When we are talking about our feline friends, the thought of training them doesn’t even cross our mind. It is these kinds of stereotypes that have created the notions in our mind that you can’t train your cat. Like our furring friends, that can be trained easily and can learn tricks at every age, cats can be trained in the same way. Don’t believe us? Well keep on reading.
Like dog training, cat training is very similar. The first thing you need is patience, if you don’t have that your cat is not going to put up with you. Cat training is very slow and tedious, as cats do not respond to commands very often. It is important to add in los of treats and tricks in order to train them.
But yes, cats can be trained. And we are going to show you how and what you should do to get them trained. We will also be including some of the tricks you can teach them. Let’s get started!
How to train your cat
There are few things you need to keep in mind while training your cat, once you can handle all these instructions, you will be ready to train your cat.
- Patience
Training a cat requires a lot of patience. Cats are not known to follow orders and even listen to you. So, it might take some time for them to find out that you are actually training them. Give them that time.
- Don’t punish your cat
Cats are only be trained by positive reinforcement. If you lose your cool and start shouting at your emotions and this can greatly affect their mental and physical health.
- Start easy
You can’t teach your cat to get down from the kitchen counter if that’s what she doesn’t want to do. If this is your first time training your cat. It is necessary to train them according to the things that they like to do. Just watch and see what they do in their free time and include those things in your training session. This will help them learn faster.
- Rewarding your cat
Your cat won’t just listen to you and do what you say. You need to give them a reward for their good behavior. When you are training your cat to do something, whenever she does that you have to show encouragement either by petting them or saying “good” and then give them a treat. You have to do this several times and your cat will get that this action makes you happy and gets her a treat.
You can also use a clicker to train your cat during her training sessions. In this way, you can completely remove the treats and your cat won’t only perform the actions in hope of getting a treat.
- Baby steps
Don’t make your cat train too hard. Cats have a very limited attention span and even a bug could be more interesting to her than these training sessions. According to experts, train your cat for only 10 minutes and 2 times a day to keep it engaging.
As stated above, patience is key when training your cat. It will take a long time before your cat gets the hang of it. So, just bear with your cat and no matter what her age is, she can be trained.
- Repetition
Once you start seeing your at doing what you trained her to do, don’t lose interest. Give her treats for some more time so she knows this is forever. Either she will stop this behavior all together. Repeat all her tricks everyday to keep them fresh.
Teaching your cat to use the toilet
We have told you all that there is to know in order to train a cat like a dog. Now let’s see what these behaviors can make your cat do.
One of the biggest issues of owning a pet is their litter box. Be it a cat, who first of all needs to get accustomed to her litter box, now needs to change it to a toilet! That is going to take some time. The first thing you need to do is change her litter box location, bring it closer to the toilet. Eventually, put it on the toilet. There is no need to hurry, so take your time, as cats are not so adaptive to change. You can also change it to a flushable litter box, and then eventually remove the litter box. And tada! Your cat will be using the toilet in no time.
Training your cat to high five
All you need to do is raise a treat high above your cat’s head. High enough that she has to reach up for it. Whenever she reaches up, give her a high five on her dominate paw and say the word high five and then give her the treat. Do this multiple times and your cat will do it on command. You can also teach her to shake hands by this similar trick.
Teaching her the word “No”
There are some things you want your cat not to do. Like scratching your expensive furniture or sitting on the kitchen counter. Well, all you need t do is teach her the meaning of the word NO. Say it in a sharp and firm tone, which you don’t normally associate with your cat, so she knows you mean business. And do this whenever she is going what you don’t want her to do.
Conclusion
I hope this article proved those people wrong who thought cats cannot be trained. It is actually very easy to train your cat. Yes, it is a long and tedious project, but it is not unachievable. Cats limited attention span makes it difficult to teach them tricks, but with patience and treats, anything is possible. You can teach them to high five, se the toilet and even walk on a leash.