I have heard that it is quite impossible but... is it posible to train a cat?

my boyfriend should be moving out of his house, and will be taking the cats with him. He will be living with a friend, and then after i graduate, will join him and his friend. Don't worry, his friend loves my cats too, and is very good with them.
I was wondering if it is possible to train a cat of 1 year or more basic commands-if any... obviously it may take a while, but i just want to know from other people's experiences if it is possible to train a cat of one year or more basic commands -if any... please tell me how long it may take and what you have or know others to have taught their cat, and how they did it...

thank you!!!

What you do with a cat is wait until it does something (small) you want it to do, and then instantly reward it Over and over. They won't sit still for 'sit, stay, fetch', but if praised like mad and given treats at the right time, will definitely learn to do things again, and if you put a series of such things together, you can have a routine. It does take a long time however, and the cat must be doing things it would do naturally, or like doing.

All my cats have been trained as not on tables, manners while we eat, getting down off of things they should not be on, stop if they are getting themselves into something bad. I have always been extremely successful with vocal commandments, "down", "stop" with a hand clap (sometimes it takes a little more depending how rylled up they are!), and the not always so successful coming when they are called witch simply takes a good treat like Pounce, shake the can everytime and they make the connection. Cats are extremely smart, it does have to be something they want to do, however I have always had a best friend relationship with each one and this reflects the "wanting to please you" theory............... I know I want my Maia to be happy!

Originally Posted by xXPunkKittenXx

my boyfriend should be moving out of his house, and will be taking the cats with him. He will be living with a friend, and then after i graduate, will join him and his friend. Don't worry, his friend loves my cats too, and is very good with them.
I was wondering if it is possible to train a cat of 1 year or more basic commands-if any... obviously it may take a while, but i just want to know from other people's experiences if it is possible to train a cat of one year or more basic commands -if any... please tell me how long it may take and what you have or know others to have taught their cat, and how they did it...

thank you!!!

Click to expand...

Yes, it's possible to train your cat to do simple commands. I've taught 8-Bit to shake using a clicker. Go to Petsmart or another pet supply store in your area and buy a clicker and some of your kitties favorite treats. I'll put the rest into steps:

1. Make sure you have very little distractions for your kitties.

2. Show them the treat and let them sniff it.

3. Click the clicker and at the same time shake their paw up and down.

4. Give the treat.

It took 8-Bit about two days to figure out what was going on, and learn that it was a really fun game.

Now I have a cat that shakes and all of my friends are impressed. I'm going to start working on roll over soon.

You could try clicker training

http://www.clickertraining.com/training/cats/

I have the book and the clicker - just not got around to doing the actual training It works on the principle of rewarding them when they do something you want them to do.

Treats, patience and clicking. That's all you need for most of them.

I taught Clover how to sit using Pounce treats. I would ask him if he wanted a kitty treat and he would meow like he knew what I was talking about. Then I would let him sniff the treat, push his behind down and then give him the treat. He caught on very quickly. It is amazing how smart they are.
Lori
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my cat knows "down" and "no" and she gets really excited when I say "go get it". then she runs into the other room and waits for me to start throwing toys. Obviously she comes when I call her name and I have taught her to touch my fist to open it and to get a treat. She also stays away from any dining table when we eat, doesn't jump on the dining room table or kitchen counters (when I am around). Now if I try to list all the tricks she has taught ME, I would be typing a long time.

I trained Gizmo, a four year old adopted cat, by saying "No" when she did something I did not like (and removing her from the something.) Then as soon as she was away, she got "Good girl!" and a pat and some cuddling. The trick is to reward her at once. Then she associates the good behaviour with a good thing. I rarely use treats, though I have started again with one that she likes.

Gizmo knows a great many words, comes when she's called, will go eat when she's told to, and do many other things on request. . ( I don't think it is possible to command a cat to do anything!) But she persists in jumping on top of my animation desk By now, when I'm working, I know that after a long silence she's probably up there...so without turning I say, "Down" and I hear the thump of little cat feet on the floor.

for some reason she is obsessed with getting on top of that desk.

Basically, you can teach them "come", "stay", "down or off" by persistance.

Ling has learned a few more commands simply being raised with our dog.

I've taught a few cats to shake hands and to lay down on the floor on command and wait till I threw the paper ball, then go chase it.

Our cats know "No." They aren't allowed on kitchen counters or tables. With each new cat we've had to be persistant with the "No" and gently putting them back on the floor. Eventually, they stop trying because they never get to stay and get tired of jumping up for nothing.

I think I could train Lily with Tempation Treats... she'll do anything for them. The other two aren't interested, though.

Cheers, from
SwampWitch

I have taught several of my cats “sitâ€, “shake†and “sit prettyâ€, and so on. I used moist food and treats as a reward, and most caught on pretty quickly. I was also able to teach my CH kitten who is deaf and has vision problems to come to a motion hand signal, which helps when she gets worked up or is about to get pounced on by another cat…so there is a good reason to teach them beyond just the novelty of it.

Not every cat picks up on every trick (and some donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t care to learn at all), so I tried to pick things that came more naturally to each of them and fit their personality. The better I was at picking something they would be comfortable with, the faster they were able to learn it.

Prego and Polly both know sit, and Prego knows kiss (he touches my nose with his nose). Prego did kiss naturally, so I started giving him treats when he did it, then taught him the word. When I taught him to sit, I just gently pushed his behind down, and gave him a treat. Then I taught him the word. He learned in one weekend. Polly learned to sit by watching Prego. She didn't learn as fast, but she's catching on quite well.

I have a clicker and want to start using it.

Originally Posted by xXPunkKittenXx

my boyfriend should be moving out of his house, and will be taking the cats with him. He will be living with a friend, and then after i graduate, will join him and his friend. Don't worry, his friend loves my cats too, and is very good with them.
I was wondering if it is possible to train a cat of 1 year or more basic commands-if any... obviously it may take a while, but i just want to know from other people's experiences if it is possible to train a cat of one year or more basic commands -if any... please tell me how long it may take and what you have or know others to have taught their cat, and how they did it...

thank you!!!

Click to expand...

I say BRUSHING TIME and head into the room where the brushing takes place and Persi usually leads me not follows me. It took about two week to totally train him to do this because when the brushing is over he gets a ration of Pounce immediately. This was easier done than any dog I have ever tried to train to do anything.

Zoey knows come, sit , stay , get off , go , lay down

Spaz knows Come, sit, lie down, go, and no

Kitten and Bagheera both know sit, spin and off. The other 2 just stare at me if I try to teach them anything.

Originally Posted by 4crazycats

Kitten and Bagheera both know sit, spin and off. The other 2 just stare at me if I try to teach them anything.

Click to expand...

Spin? What is that? It sounds like fun!


Miss Arizona knows: "here kitty", "sit", "no", "kitchen"

I'm teaching Buffy and so far I've only been working on "sit." I started it when I got a free bag of Whiskas Temptations (really cheap stuff but Buffy LOVES it so I decided, what the hey, why not try training with it, and I already have a clicker anyways). Buffy acted like she was getting the hang of it when the bag ran out, so I bought a couple more bags about a week later and tried again. At the end, Buffy was actually starting to sit on command. Of course, I don't know if it was because I was doing it over and over and over and she knew I expected it, and therefore wasn't associating the action of sitting with the word "sit" that was coming out of my mouth. But it's an interesting experiment, lol

I only got to use one bag's worth, though. Buffy chewed through one bag so I dumped the remains of that bag into the 2nd bag, and then Buffy chewed that one a couple of days later and my dog got to the rest when Buffy dropped the bag on the floor. *tsk*

I want to train shake-a-paw, though I don't know how hard it'll be. Buffy's smart, but she doesn't like us touching her feet (she knows that means there's a chance we'll clip her nails... lol). But I'm going to try it anyways, see what happens.

I had a couple of cats in the past that I tried training like a small dog and it worked out GREAT!! My cat would walk on a leash, sit, lay down, turn in circles, and jump wherever I wanted him to. Also, sit up pretty. He was COOL!! I think it just depends on if you can find a reward they get excited about. I think the ones that like food are the easiest to work with.