Can you hit a kitten if it misbehaves? You cannot. Let me emphasize this again to everyone: this is the difference between raising cats and raising dogs. A dog is a social animal. It can understand and establish a logical relationship, meaning it knows whether the behavior it is currently doing results in a reward or a punishment; it can link these two things logically. For example, "I took a dump and then got beaten, I got punished, so I shouldn’t take a dump here." It has this awareness and is able to establish that link.
The cat is not a social animal. It is born defiant and recalcitrant. If you hit it, what information does it receive?
You fucking hit me, huh? I’ll dare to do it again next time!
It’s just that cats don’t follow the logic that dogs do. Dogs can be trained; cats are basically extremely hard to domesticate.
The Limits of Cat Domestication and the "Cat" Mindset
What we call cat domestication just means it can live with humans, and they aren’t thinking about how to kill you every night—that already counts as domestication. It differs from dogs. Dog domestication is when I call it, the dog comes running "woof woof woof." It’s truly fucking obedient, to that extent. If you want to hit it, it submits; there is so-called obedience involved.
Cats won’t do that. What is the highest level of your domestication? It looks at your neck at night, "Eh, forget it, I’ll spare its life again today. If I bite it to death, I won’t have anything to eat tomorrow." The relationship between a cat and a human is completely different from that between a dog and a human.
If you apply the methods you use on dogs to cats, not only will you fail to get the desired effect, but you will also cause the cat to become like a "kid" in puberty or their rebellious phase: "Hey, the more you hit it, the more it makes up its mind. Okay, hitting me, right? I’m going to go head-to-head with you!" It is not afraid, let me tell you.
You cannot beat a cat into submission. I haven’t seen anyone capable of training a cat. I’ve watched quite a few video skits online; some might be the "Harvard or Yale" material among cats, but your cat is most likely not. So don’t count on training a cat.
Reasons for Cats Eliminating Indiscriminately: Anxiety and Territory Marking
If a cat takes a dump on your bed, there are several possibilities: one is that you left for a period of time, and its anxiety led it to poop. Why? It thinks, "I’ll take a dump, leave a scent so you can find your way home." It has this kind of mindset.
If you have cameras at home…… I realized when I was raising cats before that for domestic pet cats, adult cats, being away on a business trip for 3 days is the limit. If you are away for 3 days and don’t return, there is a very high probability it will poop on your pillow. 3 days is about the limit; if there are 3 days where you don’t come home, it is very likely to poop on your bed.
But what is the logic behind this behavior? My personal feeling is that it actually has no malice. Only humans think excrement is filthy, "Ugh, why are you pooping on the bed?" But for a cat, does that even matter?
Cats have a concept of territory. This is the same as tigers; it’s just a difference in the size of the territory. A tiger might have a turf of several square kilometers; it poops and pees everywhere. If you have the chance, you can go to a zoo in Thailand or somewhere; go observe up close. Tigers urinating is a behavior of marking territory. And tigers urinating is very exaggerated, about the same effect as the fountain in our residential compound. If you don’t dodge in time, a whole group of people will get sprayed with a layer of urine.
But a cat certainly doesn’t have a territory as large as a tiger’s. However, it doesn’t consider peeing or pooping at home to be something unacceptable; this is very normal. It actually doesn’t treat you like an outsider; it is in its own home. If you let it out now, it would also poop and pee everywhere in its own residential compound. It won’t say that because this is your bed, it can’t poop or pee there. It thinks this is no problem; logic-wise, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.
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