a punishment for a cat ?

It's cruel and pointless to shut a kitten away.She is far too young to know what's right and wrong,would they shut a baby in a closet ? It's the same thing, they are not old enough to know right from wrong.

A gentle lift up away from wherever she shouldn't be and given a toy to divert her attention is the best way, the same as for a child !

A cat should never ever be hit, even tapped lightly,as punishment.

personally, I don't even think 2 guys should even own a cat... most guys are just cruel to cats anyways... What could the poor cat be doing that they would have to punish it anyways? playing?... i'm sure they must consider that bad. The only thing to really punish a cat for, and by that I mean a squirt bottle, is scratching at the furniture, and jumping up on the counter... that's about it. Everything else is normal cat/kitten behavior.

ADD:

She knocks over the trash can? are you kidding me?!... there are SO many other ways to resolve that issue... get a different trash can that doesn't knock over, learn to take out the trash more often and not be disgusting and wait until it's totally full, put the trash can somewhere else, like in the pantry, or under the sink... my god, your boyfriend and his idiot friend aren't too bright.

A better punishment would prob. be a water bottle. Ussaully after a couple of squarts they learn what they are doing is wrong and it's not harmful. I would worry about putting her in a closet because she might become withdrawn and mean as she gets older. They don't have a crate for her? I suppose that is what the are trying to do is crate her for bad behavior and if it works with a dog why not a cat?

I personal would not do it to my cat but my cat is spioled. And doesn't really get repermanded for things she gets down when I say down and she ahs never scratched anyone out of spite.

This is being far too cruel!! How awful!! U think by shutting a 4 month old kitten in a closet, it actuallly knows why its being put there!! Poor kitten! By making a loud noise when the kitten does something wrong, like clapping ur hands an saying "no" would suffice i think.

As a volunteer cat behavior, I had seen so many numerous times people used to punish their cats. Instead of punishment, they need to learn to use the positive way for training and learning. Sure squirt bottle works, but think of yourself as a cat? Would you understand hitting, putting on the room? I would be more a confuse cat forever! If you see some shows, trainer use "TREATS!" Cat will know better on body language and food. Use TREATS made the cat understand the word "NO" and "YES" as a condition training.

It does seem cruel and I doubt it makes any sense to the cat. If it is doing something wrong (like scratching up the furniture) they should try squirting it with water from a spray bottle AS the cat is doing it. If you don't catch it doing the bad behavior it is too late to correct it anyway. They should also think in terms of how to correct the behavior, rather than how to punish it.

It's a kitten. She's gna do naughty things all day so to speak. But no.. putting a kitten in a closet as a form of punishment is wrong. Juss imagine if a toddler was being bad.. & you put her in the closet. Same thing. It's cruel. Another form of punishment must happen. Period.

well it's like a time out...

As long as it works... and they don't leave her in there for a LONG time.

If she is knocking over the trash can then they need to get a sturdier one and one that has a lid. This doesn't sound like something to be punished for though. biting / scratching / scratching furniture yes but not the trash can.

If it does not work then what's the good?

When my cats do something wrong, I just yell at them and chase them away from what they were doing. Locking them in the closet isn't very nice, you're right. They shouldn't be doing that. As long as they aren't physically hurting the cat, its probably not that big of a deal. But it still doesn't seem right to me.

yeah that does seem kinda mean :(

whenever my cats act up, we keep a spray bottle full of water around and spray them.

sufficient punishment without the pain

they just need to know that something that they don't like is gonna happen if they do something wrong

after a while, mine just stopped doing bad things whenever they see the water bottle pulled out actually

and you need to punish them AS they are doing the bad thing

if you punish it aftwerwards, they dont know what theyre being punished for. It just confuses them