Training Your Cat - Fun Time

Training your cat can be useful and fun, despite the stereotype that only dogs can be trained. Cats are, in fact, very intelligent animals. You can train a cat to do almost anything if your cat is physically capable and motivated enough.

Cats are swift creatures that can be taught to jump onto high surfaces. You can make a cat jump onto kitchen counters with the lure being finding some food there. Dogs can be easily trained to do this sort of a thing as they obey their masters easily. However, you can train a cat just like a dog, but only if your cat is motivated enough. Although cats are social animals, they do not follow hierarchies like dogs do.

How To Train Your Cat

When you are training your cat, you should reinforce the specific behavior. You should also reward the cat when it does what it is being trained to do. A cat would work for food if it finds that the food is appetizing. Offer your cat some food that is appealing. Your cat might have jumped up on your dinner table some time back. Yes, it is the same food on your table that appeals to your cat. Try to offer it to your cat frequently. Cats like foods such as cheese, popcorn, tuna, pitted olives or a pinch of catnip.

You should associate cat food with a sound like a clicker, bell or some other quick sounds. If you use this quick sound, the cat will learn the association of sound and food. You simply click and offer the cat its food. Repeat this procedure a few times. Now your cat would understand that when you click, food is on its way.

When you are training your cat, you should make sure that you reward the cat whenever it performs a newly learned skill correctly. Once your cat is comfortable, offer your reward randomly. You need not reward each and every time your cat does it correctly. You only need to offer food periodically thereafter, and your cat will follow the order correctly.

What to Train

You should train your cat on how to defecate and urinate inside the litter box. You should have enough patience while you are training your cat. Although most cats defecate inside the litter box, some do not do so. If your cat defecates outside the litter box, you must train her to do otherwise. If your cat defecates outside once in a while, you can put her inside the litter box few times a day, and it will learn slowly. You should also cover the place that it defecates on outside the litter box with a thick vinyl sheet. Now the cat will learn to defecate in the litter box. If even after trying repeatedly to train your cat, it still does not defecate inside the litter box, you should consult a veterinarian for assistance. Your cat might have developed some common complicated behavioral problems. Do not worry; your vet can easily solve this problem.

Your cat would be able to learn some behaviors quickly, like jumping through a hoop, fetching a toy or simply sitting down. This training can be both useful and fun. While training your cat, you should also encourage your kids to play with it so that it learns certain mannerisms that must be present with kids around. Some aggressive cats or cats with conflicted social behavior find this interaction very useful.