Cattle

Archive for December 2nd, 2010

Cats are greatly popular, and among the top favorites to have as pets. They are cute, fun, and greatly independent, making them easy to have around. However, if you don’t know how to train them, your cute kitty, can turn into a great pain.

People assume because cats are independent and have a stubborn streak that they are hard to train, but if you know the proper way to train them it’s rather easy. It will take a little time, because like we mentioned before they are stubborn, however you can use that stubborn streak to your advantage.

These are a few cat training tips to ensure a successful training program:

1. Don’t give up

Two seconds into starting to train your cat, you might realize that’s not a piece of cake, but it’s not rocket science either. If you have trained another animal before, you have probably noticed that it’s not easy, but it’s not difficult once you look back on it. With training a cat, you have to stay focused and willing. Though it might take a little more effort, you can train your cat.

2. Know your cat

In order to train your cat, you have to know what his/her personality is like. No two cats are the same, so if you know how your cat acts, it will make training much easier for you. You need to learn what your cat likes and doesn’t like and go from there.

3. Know when to train your cat

You need to know when it’s OK to train your cat. First, don’t wake them from a catnap to train them. They’re just like a sleeping baby. If you wake them up when they aren’t ready to be woken up and are still tired, you’re going to have a cranky kitty on your hands.

You’re going to get frustrated because your cat is frustrated. It won’t want to listen to you, when all they want to do is nap. Plus, you need to keep training sessions short. You don’t want your cat to get overwhelmed or worse bored. This will be counter productive, and leave you again frustrated.

4. Use Positive Reinforcement

This is the most crucial part of your cat’s training program. When your cat does the desired behavior you reward them with praise or a treat. Don’t reward them out of the blue, because they will associate rewards with doing absolutely nothing. Also, remember not to punish them. If they do something wrong, don’t react at all! This is important, you don’t want them to associate what they did wrong with any attention what so ever.

5. Small steps

Though this might cause the training process to take a little longer, you have to take things slowly. You’re teaching a new cat, new tricks, so it will take time. If you want your cat to learn something, you can’t expect him/her to know how to do it that first day.

For example, if you want to train your cat to use the toilet (yes, people do it these days), then it is best for you to gradually move the cat’s litter box closer and closer to the bathroom that you want him/her to use. Don’t immediately push the cat into the bathroom and expect that it will learn to use the toilet. Small steps will get you and your cat where you want to be.