Let’s face it, cats are nothing like dogs. They’re not people pleasers and they will only do something if and when they feel like doing it. In most cases, they will do something if there is something in it for them and it suits their mood at that moment. This means that teaching kitty something new can be challenging, but we have a few tips for you.
8 training tips
- Early start Your kitten is smarter than you might think. The sooner you start teaching her new things, the easier it will be. But that doesn’t mean you can’t teach older cats new cues. You might have to be more patient when she is older.
- Short sessions Keep the training sessions short, especially when your cat is still young. Cats can get easily distracted – it’s part of their curious nature. Spend a few minutes at a time throughout the day, rather than hours at a time.
- Interesting training Use your cat’s natural curiosity to make the training sessions interesting. You’ll know what your cat fancies, so incorporate that into her training sessions. For instance, if she loves chasing feathers, use feathers in your sessions.
- Keep it simple Don’t try to teach your cat more than one cue at a time. Then reinforce that cue and let her relax.
- Perfect timing Choose the timing of your training session well. Don’t try to teach her something when she is obviously tired, hungry or thirsty – you’ll be wasting your time. Rather wait until she seems to be in a playful mood.
- Rewards Make the training session worth her while by rewarding her every time she gets the cue right. Her favourite small treat should be rewarding and will give her encouragement.
- Practice, practice, practice Getting it right once or twice doesn’t mean that you have reinforced the behaviour. You need to practice the cue often. If you find that she just doesn’t get it, it might be too difficult for her to grasp. Try something simpler.
- Patience You need to stay calm and practise patience. You can always try tomorrow again.
Bringing something on cue
Cats are natural hunters, and they just cannot help themselves when it comes to catching something that wriggles or looks like prey. Sometimes they will hunt small animals, and we don’t necessarily want our cats to kill or eat these animals. Other times, they might ‘catch’ something that can be harmful to them. This is when the ‘bring’ or ‘bring it’ cue comes in handy, and you can teach it to your cat.
Avoid rodents
For health reasons, it is highly suggested that your cat shouldn’t catch mice and other rodents to begin with. Wild rodents can carry various diseases, like toxoplasmosis (caused by a parasite that completes its lifecycle in cats), or plague (a disease that can affect people and animals). And you want to avoid your cat getting infected by parasites and diseases.
One way to discourage your cat from catching live animals is to offer her various toys that she can safely ‘hunt’ and ‘pounce’ on. Another way to keep your cat safe is to keep her indoors.
8 steps
Follow these steps to teach her to bring something to you.
- Make sure you have her favourite treats close by.
- Allow her to play with a low-value toy that she likes but is not overexcited about for a few seconds.
Would you like to read the rest of this informative article? Get the March/April 2024 edition of Animaltalk magazine now from retailers or order a printed or digital copy from www.coolmags.co.za.
