One of the main common questions which is asked by almost all cat lovers is whether cats are trainable or not. Which cat owner doesn’t want their beloved cats to do some amazing skills while listening to all their commands? If your pet is listening to you, people who are coming into your house would know that your cat is indeed a well-behaved one.
In this blog, we will discuss if cats really have that knack to get trained and if they do, what are the methods where we can make them learn faster? But before that, we need to understand if there are any real benefits associated with teaching your cats commands and tricks.
So let us get started,
What are the Benefits of Training Your Cats?
Firstly, training is beneficial for cats as it provides them with the much needed social and environmental enrichment, which is necessary to maintain excellent health in them. Also, it helps prevent boredom in them as cats are one of the easily bored pets. Secondly, you tend to stimulate the cat’s mind with proper training which helps them in staying sharp and sound always.
The other benefits of giving excellent training to cats are given below:
- Increases the bond between you and your cat.
- Prevents undesirable behaviour scratching, aggression and peeing outside the box.
- Improves mental and emotional health.
- Decreases stress, fear and anxiety.
- Helps tackle a lot of behavioural disorders.
- Provides a cat a healthy outlet to spend their energy.
What is Positive Reinforcement?
As a pet lover, you might have heard this term many times in your life and it is most often associated with dog training. It is a technique where you constantly reward your pets each time they exhibit good behaviour or they do a command as told by you. When it comes to positive reinforcement, timing is everything as your pet needs to associate the reward with their action.
Another important thing about Positive Reinforcement is that you need to be consistent with the whole process. While training your pet, you and your family members should stick to the same method so that you don’t confuse your pet with too many cues.
Top 3 Methods to Reward Your Cats
Now that you have learnt about the benefits of rewarding your cat, you may be now interested in knowing the best methods of doing so. Here are the 3 methods by which you can effectively reward your beloved cats:
- Food:- Food is probably the biggest motivator for cats and they will really listen to you if you have in store some highly nutritious cat foods. Set their meal time just after the training session so that they will see the foods as their reward
- Treats:- If you want to train your cats within a short time, then consider buying some good cat treats. Time the reward with their good behaviour so that they will pick the cues faster and repeat it whenever you command them to.
- Affection:- Like humans, pets too need great affection to thrive and to stay healthy and happy. Make sure you are giving your full attention and love while training your cats. Give them at least 30 minutes of yours daily to make them healthy and happy
How a Clicker Can Help You to Train a Cat?
A Clicker is a device that makes a sound as soon as it is activated and it helps a great deal in marking a specific behaviour by your cats. As this device produces a unique and creative sound, it effectively bridges the gap between you and your cat and also assists in building good communication between you too.
While using a clicker, make sure to keep your training sessions less than a few minutes at a time. This is important so that your cats don’t get bored easily.
What All You Need For Training Your Cat?
Before you begin training your cat, you need to make sure that you have the certain “atmosphere” to do so. The word atmosphere means that your cats have a healthy environment which can help them to pick up cues easily without any hassles. Following are some of the things which can help you to set up the right atmosphere for a highly effective cat training:
- Find a quiet, distraction-free place to start
- Figure out the things which motivate your cat the most
- If possible, start your training after the meal-time
- Start with short workouts of upto 2 minutes, then gradually scale up the level.
So, Is it Really Possible to Train a Cat?
The answer is a resounding Yes! It doesn’t matter what age your cat is, you can always train them with the right tools and tips, as mentioned above. Always remember not to bother your cats too much with training, as they can lose their willingness to learn again. With love and affection, you can do a lot of miracles in teaching your cats good behaviour.
