Quote:
Originally Posted by Leafmite
Reminds me of when people try to raise a baby wild rabbit.
I have never trained a cat but I would imagine that if a rabbit can be trained without punishment, a cat probably can, too. Training our bunny took a commitment to working with her every day, plenty of cheerios and graham cereal, plates of greens and apple slices, and a couple of months. No punishments. Once we trained her to know her name, we could use her name as a distraction or to have her come. When she was about to do something we did not want her to do, we just said her name and she would stop. Soon she learned to just not do the thing (except for the electric cords...she never chewed one but it was often...almost). With cats, maybe the same method would work...just substitute favorite treats/food. Daily training and plenty of patience is important for this method.
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Yes, I’ve trained my cats this way for sure. It works well for getting them to do certain things, but controlling unwanted behaviours is tough with cats.
The thing with cats is that they are very smart haha. They quickly learn that something they do annoys us and that when they do it they get attention. For example, they might chew the plant the first time out of curiosity, but once they learn that they get a reaction out of you when they do it, they chew it the next time to get your attention.
They also don’t really care if we are the “head” of the house... they will still do what they want. Possibly when we are not home.
And, they don’t trust easily. If you lose their trust, they will learn to fear you, which can lead to problematic behaviours (and people wondering “why is my cat suddenly swatting at me? Or peeing all over the house?”)
I used to volunteer at a cat shelter and you wouldn’t believe how many people sadly returned their cats because they didn’t turn out to be mini trainable dogs.
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