Water squirted onto cat but he refuses to budge
Water squirted over cat who won’t move
This is silly. Cat ‘owners’ should never squirt water on their cat to make them move away from an area which the person considers out of bounds. As the video shows it does not always work but it may work in another way: weaken the friendship between person and their cat companion. It is just not sensible to do something to your cat which upsets your cat as he or she will connect being upset or emotionally hurt with the person. Your cat may forget the incident but it may cause the cat to become a little anxious around his owner which is the last thing that an owner wants to happen.
Cat guardians want a close bond between themselves and their feline companion. The closer the better because both parties will benefit more in terms of enjoying each other’s company when their relationship is very close. Spraying water on your cat can distance the owner from this goal.
I would suggest that no really good cat caretaker would do this. There are better ways such as positive reinforcement (clicker training). Spraying water is a form of negative reinforcement, better known as punishment. Although I feel there is a difference between negative reinforcement and out and out punishment. The better advice is to never punish your cat. I know sometimes we can lose our rag. We can become frayed and take out our frustrations and anger on our cat but, once again, this is clearly a failure.
This video is considered entertainment. It’s on the internet as a fun video. I don’t want to be overly serious but it is no entertainment for the cat in question. In short it is unethical. You wouldn’t squirt water over a 3 year old toddler and laugh and put the subsequent video on the internet. Use the same standards for our cats.