Is it Possible to Train a Cat?

How many times have you taken a trip to Sea World to watch whales and dolphins jump through hoops? You wonder how they can train these essentially wild animals to accomplish this. Here is the secret….they are really not training the animals. They are recognizing the animal’s normal behaviors and requesting that they do this behavior on cue.

All animals specialize in doing certain things, it all depends on the type of individual your animal is. Certain cats love to do certain things, such as jumping, climbing, opening cabinets, and some cats even play fetch.

The first decision will be what “trick” you would like to focus on. Then you must decide how you will reward kitty for doing the trick correctly. The three popular rewards are a treat, a clicker, or just a big kiss and extra TLC. You know your cat the best. What does it want from you?

Training your cat how to do tricks can be a great bonding experience. You do not need to spend an ample amount of time training your cat each day. Just a few successful attempts will be enough. Also be sure not to wake up your cat to practice this tricks. Make sure your cat is alert and focused before you start.

Your reaction to what the cat is doing is one of the most important parts of your cat’s training. Be quick to ignore the negatives and focus on the positives.

For example, if you want your cat to jump through a round hoop place the hoop on the floor. When kitty comes over to explore give her praise. Hold the hoop up with part of it touching the ground. Entice her to walk over it. Click away, give a treat or praise. Just let kitty know that it was the reaction you wanted. Slowly raise the hoop off the ground to the desired height. You can add additional pieces to the trick as you go, long as you focus on the positive.

Cats can bore very easily because they’re very independent. Ultimately you must learn to be patient because sometimes training can be frustrating.

So to the answer the question whether “cats can be trained?” Absolutely they can. You might not be able to train your cat to do everything you desire but you still can teach them things they enjoy doing. Remember to catch your cat doing what you want and to praise them, and never force your cat to train or make a negative experience out of it.

Dawn works with New Cat Condos to manufacture quality cat houses that your kitty can count on. Be sure to check out their scratch and sleep cat tree which features an abundant amount of sisal rope for your cat to scratch on.