Cat - How to Make Your Cat's Life, and YOUR Life, Happier - Training Your Cat

Imagine that you are scolding your cat for scratching at your new furniture, and Kitty is sitting staring at you. Suddenly you realize how silly you look and how futile your scolding is. So how do you train your cat to respect your home? All cats can be trained and should have some training from their owners. You will need to train your cat to use her litter box, sharpen her claws on the scratching post instead of your couch, and to stop negative behavior when you say "no." Cats can also learn to do "tricks," and the mental stimulation of learning is good for them. Cats learn the same way dogs and people learn; they repeat behaviors that have a pleasurable result. The best way to train your cat is to reward her when she does something right. The reward might be a small piece of a special food, or lots of praise from you in a happy, high-pitched voice. Training to change negative behaviors requires you to catch your cat "in the act." For example, if your cat uses your stereo speakers as a scratching post, wait until she is about to put claw to fabric, then firmly say "NO." The moment she freezes and turns towards you, switch to the happy voice and praise her. Move towards her to distract her away from the inappropriate object. If she makes any movement towards you praise her even more. Timing and repetition are the keys to success here. You must catch her as she moves to act inappropriately, and praise her the exact moment she stops. Things to remember if your cat scratches your furniture * Understand your cat's need to scratch. * Forget punishment - it doesn't work. * Provide a suitable place for your cat to scratch such as a scratching post * Make the scratching post attractive to Kitty * Make the place she's been scratching unattractive - physical or scent related deterrents will work * Whenever possible, start cats young. * You may want to trim your cat's claws. Training simple tricks can be incorporated into daily playtime. Always keep some cat treats in a pocket during training time. To teach your cat to "shake hands," begin by saying "shake," then touching your hand to the underside of one of her front paws. Praise her for letting you touch there, and give her a treat. Repeat this over and over again. Eventually, you can lay your hand flat on the floor just in front of her paw. Say "shake" and wait. If she even moves her paw towards you praise her and give her a treat. Little by little, she'll catch on that every time she touches your hand with her paw she can get you to give her a treat. Once she willingly touches your hand, you can start to raise your hand off of the floor a little bit at a time. Keep training fun. Stop the session before she loses interest, and always end on a positive note with a reward. You can use the same one-small-step-at-a-time technique to teach your cat to walk on a leash. This allows you to take your cat outside for fresh air and sensory stimulation without having to worry about her running off. Purchase a cat harness from a pet supply store. Before you even try putting it on your cat, simply leave it lying by her bed for a day or two. When she is used to seeing and smelling it, loosely put it on her just before her normal mealtime. Hand-feed her food to distract her from the harness and to make wearing it a pleasurable experience. Remove it when the food is gone. After a few days, you can let her wear the harness around the house. Let the leash drag behind, but watch to make sure it doesn't become tangled around furniture. When she seems comfortable with the harness and leash, pick up your end and walk with her, letting her lead the way. Eventually she will walk willingly beside you, and you can both venture outdoors. Pet Medication Supplies can help you get the best possible supplies for your pet. Advantix, Arthramine, Cosequin, Frontline, Heartgard - find the best deals in pet medication for flea and tick control, arthritis and lyme disease. Upto 50% discount everyday on brand names. Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Niall_Kennedy Cat - Cats Love To Hunt - It's In Their Genes Cats are one of the best developed species when it comes to hunting. They are very effective predators, even domestic cats can hunt and eat more than 1000 species including mice, birds, rats, moles and fish. Their whole body is made for hunting, their senses are much better developed than those of humans. Cats can hear and see better, they have skills and instincts that helps them to catch their prey. If they didn't have these skills they would starve to death in a natural environment. Cats can hunt a huge variety of animals. They eat very little animals like roaches but also bigger ones like rabbits or rats. The fact that cats are not specialized on a small number of preys gives them a better chance to find an animal to hunt. If there is no tasty rabbit to hunt, they go for a mouse or a bird or even small animals like spiders, roaches or other insects. In order to hunt these little fast insects, cats need to be also very fast as well as intelligent. Cats use different strategies to hunt their prey like sneaking or pouncing. Cats have developed these skills throughout thousands of years and unlike us humans even domestic cats still have these skills. Humans had similar skills but we lost them due to civilization and industrialization. There are cats hunting in groups like lions or tiger. As you can see in various wildlife reports on TV they are very successful by hunting in a group. Although there are cats hunting in groups most cats are single hunters. They simply sneak as close to their prey as possible. If they are close enough the prey has no chance to escape. In most cases cats hunt in woods or in areas with high grass, this way they can hide and not be seen by their prey. Cats are very silent when hunting, you will not hear them coming, they suddenly appear. You can see some domestic cats presenting their victims to their owners. These trophies are kind of a present, they give you something back in return for feeding them. This is a highly social behavior and means that the cat has adopted the human owner in her social group. Sometimes this means that the cat wants to take care of you. This behavior can be seen in wildlife , cats help each other in case one was not successful at hunting. Cats are specialized on killing and eating other animals. They have developed special teeth to kill the pray fast and shear it up in pieces that fit into the mouth. It is probably good to give your cat raw meat once in a while for a better development of her teeth. This natural food is healthy for the cat because it provides needed amino acids, taurine, vitamines and quality fat. Cats can not live on a vegetarian diet, they are carnivores so they need their meat. They need a high percentage of amino acids and vitamins provided by the meat. A vegetarian diet can not provide enough amino acids, it contains too many carbohydrates and other low quality ingredients. Feed your cat with a high quality meat or special cat food. Make sure the cat food does not consist of too many carbohydrates or low quality ingredients. If you want to be nice to your cat provide her a way to get outside the house. You cat can then develop its natural instincts and behavior. It has a chance to develop its skills at hunting and sneaking. Your cat will love the nature and it will be thankful for getting outside. Maybe your cat will come home with a little present for you, something like a bird or a mouse... If you life in a city where there is no possibility for your cat to go outside then at least play with her at home to develop her skills. This can be done in several ways, read about it in other articles on my website. Enjoy having a cat!