Can You Train a Cat?
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Can you train a cat? Whether you are a cat owner or cat lover, you’re in for a treat. Most cat owners would know the answer right away. But for those who are new cat owners, you probably want to know the answer to the question can you train a cat. The answer is obviously YES, you can. If you think that only dogs can be trained and do some neat tricks, you’ll be surprised with what cats can do.
Throughout history, many people have fancied and adored cats. In ancient Egypt, cats played a major role in protecting their storage of food. Cats were trained to catch pest and prevent them from ruining their livestock. The importance of cats in ancient Egypt was evident as cats are even mummified before they are buried. Revered as great hunters, cats were deeply honored and even worshiped as gods and goddesses during the ancient time.
Now let’s find out how to train a cat. Our feline pets can immediately learn from their environment ever since they are still small kittens. They key to training pets such as cats is to through reinforcement. Pet owners should have strict guidelines for their pets. But pet owners, especially cat owners, should always remember to be patient and consistent so that our pets will understand the good behaviors we want from the bad behaviors we don’t want.
When it comes to cats, our feline pets won’t usually obey our commands unless they want to. We may use positive reinforcement, such as giving rewards. Cat food or treats can be used to reinforce positive behavior, as cats will conditioned to repeat the behavior we want them to. We must understand that cats learn from experience. If they find the experience pleasant, they tend to repeat it but if they find the experience unpleasant, they will avoid in doing it in the future.
Cats are known to be independent, making it sometimes hard to train them. As our feline pets can be a great source of affection, they can also be a great source of frustration. Some cat misbehavior includes scratching, especially on couches and curtains. Pet owners may also have problems when their cats don’t use their litter boxes. One thing to remember is you can train your cat. You can ignore them when they are misbehaving or you can reinforce negative conditioning by providing unpleasant response to a behavior. Cats learn very well from mistakes.
Through time, your pet may associate the sound of opening a can of cat food to meal time. As our cats gradually learn from their environment, we can also train them in doing some tricks. In doing so, you must keep in mind that training cats in doing tricks and obeying commands requires a lot of patience. Be consistent and work with one command a time to be effective.
Can you train a cat? Definitely!