So, you’re saying that we’re not capable of obeying your orders? Well, that’s just not so. Yes, we are indeed independent animals a just a tad hard-headed, but we’re not dumb. Maybe we don’t react the same way dogs do, but I assure you, humans, that you are capable of training and educating us as you please.
We cats are super intelligent animals. You simply have to know the proper techniques and reward us every time we do something right. If you heed my advice, you’ll be able to teach your kitties a trick here and there.
Come here! Though you may not believe it, teaching us to come to wherever you are is very easy… and that’s something great to know every time you have no clue where we’re hiding out 😉
You should get us accustomed to recognizing our being called by our name so that we’ll come to you. To do so, repeat our name every chance you get: on petting us, feeding us, gently reprimanding us … If we don’t catch on at first, try making a noise with a bag of food and then on seeing us coming over to you, say our name, praising us every time we come to you.
Leave my plants alone! Being cats, we love plants for cleaning out our systems, although you may not love that so much, especially because you may have some plants that could be toxic for us.
You’ll successfully keep us from bothering your plants if, starting right from when we are little baby kittens, you very firmly say “No” every time we go toward your plants. If that doesn’t work at first, spray us with a little water. Little by little, we’ll progressively catch on and stop bothering your plants.
Don’t wail at night! You should space our meals so that we won’t go “crazy” during the night, although we may also wail at night out of boredom. If you play with us and tire us out before you turn in for the night and also leave us some toy that doesn’t make noise to entertain us, we may even drop off to sleep at the same time as you do.
Shake hands! We’re not dogs, but we can shake paws with you. Get your cat to sit down and then touch their elbow. Your cat will raise its paw by reflex. While doing this, say the command softly and reward your cat. With practice, your cat will wind up shaking hands (paws) with you whenever you want.
No clawing! To keep your furniture safe from our claws, the best thing is for you to give us a scratching post or the like. You can rub the scratching post with olive pits, catnip, synthetic pheromones or anything else you can think of so that we will feel attracted by the scratching post more than by your dear furniture. If we keep on scratching your furniture even so, you can always resort to spraying us with water whenever you see us embarking upon a furniture-clawing rampage.
