Cat Training Techniques
For Everyday Problems inc. Litter Box Issues.

Cat training cat can be seen in different ways and there are different goals that some of you might want to attain.

We at “our happy cat” want to keep all the information we give you real and straightforward. After all we come from a domestic background, owning and looking after our cats as part of the family.

We are not cat trainers, running a business supplying cat actors to the media.

So the information found here will be aimed at the everyday issues and problems that occur in day to day living that cause us humans to pull our hair out and leave our cats bemused at our reactions.

Learning from our cats.

We love our cats the way they are, free thinking and independent, while still being our affectionate friends.

Now because our furry friends don’t understand English (although I personally think they do learn some of the language, even if only at the most basic level), to be able to train your cat to do anything we must find out how they learn to do things their way.

Cats learn by experience. If it’s a good experience like sharpening their claws on that nice new chair they will do it again. If it’s a bad one, like burning their whiskers on a candle they won’t do it again (it took Mo two experiences of this before she decided it was a bad idea).

So our first lesson is to realise, that to get our cats to do or not to do something, it has to be either a good experience or a bad one.

Unfortunately most of us are not very good at this and we often end up being responsible for giving our cats the wrong message about what is and what isn’t good behavior (in our minds).

For instance, shouting at your cat after they have left a puddle on the floor and then putting them in the litter tray, is a bad experience for he cat. So they will associate the litter tray with a bad thing and will avoid it. See how easy it is to give the wrong message?

The first steps in successful pet training

If we make sure that from the very first day that we bring our cat home we provide our cat with only a positive environment, we should be able to avoid basic behaviour problems such as scratching furniture, cat urine puddles and walking on food surfaces. Here are three things to keep in mind:

Never shout at your cat for doing a wrong thing. – They just won’t understand that the loud noises you are making at them is because they urinated on your carpet.

They just won’t associate the two. All it is doing is making them afraid of you and not providing any positive pet training.

Create a cat positive environment. – Making sure that litter trays are provided and that then are situated suitably, and that areas are provided where your cat can display some of their natural instincts like sharpening claws, are all positive experiences for your cat and may mean that cat training is not required.

Make sure your cat does not get bored. – A bored or neglected cat can be a destructive cat. Give them toys to play with and your undivided attention at least once every day.

You’ve seen the kid who is not getting any attention throw his toys out of the pram, well your cat urinating on your chair is saying the same thing, “hey, look at me”.

Remember the golden rule. Treat and praise good behavior. Never react to bad behavior.

What are the main problems which pet training can help to resolve?

We have written pages concerning the main cat training requests we have had from our friends who have recently adopted a cat are:

So we have written about our experiences of each of these cat training issues and have hopefully provided practical solutions and techniques to enable you to successfully train your cat. If you have other cat training problems please feel free to email us with your problem and we will do our best to give you our personal experience. Top of Cat Training Page