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When I got my cat as an 8-week old kitten, I was living in a home shared with roommates. The owner of the house had a set of beautiful, expensive leather furniture. As a poor graduate student at the time, I was very concerned that my cat would scratch this furniture. So I became very motivated to prevent that.
I basically did not let the kitten out into the living room unless I was home to monitor him. Any time I would notice him start to scratch on something, I would pick him up and take him to his scratching post, and then move his paws back and forth until he started scratching on his own. I would praise him as well.
I don't recall how long it took, but he quickly learned that the scratching post was the only place to scratch when he was in the house. And for the next 20 years, I can say he has never scratched on any furniture or carpet. Just his scratching posts.
I have trained cats to do more than just basic cat stuff.
Positive reinforcement with treats is key.
Now the ease or difficulty in training a cat is all about the cats personality. There are cats that love to play and engage with their human, and there are cats that could care less and are committed to living up to the cat tradition of sleeping 17 hours a day.
If you have a playful kitty, you will be more successful.
You will know that training will be successful rather quickly. Here is how...
Start with one simple trick, don't try to train for more than one until the training method has been established and the cat knows the 'game'.
Let's say you are starting with 'shake' or 'high five'.
Use the food to encourage the cat to lift its paw, when he does say clearly your command. Touch hand to paw and give the treat. Once they are done within the treat, they will want more, give the command at the same time you entice them to reach for the food, paw up, touch (shake, high five) and give the treat. Keep repeating these steps and if your cat is trainable, someplace between the 5th and 10th time of giving the command, the cat will be ahead of you, anticipating the command/treat. When the cat starts to do the trick on his own, give the command and complete the trick (even if a little late), and give the treat.
You can only work with the cat for 10-15 minutes sessions. You can do two or three sessions (of the same trick) per day. But you must do at least one session, every day to be successful.
When it seems the cat completely understands the trick, test by giving the command (without a treat) at some random moment (not in a training session) and see if he follows through. If he does, give him lots of love with rubs and scratches.
Now you can start a new trick. But still start your training with doing the shake trick a couple times...with a treat. This is letting the cat know that it is trick training time.
Training a cat is really not difficult at all, but you have to have a cat that is willing.
When I got my cat as an 8-week old kitten, I was living in a home shared with roommates. The owner of the house had a set of beautiful, expensive leather furniture. As a poor graduate student at the time, I was very concerned that my cat would scratch this furniture. So I became very motivated to prevent that.
I basically did not let the kitten out into the living room unless I was home to monitor him. Any time I would notice him start to scratch on something, I would pick him up and take him to his scratching post, and then move his paws back and forth until he started scratching on his own. I would praise him as well.
I don't recall how long it took, but he quickly learned that the scratching post was the only place to scratch when he was in the house. And for the next 20 years, I can say he has never scratched on any furniture or carpet. Just his scratching posts.
That is great ! Thats what I use to do with my first cat . It took a while though but Midnight seems to catch on pretty fast .
I have trained cats to do more than just basic cat stuff.
Positive reinforcement with treats is key.
Now the ease or difficulty in training a cat is all about the cats personality. There are cats that love to play and engage with their human, and there are cats that could care less and are committed to living up to the cat tradition of sleeping 17 hours a day.
If you have a playful kitty, you will be more successful.
You will know that training will be successful rather quickly. Here is how...
Start with one simple trick, don't try to train for more than one until the training method has been established and the cat knows the 'game'.
Let's say you are starting with 'shake' or 'high five'.
Use the food to encourage the cat to lift its paw, when he does say clearly your command. Touch hand to paw and give the treat. Once they are done within the treat, they will want more, give the command at the same time you entice them to reach for the food, paw up, touch (shake, high five) and give the treat. Keep repeating these steps and if your cat is trainable, someplace between the 5th and 10th time of giving the command, the cat will be ahead of you, anticipating the command/treat. When the cat starts to do the trick on his own, give the command and complete the trick (even if a little late), and give the treat.
You can only work with the cat for 10-15 minutes sessions. You can do two or three sessions (of the same trick) per day. But you must do at least one session, every day to be successful.
When it seems the cat completely understands the trick, test by giving the command (without a treat) at some random moment (not in a training session) and see if he follows through. If he does, give him lots of love with rubs and scratches.
Now you can start a new trick. But still start your training with doing the shake trick a couple times...with a treat. This is letting the cat know that it is trick training time.
Training a cat is really not difficult at all, but you have to have a cat that is willing.
Completely understandable ! And Im going to try that .
Location: Los Angeles>Little Rock>Houston>Little Rock
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I have trained my cats to shed on me, lick my fingers and/or toes, and head butt me. Of course I don't issue these commands until they are in my lap or snuggling up to me in bed.[CENTER]Save[/CENTER]
I have indepth conversations with our 3 cats, and one in particular, Lucky, understands a lot of what I am saying to him. He sleeps with me, and all I have to say at bedtime is " Ok, Luck, let's go to bed" and he jumps off he couch, meows as he runs past me, and then he jumps up on the bed.
Same with the mornings. He will start head butting when the sun comes up, but I look at the clock and tell him " Not yet, Lucky, go back to sleep" and he does. Or, when I do wake up, I'll say "Are you ready for breakfast" and he jumps off the bed and runs to the bedroom door. Or, if I say "Lucky, you know what we haven't done for a while ?" he perks up and then I say "I'll get the brush so we can brush you" and he gets really excited and follows me to where I keep the brush.
Right now he is sitting on my lap as I type this, and I just told him he was a smart kitty. He started purring as if to say "I know !"
I have indepth conversations with our 3 cats, and one in particular, Lucky, understands a lot of what I am saying to him. He sleeps with me, and all I have to say at bedtime is " Ok, Luck, let's go to bed" and he jumps off he couch, meows as he runs past me, and then he jumps up on the bed.
Same with the mornings. He will start head butting when the sun comes up, but I look at the clock and tell him " Not yet, Lucky, go back to sleep" and he does. Or, when I do wake up, I'll say "Are you ready for breakfast" and he jumps off the bed and runs to the bedroom door. Or, if I say "Lucky, you know what we haven't done for a while ?" he perks up and then I say "I'll get the brush so we can brush you" and he gets really excited and follows me to where I keep the brush.
Right now he is sitting on my lap as I type this, and I just told him he was a smart kitty. He started purring as if to say "I know !"
I have indepth conversations with our 3 cats, and one in particular, Lucky, understands a lot of what I am saying to him. He sleeps with me, and all I have to say at bedtime is " Ok, Luck, let's go to bed" and he jumps off he couch, meows as he runs past me, and then he jumps up on the bed.
Same with the mornings. He will start head butting when the sun comes up, but I look at the clock and tell him " Not yet, Lucky, go back to sleep" and he does. Or, when I do wake up, I'll say "Are you ready for breakfast" and he jumps off the bed and runs to the bedroom door. Or, if I say "Lucky, you know what we haven't done for a while ?" he perks up and then I say "I'll get the brush so we can brush you" and he gets really excited and follows me to where I keep the brush.
Right now he is sitting on my lap as I type this, and I just told him he was a smart kitty. He started purring as if to say "I know !"
You have gem of a cat there. But I'm sure you already know that.
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