By guest blogger: Linda Matthews
When you start wondering how to train your cat, this means that you want to change her behavior and that's really great. However, don't expect this task to be easy!
Cats are highly independent creatures. Therefore, you can`t train your cat the same way you might train your dog. This is going to be a bit tricky.
No matter whether you`re going to train a new kitten or older cat, you can influence their behavior, but only if you`re consistent and gentle.
First of all, YOU have to learn some patience to get the desired result. But, of course, training a cat requires not only patience but also a lot of practice, praise, and rewards.
What Can You Train a Cat to Do?
A cat is a very intelligent animal, and actually, you can teach your four-legged friend just as many tricks as you want. Before you start training, you should determine what you`d like she to learn to do.
The most common commands and behavioral actions include:
- Litter box training
- House training
- Calm traveling
- Playing habits (how to play with toys, you and other animals)
- Interacting habits (how to interact with you, other people and other pets)
Although, you can teach your furry friend any command or behavioral action you need. Be sure your cat is very clever! Even if you want to teach her to swim, you can easily do that. Can cats swim? Of course, YES! But HOW? They absolutely hate water… It's actually simple because they as well as many other animals have some instinct how to behave in water and this instinct for swimming helps them learn to swim if necessary.
Train your cat if you want to make your well-being more comfortable. Don`t worry! You can do that!
What Do You Need to Train Your Cat?
- Keep each training session short: Your kitty`s attention span is shorter than yours; therefore, you should take this fact into account when planning your training program. So you can`t also expect your cat to remain interested every time you want to train her.
- Practice one lesson at a time: It's better to start small! Don't rush and don't try to teach your cat everything at once. To achieve success, your cat has to master the commands or actions gradually. Only when your favorite has learned whatever you're working on, you can go to the next command or action.
- Engage other people: If you want your kitty to be social, you should involve other people in the training process. You can engage your friends or family members to socialize your four-legged friend and make her more petting.
- Provide a reward system: If you reward and praise your cat for a well-done job (or well-practiced command or action), in such a way you can enhance the behavior you want. Don't try to raise your voice because this will only stress both of you. Your kind and upbeat voice and some small kibbles of her favorite cat food can do wonders.
Training your cat can be a fun experience for you as well as for your pet. Just remember to be more patient and positive during this process, and the result will be not long in coming!
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Linda Matthews is editor of catspurfection.com Animals have always been a passion of hers. She enjoys animal science, animal husbandry, training, and market animal research. Linda watches everything like a hawk.