Training your kitten
Unlike dogs, cats aren’t exactly famed for their trainability. Despite this preconception, our feline friends are highly intelligent, so it’s perfectly possible to train a kitten if you put in the work. You might want to toilet train your kitten, train away unwanted behaviors, teach them to become more sociable, or even train them to do tricks.
You don’t need much to train a kitten, just some treats, plenty of patience, and 10 or 20 minutes a day to devote to it. Before long, your cat will be the most well-behaved kitty on the block.
Why should you train a kitten?
First off, you might want to think about your reasons for training a kitten. Many people choose to train kittens to reduce unwanted behaviors. For example, you might teach your kitten not to scratch furniture or not to spray urine around the house.
You also have toilet training, which is essential for all kittens to get down, unless you want to find cat poop hidden around your home for the next 12 to 18 years of your cat’s life. If your kitten is nervous, then learning how to socialize a kitten is a must. You’ll have more fanciful kitten training options, such as trick training or obedience training. Not all cats take to trick training, but you can teach many cats a range of tricks, such as fetch or high five.
How to socialize a kitten
Some kittens are more naturally friendly and sociable than others. You’ll find kittens who love fuss and attention as well as those who are routinely scared and hide. This can be a particular issue with rescue kittens who haven’t had the best start in life or kittens born to a feral mother.
If your new feline friend is nervous and skittish, you’re probably wondering how to tame a kitten. The key period for kitten socialization is up to 10 weeks old, so it’s best to get started as soon as possible. You can still socialize a kitten after 10 weeks of age, but it takes more time and patience.
With a kitten who’s already nervous, start slowly. Make sure they have places they can hide, such as a covered bed or cat condo,as you don’t want to overwhelm them. Offer treats, but allow your kitten to come to you. Don’t pet or pick them up right away — build up a level of trust with treats and praise at first until your kitten comes over to you regularly.
Once your kitten is used to being handled by you, it’s ideal to expose them to a range of different people, including children, and various common household sights and sounds, such as the vacuum cleaner or the TV. Reward your kitten with treats for calm behavior.
How to litter train a kitten
Choosing a suitable litter tray is a great place to start when litter training your kitten. A full size litter box is fine, but it should be open, not lidded, and have a low entrance for your kitten to easily get in and out. You should also choose a quality litter that’s safe for your kitten if breathed in or ingested.
Introduce your kitten to the litter box and take them to it after eating, drinking, playing, and napping as well as at any other times when they’re showing signs they need to go. Cats are naturally clean animals and like to do their business in the same spot every time, so most kittens take to their litter trays extremely quickly.
How to teach a kitten tricks
Teaching your kitten tricks is one of the more challenging aspects of training a cat, but it can be fun and rewarding for both you and your kitten if you do it right. First of all, you need to decide which trick you want to teach your kitten. Teaching your cat to come when called or to shake paws are both easy tricks to start off with, but the choice is yours.
Once you’ve decided on the trick, look for resources online. You’ll find plenty of websites and YouTube videos dedicated to teaching cats tricks, which will help you get the method down. Many people find their cats learn best with a combination of treats and clicker training.
Tips for training kittens
When training your kitten, it’s important you don’t overdo it. Remember that kittens are still babies and their attention spans are short. It’s far better to train your kitten in three sessions of five minutes apiece each day rather than one 15-minute session. When training tricks, especially, stick to learning one thing at a time and don’t move onto the next trick you want to teach your kitten until they have the current one down.
Positive reinforcement is key to teaching kittens. They tend to be motivated by food, so use treats to reward them when they’ve done the right thing, whether that’s peeing in their litter box or nailing a high five. You may find using a clicker to mark a behavior at the same time as giving a treat yields better results than using treats alone.
Never use punishments
Whatever you’re attempting to teach your kitten, never punish them for getting it wrong. Instead, reward them for getting it right. This is known as positive reinforcement training. Kittens don’t understand punishment. It will only cause them to run away, hide, and become fearful of you. Punishments also cause unnecessary stress, which is likely to lead to more unwanted behaviors and may even cause health problems.
You can, however, use distraction techniques to deter unwanted behaviors. If your kitten is clawing your furniture or baseboards, for instance, one of the best things to do is provide an appropriate scratching post or similar for them to scratch on. Toys can also act as a distraction technique. If your cat is doing something you don’t want them to do, redirect their attention onto a favorite toy.
Lauren Corona is a writer for BestReviews. BestReviews is a product review company with a singular mission: to help simplify your purchasing decisions and save you time and money.
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