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Old May 4th 06, 02:23 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
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Default Controlling cats with hissing

Rhino wrote:
My cats occasionally try to mooch human food from me. For instance,
if I'm eating a TV dinner in the living room, they will approach,
sniff, and occasionally try to snag some tasty morsel from me.

If I tell them to keep away in my "no!" voice, it doesn't have much
effect. However, I've found that if I hiss at them, as much like a
cat as I can manage, Bebop will stop immediately. Samba is not so
easily deterred by the hiss but can be dissuaded by gently pushing
her away.
I'm just curious whether anyone else has ever tried hissing at their
cats to make them stop doing something and what, if any results, you
got?
I'm pretty much convinced that a hiss from one cat to another means
"Back off!" - no more, no less - and it works very well on Bebop. If
he's bugging me while I'm trying to sleep, hissing works very well on
him. Unfortunately, Samba is not quite as attentive to hisses - at
least not mine! Then again, she's also pretty feisty and isn't shy
about ignoring Bebop's hisses when she wants to. Maybe she's just
employing a little selective deafness with me too :-)


During human meal time, it's almost a feeding frenzy. Bam-bam, Barney and
Betty are really bad, climbing all over *us* (ouch, claws) in an effort to
see what it is that smells so good (look out if you've got bacon, Barney
luuuvs bacon). We call them our little furry piranha. One time, I got up
to get something, and Betty decided to brave actually getting into my
plate - I gave her a really ferocious hiss, and she fled the room and has
never done it since. The other two have, at times, tried it, but a hiss
only makes them back off. Now they are getting more 'manners' and wait
until the plate is offered before converging on it to lick it clean (little
fuzzy dishwashers - do a better job than the dog!). Although they do still
try to go for what's on the fork! After all, it's not on the plate any more


Hissing is how I taught all the others to mind their manners, too.