Hannah Rose on Reddit.com posted a statement which reads:
“My neighbours are talking sh*t about me while I’m outside smoking. Saying I’m a bad mom and they only hear me yelling at Phoebe and they have never seen me take my “daughter” out of the house. Phoebe is my cat.”
RELATED: Cats: Noise Stress
She is making fun of it which is understandable. I can see the funny side but I also see the bad side. It is not a good idea, in any context, to yell at your cat. Actually, yelling generally is almost as bad. It can make a cat anxious and it can be stressful to a cat. Cats like the opposite to noisy yelling. The like calm, quiet, routines and rhythms. They don’t want to hear their owner shouting at them. There is never any need for it.
Domestic cats need reassurance. They can become anxious quite easily in the human environment. It is essentially alien although of course they are fully adapted to it. However, just below the surface of the domestic cat is the wild cat within. They are barely domesticated unlike the dog. We have to take that into account when we interact with our cat.
RELATED: Yelling at Cats
In the best homes, the human caregiver is respectful, gentle, quiet and loving towards their cat. They never shout at them but speak in a gentle voice at all times.
There will be times when a person becomes angry for whatever reason and they might raise their voice and they might even raise their voice at their cat but this should be an exception and it would be indicative of a failure in cat caregiving.
I am not a perfect cat caregiver myself; far from it. I sometimes lose my rag. Sometimes my cat can irritate me albeit very rarely. I have shouted at my cat on a few occasions throughout his six years of life. I deeply regret it. It is my failure. I try and do better next time.
