10 Cat Training Secrets Revealed

If you are a cat owner of at least more than one cat then you are in for a treat. The following tips on cat training will help you out in most situations that a cat owner encounters. Plus, these tips may spin off some creative ideas of yours too.

Be consistent in your cat training. Make sure you do it regularly else you will be sending your cat mixed signals. And training her will be much harder so forget about cat training in 10 minutes!

The following are 10 cat training secrets that will help you with your initial cat ownership phase.

1. Don’t bother punishing your cats. They are not like dogs which changes behavior after being punished. Cats will just continue sitting there purring at you and even perform that same misbehavior again.

2. There is no way you can “smack” your cat because a cat’s body is very fragile. Therefore, physical punishment is way out which mean while training, you will have to compete with wits alone. But I’m sure you will emerge as the winner. There is also the cat clicker training which I don’t really recommend.

3. Rewards are good. In many instances, you will often find your cat after the “crime” has been done rather than catching him doing that red-handed. So it is definitely far easier to reward your cat when you see it performing a right behavior. Ensure there is some cat treats such as juicy piece of salmon on hand, so that you can immediately reward your cat when you find him doing something right such as using the litter box.

4. Make sure you have lots of toys around the house. Misbehavior from your cat often arises from being bored. Your cat is a predatory animal by nature so it needs to sharpen its skills sometimes. Therefore, one example of sharpening is that you will see him clawing at your furniture and tearing down the curtains. So toys are a really good alternatives for them.

5. Less destruction can be avoided when you are away if you keep him busy. This is because your cat might be used to your accompaniment and will get bored when you are not around so he has to entertain himself by destroying your stuff. To avoid this, buy a television timer and make sure the TV is already on some animal-friendly channel like the Animal Planet or Discovery Channel. Then have the TV turn on at various times of the day. Cats will be curious about the noise and will come and stay to investigate – at least for a while.

6. Sometimes, a little mist of water is enough to get the attention of your cats to stop their misbehavior. So using a spray bottle, squirt him if you find that he is misbehaving. With time, he will realize that he can’t do that.

7. Don’t underestimate the power of a harmless puff of air in your cat’s face. This may sounds too simple but it actually works. This puff of air will teach him to give you some distance as it will startle and puzzle him initially. But after a while, your cat will get the message and won’t bother you with unpleasant attention.

8. Ensure that your cat will get a bird’s eye view over your surroundings. Often, your cat’s bad behavior comes from his innate curiosity. So make sure he has a ledge to sit on comfortable to check out the surroundings such as birds in your yard. If your ledge or window sill is not large enough, you might want to get an extension at the pet store or you can always make your own.

9. Spend some quality time with your cat as it will be a wise move on your part. With more time spent together, a bond will starts to build and you will find yourself being able to communicate more effectively with your cat. This is also true vice versa as both of you will start to be able to “read each other’s mind”. You will instinctively know you’re your cat wants to misbehave and he will know when you are disapproving him.

10. Cat fights are occasional if you have more than one cat. So what do you do? Confine the aggressor and reward the victim. The fights are mostly for territory as cats are territorial animals. So all you need to do is to disengage their fight when you see it by using a water sprayer. Squirt at the aggressor and not the victim. After which, confine the aggressor in an unattractive space and give a reward for the victim. In the future, whenever you put them together, supervise them as much as possible.

These cat training secrets are only the tip of the iceberg. As time goes, you will come to realize your cat’s behavior triggers and such, thus forming your own personal communication. It may just be the speech or the meows. You will soon learn the subtle hints to all these triggers of this very effective form of cat communication and also making sure that your cat knows what you need him to be when that time required.