June 2010 Newsletter
Cat Training 101
Some people think that cats and training just don't go together, but training your cat really can be fun and rewarding. First thing to understand is that cats do not respond the way that dogs do. Cats are not as eager to please their owners, they want to please themselves.Cats never respond positively to punishment, so yelling or punishing your cat for doing a bad behavior doesn't help to train it. Your cat is likely to strike back at you by doing even worse things or by withdrawing affection from you completely. A cat that is punished only believes that you are being mean to it and it will be afraid of you and avoid you.
Reward Training: Keeping in mind that cats are after their own pleasure, you can then understand that the right kind of training to pursue with your cat is reward training. See below for the Best Quality Treats for Cats!
The important thing to remember with reward training is that you do not want to reward bad behavior. For example, if your cat jumps up on your bed while you are sleeping in the very early morning and you dutifully get up feed it, pet it and give it water even though you don't want it to wake you so early, you are telling your cat that this is the behavior it should demonstrate to get food, petting and water in the very early morning.
As you can see, training your cat has a lot to do with retraining yourself and how your respond to your cat. You have to have patience and perseverance to train a cat. There will be times when you make mistakes, but you don't reinforce the bad behavior, you reinforce the good behavior.
You also need to have the tools for retraining your cat. For example, if you have a cat that uses your furniture for a scratching post then you should get your cat a scratching post of its own so that it has an acceptable alternative.
Determine exactly what behaviors you want to train your cat to learn or change. Make a list and then go about determining how you should approach the behavior, what tools you will need and what you can do to stop the bad behavior.
In many cases stopping the bad behavior will simply require that you stop reinforcing the bad behavior. As in the first example, you shouldn't let your cat rule you in the early morning. You can shut your bedroom door or shut your cat up in a particular room of the house at night and so eliminating the night time feeding, petting and watering.
Do not give in and reinforce the bad behavior even if your cat cries. If your cat insists on being fed overnight then you can feed it right before you go to bed. Then even if your cat insists on it you will know that it really doesn't need to be fed until the next day.
Training Your Cats for Specific Behaviors
Scratching Furnishings
To stop your cat sharpening its claws on your household furnishing you will need a scratching post and then you will have to make the places where your cat has been scratching less attractive. See: Cat Scratches Furniture
When a cat scratches it is also essentially leaving a sign post for other cats, much the same way that dogs mark their territory with urine. So you should eliminate your cat's scent from the scratched area first, and then make the texture unattractive to scratch. To eliminate your cat's scent you should use a pet deodorizing cleaner on the spots where it scratches. Then cover the area with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Do this on every area where your cat scratches.
Then break out the scratching post and cover it with catnip and put it in a prominent space in the room. Once kitty begins to scratch it will get a very rude awakening as it will not like the texture and noise of the plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Most often it will only take a week or so for your cat to get attached to a scratching post and then you can remove the aluminum foil or saran wrap. If your cat goes back to the old habit repeat the steps above.
Cat Litter box Training
To stop a cat from eliminating in other places than the litter box, first figure out why it doesn't like the litter box. Are you using a scented litter? Switch your cat litter to unscented. Are you using crystal litter? Then switch your cat litter to clay and vice versa. Some cats are very particular about where they deposit their waste, and a simple change may stop the unwanted behavior. You may need to put the box in a quieter or less traveled spot in your home. If you have more than one cat, try supplying more than one litter box.
Next make the spot where the cat chooses to eliminate unattractive by using a pet deodorizing cleaner and then covering the spot with aluminum foil or saran wrap. Place the litter box where it is prominent in the room and handy to the cat.
If a cat's litter box is all the way in the back room it may not be able to get to it when it needs to quickly enough. You can purchase some very nice furniture-design litter box covers so that the litter box is hidden from guests but easily available to your kitty.
If your cat continues to choose a different spot to eliminate such as on your carpet, bed, couch, etcetera to deposit its waste then you should take your cat to a veterinarian to see if this behavior is linked to a physical or psychological problem.
Some cats get constipated, which is painful, and they will go anywhere but the litter box because they associate the litter box with a painful place. The same may be true for cats with urinary tract problems. Your veterinarian can prescribe treatment for these conditions and the cat may immediately go back to using its litter box.
But if not, you can try litter box crate training. Get an animal crate big enough for your cat and the litter box. Then whenever you feed your cat, immediately put your cat in the crate with the litter box. The cat will then have immediate access to the litter box. Try to make the floor of the crate unattractive so that it isn't tempted to use the crate floor as its waste disposal site.
Once you let your cat out after it has deposited its waste, keep any eye on your cat. If it starts turning circles or scratching at a spot then you may want to put it back in the crate because this can signal that it needs to eliminate waste again.
Other Behaviors:
You may never be able to retrain a cat not to attack a prey animal that you keep as a pet. But you can possibly retrain the behavior with a squirt gun, some water, and a keen, attentive eye. Once you see your cat stalking your other pet or trying to attack your other pet then squirt it with the water gun. This is the fastest way to stop bad behaviors. However, it should be used as a last resort.
To train your cat to go to the bathroom in your toilet so that you don't have to clean and change a litter box first you must get a litter box that fits inside the toilet. Usually after a period of time your cat will get the idea and start going in the toilet after you remove the litter box after a week or so. Usually only the smarter cat can accomplish this task.
For more complicated tasks like going through tunnels or jumping over objects, giving a treat and offering praise after the trick is completed is a good way to train a cat to do complicated tricks.
Remember that a cat responds well to methods of training that are beneficial to the cat. They don't understand that eliminating on your carpet is a bad thing. Nor do they understand that you like your curtains in one piece. You will have to accommodate them and train them in a positive way. Always offer praise and treats of good behavior and do not reinforce bad behavior or resort to yelling and violence and make your cat afraid of you.
