>>22279723when you're holding the spray bottle that makes them feel uncomfortable they associate the discomfort with you, not with the thing you're trying to stop them from doing. the cause and effect relationship is distorted. it can even have the opposite effect where they continue the behavior because you've given them attention when they do it, even though the attention was spraying. you can teach cats with positive encouragement but punishment just makes them anxious, resentful, and destructive