On Training Cats

I am constantly running into the opinion that cats are impossible to train. It is true that they can be stubborn, difficult, and even manipulative themselves, but they can still be trained. It's not easy, and it can take some time, but it can be done. If you don't have a cat, these tricks will work just as well with a human, even if they aren't wearing kitty ears.

The key to training a cat is understanding that it is an emotional creature. It has desires and needs, and you can use them to your advantage. If you make a cat do what you want, and keep it doing what you want, those changes become habits. If you keep encouraging the habits of you like, and discouraging the habits you don't like, your enjoyment of your pet will constantly improve.

1) Exploiting Natural Urges and Desires

The way to manipulate a cat is to harness it's natural urges. Hunger is an easy choice. If you delay feeding a cat until it does something you want, it will take the hint quickly. I've used this technique for all the hardest behaviours I've trained such as taking medicine, and staying quiet in the morning.

Curiosity is another good way to motivate cats, though it takes some creativity. If you can make them think they're missing something, they will work hard to see it. Though I use this mostly to get my cats to play, you can use it for much more interesting behaviours in a human pet.

Cats also have a desire for attention. When they want it, you can make them work harder to earn it by ignoring them for short periods of time. Ignoring noisy cats will make them try other things, but you need to be ready to give them attention when they do.

2) Communicate with Emotions

Unlike humans, cats don't understand words so well. They do, however, understand and respond to emotions. When one of my cats misbehaves, I talk to it in an angry tone. I'm not the type to get angry easily, but by displaying it, it knows how I feel. My cats genuinely respect me, so just letting them know when I'm unhappy is usually enough to discourage bad behaviour.

When an angry tone isn't enough, it's important back up your threats. I call a cat's name in a specific, angry tone to warn it. Most of the time that's the end of it, but if it isn't, then I have to follow through with punishment. It's important that you be willing to enforce the boundaries you set, otherwise they won't be respected. I normally use a spray bottle full of water; it's quick, can reach long distances, and won't harm anything beyond the cat's ego.

With pets, it's also important to respond to bad behaviours immediately. If you don't catch a cat in the act of doing something, it's harder for them to associate your displeasure with the behaviour. Sometimes this means a free pass, but a punishment that confuses them won't do either of you any good.

Making sure you are understood is just as important with a pet human, though we have many more efficient ways to communicate. The same is true for enforcing the boundaries you set, but there are many more conscionable, and sometimes fun, ways to do it. If you can't find any ideas you like, try a spray bottle.

3) Be Consistent

Now that you have found ways to make your cats do what you want, you need to be diligent about enforcement. This is the hardest part, especially with cats, but you need to deal with it if you want the new behaviours to stick. Sometimes a cat will misbehave because it doesn't understand what you want, and sometimes it will misbehave just to test your authority.

Cats can be devious about testing boundaries. If a cat knows you won't get out of bed to follow through with a threat, you can bet that it'll test all the rules during the night time. Backing up your threats is especially important when it's hard to do. Though it will be a pain, your efforts will be rewarded; if a cat knows that a threat is genuine, you won't need to get out of bed nearly as often.

If you are consistent about enforcing the behaviors you teach, communicating with emotions, and prepared to punish, your cats will constantly improve, and with time, become easier to train.