Cat Behavior and Training Go Hand in Hand

No matter what type of pet you have, you will eventually have to deal with behavior and training. Many people believe that only dogs need training, but that is not true. Cats can benefit from some training, as well. In fact, understanding cat behavior and training methods can help you and your cat to get along much better and live harmoniously.

Training a cat is not too difficult, if you understand the basics of cat behavior and how a cat learns. Cats learn through experience. Just like a small child, they will avoid doing things that cause them pain or that are not pleasant. A cat will seek out things that give them pleasure or get them attention.

The question people still have is if cats are so easily trained then why are so many cats still untrained? The simple answer is: People are simply making giant mistakes when training their cats. They are going against a cats' natural learning process. They are rewarding a cat for bad behavior and doing nothing for good behavior. For example: If your cat is meowing and you end up stopping the meowing with a tasty treat or some attention. This has just taught your cat the excessive meowing gets them loves and treats so they end up meowing more often.

Punishment does not work with a cat. Too often cat owners resort to using a spray bottle of water as a means of discipline. When the cat does something wrong it gets a spritz. The problem with this is that the cat is only learning to be afraid of their owner and not that what they are doing is bad. They can not piece together the bad behavior and the punishment, so it will not work to correct the behavior.

What is the right way to train your cat? One of the most common cat behavior problems to is their cat is not using the litter box. To fix this you needs to get rid of any unpleasantness that might be around the litter box. Since cats value their privacy the first thing to do is put their litter box in a quiet and private place. Also, to let them have their own litter box that no other cats or dogs use. Since cats are clean animals they also refuse to use a dirty litter box. Their litter box needs to be kept clean in order for them to use it.

Another common issue is scratching. In order to feed your cat's 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.

As mentioned, cats like attention. They are not the anti social animals that many like to think they are. Kittens, especially, will do almost anything to get your attention. This can include bad behavior and excessive meowing. To help your cat avoid falling into bad attention getting habits you should first have him checked by the vet. Many odd habits can actually be a sign of an illness or other health problem. Then you should try to spend time playing with the cat and giving him attention regularly.

Understanding why you cat does what he does will go a long way in helping you get behavior issues under control. You should soon find that once you start training your cat, good behavior will become the norm.

Ready to get rid of your cat because of all their cat behavior problems? Tired of cat training that just doesn't work? Before you make any rash decisions go to SecretsofCats.com

- Kathrynn Kelley