Yes! You can train your cat!

Age and where you got your kitten or cat plays a role in training your cat. So some simple questions. Where did you get your cat? How old was your feline when you brought it home?

Most kittens and cats bond to humans between 7 and 14 weeks old. A cat adopted from the Humane Society, may or may not be attached to humans, much less you, and may make training a little more challenging. The age will be very helpful in training and you want to have reasonable expectations in order to train your cat. A good time to begin training is when the kitten is 8 to 10 weeks of age. As expected for kittens, the attention span is very short. Space your training sessions about 5 to 10 minutes apart.

The most successful training is done using a clicker. The click lets her know when she is doing an approved behavior. You need two things for the training: the clicker and a favorite treat.

The first step is to pair the clicker sound with the treat. It’s simple – click for good behavior and immediately give the treat. Let her finish her treat, look up at you again, and give another click and another treat. Eye contact is extremely important. This first step ties the click with a treat and catches attention to look at you. The association takes from 5 to as many as 20 repetitions until the kitten has a strong positive association with the clicker.

If your cat is not motivated by the treat, you may need to wait until she is hungry to do the training.

The clicker simply lets the cat know she is doing the approved behavior. Clicker training encourages kittens to scratch the post and not your furniture.

Clicker training is a life-long process and cats of any age can be clicker trained.

For more information about cat training visit Marilyn Krieger’s site http://www.thecatcoach.com/ .

Source: Kittens USA, 2012 Annual, “Bonding Time,” by Debbie Swanson (pg 44) and “The Power of a Simple Click,” by Marilyn Krieger, CCBC (pg 70-73)