baby-cat interaction advice needed

[flea]

The cat scratched Casper pretty badly just now, right by her eye. Why can't these two agree to stay apart? Three minutes later, after the tears and screeching subsided, Casper was right back at the kitty. The cat says, 'This is MY chair, so even if you can reach me here, I will not retreat to the bedroom where I am safe from you.' Casper says, 'KITTY!' We have been trying to teach 'no kitty' but clearly are not having much success yet, and obviously negative feedback hasn't worked. I don't think you can teach a cat. Any ideas?

Comments

[makaidiver.livejournal.com]

The only time I was spanked as a kid was when I kept pulling the dog's ears, probably after they'd told me a zillion times not to. The spanking woke me up in a way that I still remember today. Being told that it was NOT okay to hurt an creature, ever, is something I've never forgotten and actually appreciate that they did/said at such an early age. Their patter was along the lines of, you are hurting [dog's name], she doesn't like it, it is NOT okay to hurt ANY animals, we have told you before, you're still doing it, don't do it again or you will be spanked again! The sitch is somewhat similar in that the dog eventually would have bitten me to get me to back off.

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

Just to clarify, Casper is only 13 months old - really she's just starting to get "No", and I think spanking at this age would be meaningless.

Also, she hasn't hurt the cat - the cat defends herself before Casper gets her mitts on her. The cat has hurt (scratched to the point of blood) Casper 3 or 4 times.

And yet Casper just loves the kitty so! Little masochist.

[makaidiver.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I guess I was around 3. Verbal stuff made an impact.