Training your kitty is a fun and rewarding pastime. Moreover, it is amazing mental stimulation for your precious pet.
You can teach your cat to do tricks, but you have to make sure that the overall experience is positive. Offer your kitty treats, teach one trick at a time on a regular basis, and don’t make a single training session longer than 10-15 minutes.
How to Make Your Cat Do Tricks?
No matter what trick you would want your cat to learn, there are a few basic tips to take into consideration:
- Training should be a positive experience – use treats when the cat succeeds and never punish the little guy, if it is not able to deliver, simply don’t give the cat the reward
- Limit a single training session to around 10-15 minutes (at times, even 2-3 minutes would be enough for your kitty to get bored)
- When the kitty completes a trick, repeat it 5-10 times in a row and offer a reward each time
- Use cue words only once the cat had already learned the trick
- Teach one trick at a time
Read: How Long Do Cats Tails Grow?
How to Train Your Cat to Do Tricks Without Treats?
At first, you might have to use treats as a reward as it’s the easiest way to get a cat to pay attention. You can withdraw the treat once:
- The kitty has been treat-trained together with a clicker
- It started to respond to voice commands
You can also use sweet-talk or affection as a reward.
Can Cat Be Trained Like a Dog?
Cats certainly can be trained, but they don’t have the same inclination toward following your instructions as dogs do. And even though your feline friend would want to make you happy, that desire is not as strong in them as in pups.
With that being said, most kitties are trainable and they can learn to do a lot of tricks if you have the time and patience to teach the fluffy balls.
Read: Does Cat Need Bath After Swimming?
Are Cats Easier to Train Than Dogs?
Dogs are, in general, a lot easier to train. However, teaching your cat a trick should not be extremely challenging, especially, if the little guy is food-motivated.
Can Most Cats Do Tricks?
All healthy cats are smart enough to be able to learn a trick. But some of them might not be willing to do that.
Try to find something that is going to motivate your cat and offer that as a reward. If nothing works, then you might have to accept that being trained is simply not in your kitty’s character.
How Long Does It Take for a Cat to Learn Tricks?
Some cats are going to need only a few sessions to pick up a trick, while others will require months of regular training.
Read: Why Does My Cat Want So Much Attention in the Morning?
Why Can’t You Train a Cat?
Cats have been domesticated more recently than dogs and they have not been bred to perform a special function (like guard the house, for example).
Some kitties won’t respond to the training because it’s not in their nature, but that does not mean that they aren’t smart enough.
What Trick Can I Teach My Cat?
There are plenty of fun tricks that you can teach your kitty. Some of the most popular ones include:
- Learning to come to you when you call the little guy
- Learning to sit
- Giving you a high five or a fist bump
How Do I Teach My Cat to High Five?
- Make sure you’re on the same eye level as the kitty.
- Hold a treat in front of you (at the cat’s shoulder level).
- The cat will reach its paw and touch your hand that’s holding the treat – use the clicker when the kitty does that and give it the treat.
- After a few times, the kitty will figure out that it needs to touch your hand in order to get the treat. At one point, stop holding the treat, and when the fluffy ball touches your palm, give it a treat with your other hand.
Read: Why Cat Not Feeling Well After Fight?
How Do I Make My Cat Do Funny Things?
Teaching your cat to walk on a leash could be a fun thing to do. It would be cool to be able to walk your kitty along the streets and your feline friend is going to enjoy the experience a lot (it is a safe way of allowing the cat to explore the great outdoors).
How to Teach Your Cat to Roll Over?
Before learning to roll over, your cat should already know how to lie down on cue.
How to Teach Your Cat to Sit?
Slowly moving the treat from the kitty’s head towards its tail should naturally make the cat go into a seated position (if it was following the treat with its eyes).
Before starting the training, make sure that the fluffy friend feels confident and that it’s physically capable of performing the trick.
How Can I Teach My Cat to Smile?
Cats use their eyes to smile – the ‘slow blink’ is a feline’s analog of a human smile.
The truth is that you don’t really need to teach your kitty to slowly blink – simply do something that the little guy is going to enjoy.
Read: Why Does My Cat Grunt When I Pet Him?
How Do I Teach My Cat to Play Dead?
Teaching the kitty to play dead is not the easiest trick, but it’s definitely one of the funniest!
How Do I Make My Cat Meow on Command?
The truth is that you might have already taught your cat to talk as meowing is the kitty’s way of communicating with people (they rarely talk with other cats).
You can try meowing at your kitty until it answers. After that, give the cat a treat and repeat the ‘trick’.
How Do You Teach a Cat No?
Kitties don’t exactly understand the word ‘no’, it’s the way you say the word that truly matters. You should use a firm, authoritative tone and make sure not to change the way you say the word so that the cat has a chance to remember the pitch and volume.
Look into the kitty’s eyes while saying ‘no’. You can also use your finger to point at your cat.
How Can You Tell If a Cat Is Smart?
Your kitty is smart if:
- The cat comes when called and greets you when you come home
- The kitty remembers when it’s dinner and breakfast time
- Your pet notices the changes that happen in the house and shows its displeasure
If the cat is able to learn a few tricks, then it’s definitely smart, but if the kitty can’t be bothered, then it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s silly.
How to Make Your Cat Smarter?
- Get a food puzzle
- Play hide-and-seek
- Create a ‘kitty TV’ (a bird-watching station, for example)
- Teach the cat to walk on a leash
- Build obstacle courses
Are Cats Smarter Than Dogs?
Cats and dogs are intelligent in their own ways. However, kitties do have a better long-term memory and they are better hunters than pups.
Can Cats Learn Their Names?
Kitties do recognize their own names and they can even learn the names of other cats and the humans that they’re sharing the household with.