Cat Training Tricks

[talon]

Training cats is time-consuming and tricky. A lot of people don't bother because cats are fairly independent. As long as it's litterbox trained, few people try to teach the cat anything else. They will endure bad behavior, bad habits, and attitude from their cats because "that's how cats are".

The same methods that work to litter train a cat will work to teach the cat other behaviors.

The best way to train a cat is to appeal to its instincts and desires, just as the best way to train anyone or any animal is to appeal to their instincts and desires.

While training kittens is easier than training adult cats in some ways, training an adult cat is much easier than many people assume. Again, appeal to their instincts and desires.

Cats do not necessarily want to please you, but they always want to please themselves. You just have to convince them that what you want them to do is what they wanted to do all along.

Take leaping up on counters and tables. Cats like to be high, like to climb, and if they have no other options, they will climb on the counters and tables. The easiest way to train a cat to stay off the counters and tables is to make them less attractive to a cat, and provide highly attractive areas where they are allowed to go. My cats hate sticky feet. It was a simple matter to place clear (this is important) vinyl tablecloths on the surfaces I didn't want the cats to be and cover them with double sided tape. It didn't take the cats long to realize that they would get sticky feet if they jumped up on kitchen counters and tables, but they had soft cushions and a great view from the places they were allowed to go. They naturally preferred the soft cushions and views. Because I used clear vinyl on the counters and tables, when I stopped using them, the cats didn't notice a large change that they just had to investigate. It looked mostly the same and therefore was to be avoided.

Convincing cats to stay inside one's yard is also simple, but it costs in time and equipment. If you have pets, the yard should be fenced. If you want the cat to stay in your yard and be safe from roaming dogs and children, fence your yard or that portion of the yard where you want to allow the cat to go. Once fenced, secure a soaker hose all the way around the perimeter and attach motion sensors that will turn on the water. Anytime the cat gets near the top of the fence, the water will come on and soak the cat. The cat will run from the water and back to safety, so make sure the way back into the house is unobstructed and the cat has a safe, dark, dry place to huddle in. Eventually (and for truly stubborn cats, this can be quite some time), the cat will learn that trying to leave the yard has very unpleasant results.

Crate training a cat proceeds pretty much along the same lines as crate training a dog. If you also say the cat's name every time you see the cat enter the crate, you will be training the cat to enter the crate when it hears its name. Use the crate as a bed and a safe place for the cat. Keep soft cushions in it and water and food nearby. Leave the door open so the cat can come and go as it pleases during the day, and close the crate at night. Take the cat interesting places in the crate - either by walking somewhere interesting, or to a playdate at a friend's, or to a park (you'll have to leash train the cat first before doing this), or just out driving around, stopping to get ice cream or some other treat your cat loves, not just to the vet's. That way the cat will never associate the crate with just a visit to the vet's.

Leash training a cat you plan to take outside the house is essential and much, much easier than many people think. Cats are vain creatures, so buy pretty harnesses (NOT collars) to put on the cat and tell the cat how pretty it is (or handsome). Let the cat wear the harness for a hour or two in the house for several days before attaching a leash to it. When you do attach the leash, for the first few days, attach a short one and let the cat roam the house with it. Then attach a longer leash and hold one end while you follow the cat and offer treats. Eventually, you'll be offering treats to encourage the cat to follow you. Soon after that, the cat will accept harness and leash with no problem and will walk nicely on it, especially if you take the cat outside and let it walk in areas that were once forbidden to it. If you take the cat interesting places on a leash, it will quickly learn it gets to do fun things when leashed. My cats always came running when they heard the sound of a leash - faster than they did to the sound of a can opener.

The next thing that irritates many people is the constant scratching and clawing of nice furniture. There are several solutions to this. One is to buy cat proof furniture - metal futon sofas and chairs, glass and metal tables, that sort of thing. Unless you're really into metal and glass furniture with minimal cushions, I prefer to teach the cat not to claw furniture at all. Double sided tape is once again your friend. Drape the furniture in cloth that is the same color or pattern as your furniture then cover all the areas a cat would claw with double sided tape. Make sure your cat has plenty of cat scratch areas - on discreet corners, place the corner "cat combs" for your cat to rub against, and cover other discreet corners with dense, high quality carpeting, sisal rope, or thick, heavy cardboard - and replace them often as they wear. Install ramps and climbing posts up to some shelves or high cat perches that are covered with scratch tempting materials (heavy dense carpet, sisal ropes, thick cardboard) and replace them often as they wear. The contrast between pleasurable surfaces they are allowed to scratch and icky sticky ones they aren't will induce them to seek out the places they are allowed to scratch, and they'll soon be leaving your furniture alone. Once they ignore your furniture (and probably a few weeks or months after) you can remove the sticky taped fabric and have your nice, scratch-free furniture again.

These are the most important cat training behaviors most cat owners want - no clawing up the furniture, no jumping on counters and tables, no fighting to get to the vet, no wandering the neighborhood and being mauled by neighbor dogs and kids or hit by cars, no complaining neighbors.

Once you've taught your kitty basic social skills, you can teach it other tricks, too, like coming when called, and jumping through hoops, and fetching things, and dancing, and so on.

Cats take time, patience, and sometimes technology to train, but they are trainable. These methods have worked well for me for near 60 years on quite a few cats (Catmatyx, Troubles, Heike, Cloudy, Deja Mew, Keegan, Eris, Remi, Symphony, Butch, Kapow, Madame X, Calandra). A well-behaved cat is a pleasure to own.

Even though we had to have Eris euthanized for violent behavior caused by a brain disorder, training kept her mostly in line and well behaved for years longer than if she hadn't been trained. Untrained, we would have had to euthanize her before she was a full grown cat. Trained, she managed to be controllable until her brain disorder overwhelmed her when she was 10 years old. That's 10 years of life training gave her.