I was at a friend´s house the other day.Something happened that really upset me.While we were sitting at her dining table chatting her cat came over.He started playing with her hand then suddenly he bit her.This is the disturbing part she smacked him hard on his head.I was so upset I couldn´t continue our conversation.

oh no that was awful. Julius sometimes nips if he is hungry but I would never hit him especially hard on the head that is just cruel. What did you do or say?

I would have been upset too. Maybe you can gently suggest that there are better ways to discipline a cat. Some people use water spray bottles or a rolled newspaper to discourage their cats from bad habits. I don´t know how friendly you are but if you can get through to her...try it. Otherwise, ask her to join UC and maybe she will pick up a few tips.

First I look at her like she was crazy and then I try to calm myself enough to talk.I did make the suggestion of the water bottle I hope she learns.

I would be upset too. I hope she stops hitting that poor cat. (im glad the cat bit her)

I also tried to tell her the more you hit the more he´ll bite.

some humans can be very cruel I wish that the cat could switch places with her and become human even for 5 minutes and then hit her back maybe she would stop then when she realizes that it´s the same hitting a human and hitting a cat...

She probably the cat as a reflex action and did not really mean to hurt her cat. I expect the cat was hungry and thats why he bit.

Or he wanted her attention or he wanted something he didn´t know what but she obviously wasn´t doing the job. It´s not good to hit a cat but being bit hurts a lot too. One trick I learned from a cat book was that a mama cat will cuff her kittens put brushing her paw over their ears. I find this a pretty effective way to let a kitty know he´s just done a major no-no. He will look at me like, "Why´d you do that? You´re not supposed to know about that!" And one does not always have a water bottle handy. But hitting him hard is bad--you can damage a cat same as you could a baby. Usually if one of my cats hurts me, unintentionally or otherwise, my screams are enough to deter them. Hurts their ears.

Ok firstly I am NOT defending ANYONE who hits cats...are you CERTAIN it wasn´t a reflex action? If she meant to hit the cat then yes...read her the riot act, but was she upset after the incident? To my shame, my old cat Constantine (now Mums cat) suprised me and bit my hand hard....i smacked him to get him to let go...it was a reflex action (he was drawing blood actually!) and I felt awful afterwards. I tended to my hand then picked him up, fussed him and gave him some treat mince. Sometimes when a cat does this you act instinctivly without thinking.

All that said there are some people who DO NOT KNOW how to dicsipline a cat...I think the water bottle idea mentioned above could be a winner!

I totally agree!!! with the water bottle method!!! It´s so effective. My mother in law used to show to her cats an aerosol and press the button while the spray goes into the air, obviously not over the cats, but they run away quickly only whit the sound of the spray! Then, she only nedded to show the aerosol and didn´t press the button. I mean, any method is better than hit your beloved cat!

Upsetting to read. If I was near your friend and had witnessed that, I would have trouble controlling my hand hitting her!!!!!!!! If I don´t want my cats to do something, I clap my hands and they instantly stop. There is no reason to resort to cruelty towards animals in any way.

How can you clap your hands if the cat has ahold of one of them with his chompers? I clap my hands to deter actions at a distance but it´s pretty useless if the kitty bites or claws you. I´ve actually only been badly bitten by a cat once, a very beloved cat, and I tried to talk him loose until I discovered he was perfectly justified in biting me. I was accidentally standing on his tail.

Sometimes when we play my Cica bites so hard, it hurts likeword deleted by mod...couple of hells really!But we have a code-if it hurts too much I just make a sound, something like ushhhhhhhhhh and she stops in a second. Clapping hands always works when she´s doing something wrong.I do hit her...but it´s more like a pat to her so she starts to purrrrrrr!

Grrr how dare anyone hit a cat for doing what is sometimes natural to them??

I don´t know how I could continue a friendship with someone after witnessing that, it´s so mean

And no matter how ´shocked´ I could possibly be, my reaction would NEVER be hitting...there´s no excuse really.

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what a stupid person!!! the hardest I´ve been on Desmond is spraying him with water!! I never never would hit him!!
Have you talk with your friend about that? and how much upsets you the way she treats him?

I don´t condone smaking a cat hard on the head. Cat´s do not understand that form of discipline. A firm "no" would have had a more effective result as my cats are trained knowing what "no" means. Like others have said she was likely reacting to the bite however should a child bite you does that make it okay to smack the child hard on the head? I think of my cats as my children. I am sorry but I find that your friend exhibited abuse towards her cat. You didn´t indicate if she felt remorse afterwards or is she was shocked by what she did. If that is the case then I perhaps don´t think as harshly of her as I do as people can react to a situation poorly so I hope that she is remorsefull and this was just an isolated incident

I wholeheartedly agree that it was most probably a reflex action on the part of the cat´s owner, but at the same time I pity the poor kitty also, to be hit hard on the head like that. It is important to note however, that different cats have different personalities and habits. Sometimes a bite or a scratch would mean that they want to play. All cat-owners should know their cat´s habits and get to know them better.

When my cat Snow was very little, he was the only kitty in the house and so he had no other cat to play around with. Thus, he would bite or scratch my fingers quite often. Keeping in mind that he is a kitten, I just pushed his head gently away or shake the finger that he is biting slowly, and then he´d release it.

Now, Snow is more grown up and I know my cats better than ever after having them for almost a year now. I stay with them almost 24/7 since I´m a housewife. Most times, to show my disapproval, I scream, hehe. I´m more verbal, and I´ve never used a water spray bottle (I´ll try it one of these days though). There are times when I do smack my cats on the head...but only when they´re endangering themselves (i.e climbing our balcony´s railing, we´re on the 8th floor!). I don´t want to lose them, so that´s why I do it.

Now my cats are getting smarter. When they manage to climb up onto the railing, I only need to raise my hands and they would immediately scamper away, teehee.

A firm "no" would have had a more effective result as my cats are trained knowing what "no" means.
I totally agree with you saucycats when I yell at Desmond "no" he runs away immediately!!

Hi,
I have read all your comments.This was a friend I hadn´t seen in awhile and I must say after this I probably won´t be going back.I don´t condone hitting a cat at all. There are better ways to deal with biting water bottle,distracting the cat and gently pulling away your hand ,making a noise etc.Never have I raised my hand to hit my cat I think of her as my baby.