How to train your cat

Intelligence

All animals are intelligent in their own ways – and trying to compare across species can give an inaccurate analysis of an animal’s intelligence.

While vats may not learn as quickly as dogs, this isn’t necessarily a reflection of their intelligence, but of our ability to adapt our teaching style. Understanding your cat will allow you to adopt a training method that works for them.

What can you teach a cat?

Think about behaviours that are typical of their species – and go from there. For example, trying to teach a cat to bark like a dog isn’t in a cat’s repertoire, however jumping and meowing are both natural behaviours for cats.

Remember, in addition to natural behaviours, behaviour patterns are influenced by environment, anatomical limitations, genetics and what we teach our pets.

What factors impact a cat’s ability to learn?

• Your cat’s unique and individual characteristic. Like age, temperament, physical and mental abilities
• Their past experiences – both good and bad
• Mental state. What mood is your cat in at the time you’re training them – and whether they’re fit and healthy
• Environment. A quiet environment is best for concentration
• Motivation. What will your cat get out of the training?

How do cats learn throughout their lives?

1. A kitten observes its mother

Much of a kitten’s early learning consists of observational training. A kitten will learn through imitating its mother.

2. Good experiences lead to good habits

‘Habituation’ is when your cat learns that certain habits lead to positive experiences. To recreate this learning practice, make sure your cat is in a good mood and not overwhelmed.

‘Classical conditioning’ is when your cat associates an action with a positive result. For example, when they hear a can being opened in the kitchen, they expect food, as their cat food is usually opened with a can opener.

‘Counter conditioning’ is when you train your cat to like something that they previously didn’t. For example, giving them treats when they need to go into their cat cage for a trip to the vet – to reduce their fear and anxiety over getting into their cat cage.

3. Bad experiences can lead to avoidant behaviour and fear

If your cat frequently has a negative experience in a situation, it may learn to avoid or feat that situation – for example, New Year’s Eve fireworks.

It is essential to carefully introduce your cat to new things – or to desensitise them to things they have a lot of anxiety around. For example, if your cat fears New Year’s Eve fireworks, you could play them at a very low level while your cat is in a calm state. Over time, you can increase the volume and duration to teach your cat that New Year’s Eve fireworks are not a danger to them.

4. Encourage your cat to behave how you want them to behave

‘Operational conditioning’ is when your cat learns that their behaviours have consequences – either good or bad. And your cat will absorb this knowledge into their decision-making process day to day.

You can use this to your advantage – by rewarding your cat for good behaviours, and not rewarding them for behaviours you want them to stop. However, do not punish a cat’s bad behaviour, as this is neither kind to your cat, nor will it stop them from performing the bad behaviour. If you punish your cat for a bad behaviour, it will likely only associate you with punishment, not it’s bad behaviour.

Rewards and practical training

The best and easiest way to train your cat – is by using rewards. The best reward is something that motivates your cat to learn, such as edible things (food, tuna, cheese, etc), toys and cuddles.

It’s important that you reward your cat exactly when it performs the behaviour you want. Using a classical conditioning technique, you can teach your cat to associate a word or sound with a reward. And then you can use the word or sound every time your cat does something good, so they will understand that they have done what you wanted

When carrying out a training session with your cat, make sure:

• You're in a calm and safe environment
• Keep the training session short: preferably 1-2 minutes.
• Reward all good things that your cat does in this session.

Three tips on training your cat

1. Train your kitten through positive experience. The more positive associations you teach it as a kitten, the more it will be able to handle as an adult, thanks to well-laid foundations.
2. If you want to change a behaviour in your cat, for best results learn what motivates your cat.
3. Learning and training should never take place alongside harsh measures like punishment and scolding. We all feel best when we are commended for our good behaviour and helped with those things we fall short on. Training is just as much about good instruction as anything else.