Real Estate Innovation

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.

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 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.

To have a healthy relationship with your cat avoid punishment at all costs, and remember they love attention. Popular belief is that cat are anti-social nothing cat be further from the truth. They are just independent. Cat’s will do anything for a little attention just make sure to give to them when they are not misbehaving or you will reinforce that bad behavior with a pleasant association. An important note to remember is to take your cat to the vet before you decide their bad habit is a behavioral problem. They may be ill and need medical attention and that’s why they are acting out.

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