Quote From: cboorenI have very energetic 18 month old who loves our cat a little too much. Every time he approaches her his first greeting (and 2nd and 3rd....) is to hit her really hard or pull out her fur. I figured that at some point she'd swat at him and he would learn to not mess with the her anymore and that would be that. But instead, though she has swatted at him a few times, he keeps coming back and the cat has become much more tolerant, growling and hissing but not swatting anymore. I feel like I need to protect the cat all the time. My reaction is usually to say "no" and then show him how to pet the cat and "love the cat." If that doesn't work (which it usually doesn't) I just remove the cat from the situation by putting her outside. He isn't being rough with the cat for the sake of being mean -- it's all done with a great big smile, but I'm afraid that by giving the situation so much attention that he's going to see it as a way to get a reaction out of me. Now he's starting to treat his new baby brother the same way when he gets the opportunity -- though I usually make sure he doesn't get the opportunity. I realize that he is still very young and hopefully he'll outgrow this, but what can I do right now to help put a stop to this behavior?
What you are doing is probably the best thing to do- don’t show a big reaction when you see your son approaching the cat, just calmly go over to the cat and show him how to love the kitty nicely. Your son is only 18 months old, so there is no doubt that if you are consistently showing him how to love the kitty, he will follow your lead- I know that this is probably frustrating right now, but he will come along! It sounds like you are doing exactly the right thing.
