Training Cats Is Easier Than You Think
When people think of training animals, they typically think of training the animals to jump through hoops, do handstands on multi colored balls, or whatever else circus animals do. However, training animals involves much more than thrills and chills stunts. Training animals can also include potty training and a myriad of other behavioral changes that will make them more desirable in a domestic setting. In that sense, people usually think of dogs as the training subjects. However, training cats can also be done. That's right. Most people think of cats as completely independent. They typically run the house and they come only when they want to. But you can be successful at training cats, just like you can when training dogs, you just have to stick with it and make sure you positively reinforce the good behavior when it does occur.
Potty Training
The fact is, training cats to use the litter box is much easier than training dogs to go to the bathroom outside. All you have to do when training a cat to use the litter box is stick them in there, rub their paws in the litter and that's about it. A cat's instinct is to go to the bathroom in the litter box. Of course, they don't have litter boxes in the wild, but a cat's instinct is to cover up their urine and feces with dirt or other debris so that predators or other animals don't know it's there. So, you see, it's natural for a cat to use a litter box. Just show your cat where the litter box is and you're about done. That's probably the easiest time you'll ever have training an animal.
Scratch Posts
The hardest thing you'll probably do while training your cat is teaching it not to scratch your good furniture. Cats love to stretch and dig their claws into fabric, wicker, or anything else that allows them to sharpen their claws. It's funny, though, that they seem to always want to scratch your good furniture. This is what scratch posts are for. Scratch posts are for training your cat to use that instead of your furniture. You have to get them used it the post, though. Put their paws on it and show them how to scratch it. Some of these posts can be expensive and some cats are particular to certain types of posts. That means, depending on your cat, you may have to try several posts before training your cat effectively. Once you find that scratch post your cat likes, however, you'll see that they'll enjoy using that instead of your good furniture.
There are other things you can do when training your cat but these two above examples are typically the most popular questions cat owners ask when trying to train their beloved pets.
