anita's*thoughts

Thursday, September 15, 2005

There seems to be a lot of parenting Super Nanny type shows on TV at the moment. You know the one where the lady (full of knowledge) points out that perhaps if you trying disciplining your child it might cause them to behave better. Seems to be a radical thought these days but I seem to remember reading it somewhere.....

Anyway I think I need a Super Nanny, no not for my unruly children (plently of time for that) but for my unruly cat! He has figured out that by jumping on the hand rail by our front door and clawing the window ( at 3am making tons of noise) he will wake us up and we will let him in. When we let him he finds every noisy object to stand on and meows and carries on until we feed him. So night time is being ruled and disrupted by the cat and the only way to stop the noise inside and out is to give into and feed him!

Super Cat Nanny we need you!!!

10 Comments:

Yet again proof of the often quoted statement...."dogs have masters and cats have servants!!!"

I sympathise!!
:) Bon

By Anonymous, at 1:31 pm, September 15, 2005

Hi.
I don't have a TV show yet, but I'm throwing together a concept for that might air in 2007.
If I may, here's my assesment of the problem:

What you describe is probably quite a common problem in animals. They annoy the owner, until they get what they want. The problem isn't necessarily the animal, but the way in which the animal's behaviour is rewarded. It's an example of operant conditioning.

At the moment, the cat makes noise at 3am, when he's hungry. Why? Because when he makes noise, he get's let in, he gets his way. By giving in and feeding him, you reinforce his behaviour. So, from the cat's perspective, if he makes noise, he gets food.

The solution to the problem is extinction. Don't give the cat any rewards for making noise. If you never give the cat any attention at night, it will eventually learn it will never get any attention, and the conditioned response will decrease.

Unfortunatly, you may experience a post-extinction response burst, where they cat kicks up a fuss, because it's expecting to recieve the reward, and doesn't get it. So you may end up staying up till 4am.

So I would suggest you might also want to attempt to change the environment slightly, so it's harder for the cat to wake you up. Perhaps you could take the hand rail down for a couple of days? Or put something in the way that he can't get up. If you do this, the cat will still have a post-extinction response, but hopefully it will be less salient.

Give it a go, I hope you'll find a way to sort this problem out.

Until next time!
~Super Cat Nanny

By Anonymous, at 2:14 pm, September 15, 2005

I HATE YOU SKINNER

Alana

By Anonymous, at 4:14 pm, September 15, 2005

What the....? Who is skinner?

By Anita, at 4:39 pm, September 15, 2005

Myth: Cats are only night time creatures

Fact: Cats can be trained to fool around during the day and sleep at night.

Mostly you need to wear the cat out completly just before you go to bed. Make sure he has been well fed before then. And like a human, he'll be poofed and crash for the night :-)

My cats now have better sleeping habbits than I do. lol.

A cat door may work too if you just can't be bothered dealing with it.

By Anonymous, at 10:05 pm, September 15, 2005

I was told that animals and baby discipline can be quite similar. Apparently it takes 3 days (or nights) to break a habit or change a routine. it worked with Toby. See if it works with your smart cat. just means you have to have three sleepless nights but then it will be all fine and dandy and totally worth it.... let me know how you go!

By Anonymous, at 1:05 pm, September 16, 2005

Sorry Anita, but I can't believe you gave in to a cat! Someone with your will power should be able to leave it alone for a few nights. I think Michelle is right, so if you can train youer cat right you may have a better chance with kids. Ha ha, otherwise...

By Anonymous, at 10:28 pm, September 16, 2005

Skinner invented the theory of operant conditioning and tho his theories often have some truth to them they are behaviourally focused and really i hate him because he has affected education for the worst because he reduces humans to products of their environment and this is turning out to be a really waffly explanation but there you go!
:)
Alana

By Anonymous, at 4:42 pm, September 19, 2005

It just goes to show, there's more than one way to skinner cat.

By Dan, at 9:00 am, September 20, 2005

Nice one Dan :):)

By Anita, at 3:57 pm, September 20, 2005