How To Discipline A Mainecoon Cat: 13 Tips & Wrong Ways

Do you have a stubborn Maine! Let’s discuss how to discipline a Mainecoon cat both the right and the wrong ways you should know.

Negative reinforcement, in my experience living with pets, especially cats, can only make your Maine aggressive.

Shouting or slapping your cat will only encourage the majority of the typical and well-known Maine behavior problems.

Knowing how and when to discipline your Maine cat is as easy as understanding the behavior problems.

How To Discipline A Mainecoon Cat

Mainecoon cats are highly friendly and pleasant to live with, but despite your best efforts, they can make life tough for their owners at times.

Here are several popular strategies to demonstrate good Maine dominance:

1. Develop an Alpha attitude

Your Maine will require discipline in order to be well-behaved and feel at ease in your care.

Establish house rules, display your authority, and be consistent, especially with your Maine’s meal regimen, as soon as you bring him home.

Choose to rectify your Maine poor behavior rather than punishing them.

Punishment will be ineffective after the crime has occurred.

Also, strive to demonstrate alpha physical qualities. Because cats understand body language, you must control your emotions and behaviors when your cat opposes or disobeys you.

You must cultivate the belief that your Maine should follow your guidance rather than the other way around.

2. Develop a clear stop word or stop sign

It’s vital to remember that Maine cats aren’t human beings who are capable of comprehending various word combinations.

To employ the stop word, just make a stop sign or say “NO” before or during the act.

Make sure your Maine knows what “NO” means and associates it with the word “stop.”

It’s quite straightforward; don’t make things more complicated by mixing long sentences since your cat might not know when to stop.

If you continually say “NO” when you don’t mean it, your Maine will learn to identify it with negative behavior and stop saying it.

3. Set clear rules for your Maine to follow

From the minute your Maine arrives, it’s vital that you educate it all there is to know about your house.

If your house rule is that your cat is not allowed beneath the supper table during meals, for example, say “no” and gently pull it away from the table by the collar each time it breaks it.

When it comes to enforcing your Maine house rules, it’s vital that you and your family members are all on the same page.

Make a list of pet-related house rules and put it wherever everyone in your family can see it to reduce the uncertainty of sending confusing signals to your Maine.

4. Use a firm voice tone to tell your Maine to stop

Because of their origins, Maine cats are obstinate, and using a soothing tone to convince them to stop won’t work.

Make sure you educate your Maine cat on how to respond to various voice tones so that they understand what each tone means.

As a result, use a forceful voice consistently when you want your Maine to quit doing something.

5. Put the Maine on a time-out

If your Maine is hyperactive, bothering another pet, or disobeying your commands, give it a time-out.

A time-purpose out is to use social isolation as a kind of negative reinforcement for bad conduct, which works especially well for gregarious animals like cats.

The time-out should be held in a boring, unattractive spot (such as the laundry room) and should be brief so that your Maine remembers what it’s missing and does not acclimate to its new surroundings.

A timeout should not be more than 60 seconds.

The procedure may need to be done several times until your Maine understands that its time is as a result of certain behavior.

6. Be consistent in making corrections

Because your cat will identify some undesired activity with negative behaviors within a short length of time, consistency is the key to disciplining your Maine cat.

For example, suppose you let your Maine jump on the sink one day and didn’t stop it, and then your cat jumps on the sink the next day and you try to stop it.

This will just confuse your Maine, and he will opt to execute his desire rather than yours.

So, if you want your Maine to quit jumping on the sink, make sure you stop him every time he does it and doesn’t break the chain until he associates it with undesirable behavior.

7. Always insist on proper conduct

It’s critical to maintain your resolve and insist on doing the correct thing at all times, rather than giving up when your Mainecoon refuses to follow your lead.

Switching modes or action plans may help in the long run, but being constant and focused yields speedier results.

Positive conduct should be strongly rewarded in order to build excellent relationships that your cat will seek out in the future.

Positive behavior may be rewarded with praise, stroking, food, and your cat’s favorite toys.

When a Maine does something particularly well, trainers may use clickers, which emit a distinct sound that is rapidly followed by a reward.

8. Correct your Maine in the act and not after the act

When you emerge from your room and see your Maine cat doing anything you don’t want, instantly stop him and divert his focus.

Your Maine will never know what the problem is or what he did if you chastise him after the act or later in the day.

As a result, always reprimand your cat while you catch him in the act, rather than after the fact.

9. Remove the Maine from the activity and redirect

This is one of the most efficient techniques to discipline your Maine cat; conduct a redirection action as soon as possible.

Instead of negative reinforcement, this redirection should seek adjustments.

If your Maine, for example, is clawing your furniture, don’t yell at him or hit him.

You should fetch your Maine, which is his favorite toy, and take him down to where the scratch post is located.

10. Control the Maine’s meal time

For both discipline and health reasons, Maine should be given the same amount of food at the same time every day.

To show your command, ask your Maine to sit before placing its food dish in front of it.

Say “no” and retain the food dish in your hand until your Maine agrees to sit.

Every mealtime, reinforce this rule to inform your Maine that eating necessitates calm and well-behaved behavior.

Ensure that your Maine eats during mealtimes and that mealtimes are controlled.

If your Maine doesn’t finish his or her meal, save it for the next meal.

11. Always reward submissive behavior

Both you and your Maine will benefit from rewarding submissive conduct.

It should be a fun process teaching your Maine to respect you as the alpha.

You should constantly encourage good behavior, but don’t force your Maine to exhibit affection.

One approach to show your Maine that you care is to groom and praise him.

Regularly touching, stroking, and holding your pet’s paws will help him gain control while still enabling him to enjoy cuddle time.

12. Use positive energy to communicate

Keep in mind that Maine can sense when its owners are worried or nervous by reading your energy.

Maine is smart and demanding, therefore this will always be interpreted as an invitation to take authority.

By mixing your emotions and actions with spoken commands, you can stamp your authority and correct bad behaviors.

Your Maine must understand that you take obedience seriously and will not beg for it.

13. Use a spray water bottle

This method is used by several Maine cat owners; however, I do not encourage it, not because it is useless, but because I feel it might have negative implications.

Spraying water in the face of your Maine will induce your cat to come to a halt and walk away, but it may have an adverse effect on your relationship with your cat.

Despite its widespread usage, I do not support it; rather, I always advocate for positive rather than negative reinforcement.

Wrong ways to discipline Mainecoon’s

When it comes to disciplining your Maine, here are some common blunders to avoid:

1. Never smash your Maine cat’s mouth into its excrement or urine as punishment.
2. Don’t yell at your Mainecoon cat as punishment.
3. Do not scold or hit your Mainecoon cat as punishment.
4. Pulling your Mainecoon cat’s tail is not a good idea.
5. Never drive with your Maine cat in your arms as punishment.
6. Never give your Maine cat medications without first consulting a veterinarian as punishment.
7. Remember to clean your cat’s water dishes, don’t leave them unkempt as punishment.
8. Every day, inspect your cat’s litter box, and never refuse to clean it up as punishment.
9. Never let your Maine cat alone in the house for too long as punishment.
10. Your Maine cat should never be thrown out of the window as punishment.
11. Don’t let your Mainecoon cat alone in the dark as a way of punishment.

With the information provided on this page, I strongly hope I answered your question about how to discipline a Mainecoon cat!!!