ok.

Life happens. You’ll have bad days. You’ll forget something. Your schedule will change. One day you may say “I just can’t do this today” so DON’T! One day is not going to ruin the progress. What matters here is the overall pattern of consistency.

Be patient. Be consistent. Pay attention to what your cat is telling you. Make adjustments when necessary, but don’t abandon a strategy simply because it didn’t produce an immediate transformation.

Behavior change is a process. Your cat behaviorist can teach you, guide you, troubleshoot with you, and help you adjust the plan along the way. But ultimately, the success of that plan depends on what happens in your home after the consultation ends.

And sometimes, the most important change begins not with the cat, but with us.