Is your relationship with your cat suffering from a lack of good behavior on your cat’s part? Do you want a to fix your cat’s behavior problems? What people don’t know is that a cat needs behavior training just as much as dogs do. Cat’s are trainable contrary to popular belief.
Don’t be alarmed. Many people have heard that training a cat is difficult because cats are stubborn and independent. It certainly can be if you use the wrong methods. However training a cat using the right methods is simple especially once you have a general understanding of how a cat learns. You need to keep in mind that a cat learns through experiences sort of like a small child. Your cat learns to avoid they will avoid doing things that are unpleasant. They will spend more time doing things that bring them attention, praise, pleasure and of course treats!
So why are so many cats untrained? Well, some people that own cats are making a giant mistake! They are rewarding their cat when their cat is behaving badly. Those cat owners are not doing it on purpose. If fact many of them don’t know they are doing this. A quick example would be if your cat is excessively meowing and you stop them by holding them or feeding them. Well, your cat just associated being loud and obnoxious with love and food so you can expect they are going to do this behavior more often to get want they want.
This is why some many cat owners end up confused, and irritated when they see their cat’s behavior getting worse and not better. Another mistake cat owners make is using punishment to train your cat like using a spray bottle to spray your cat when they are doing something wrong. Spraying your cat doesn’t make them associate the spraying with the negative behavior just to you. They’ll end up being afraid of you whenever you’re holding the bottle.
One major cat behavior problem that cat owners have is that their cat is not using their litter box. This is a good place to start eliminating anything your cat finds unpleasant. Cats are private animals and want privacy when using their litter box. Here you would put the litter box in a quiet low traffic area. It’s important to keep the litter box clean as well. No one likes to use a dirty toilet. Another reason a cat won’t use their litter box is because it’s shared with another cat. They want their own space and will find a place to eliminate where they’ll get privacy.
Another common issue is scratching. In order to feed your cats natural need to scratch you need to provide him with a scratching post and encourage him to use it. In the meantime, cover the areas that the cat seems to prefer to scratch on. Eventually the cat should take to the scratching post and ignore his old scratching spot.
After knowing this you and your cats relationship is easy to save. Remember to avoid punishing your poor cat. It doesn’t do you any good and only makes them afraid of you. Then remember that they love attention. There’s a rumor that cat’s don’t like attention. This is wrong! Cat’s are naturally independent but still have feeling and love to be loved. Your cat will do anything for you to give them a little love. Just don’t give it to them when they are doing something bad. *Important: Your cat may be misbehaving because they don’t feel well and this is the only way they know to get your attention. Take them to the vet to rule out any medical conditions before implementing any form of training.
Take a little time to understand your cat. It will strengthen your relationship with them and keep their behavior under control.
