Your Cat by Dr. Marty Becker

Author:Dr. Marty Becker [BECKER, MARTY/SPADAFORI, GINA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781455510955
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2012-05-01T00:00:00+00:00

Cats enjoy their water fresh, and many teach themselves how to drink from the faucet. Instead of punishing a cat for being on the counter, encourage good hydration by getting a cat fountain.

Chapter 11

SHAPING AND TRAINING GOOD BEHAVIOR

Can you imagine letting a puppy, or a toddler, for that matter, just do his own thing as he grows up without ever teaching him how to behave around people and animals, and what the rules are for living in your home, not to mention the world at large? No? I didn’t think so. But every day, people take kittens home and seem to expect them to raise themselves and turn into well-behaved cats overnight. I hate to break it to you, but that’s just not gonna happen. Sure, kittens already know how to use a litter box when they go to their new homes, but there’s a lot more than that to being a great cat. That cute little kitten is just waiting for you to teach him how to be successful in life, and that means showing him what you want and rewarding him when he makes you happy.

Cats live differently now than they ever have before. It wasn’t that long ago that most people kept cats outdoors and valued them mainly for their skill as mousers. Hunting for food, fending for themselves, and bringing up kittens was a full-time job for cats. Now they’ve moved indoors, have all their meals provided for them, and are spayed or neutered for health reasons. Their only “job” is being America’s most popular pet. Basically, they’re born retired.

Our perceptions and expectations of cats have changed, too. Because we live so much more intimately with them, we know now that cats have a much greater ability to learn and a greater capacity for affection and desire for human companionship than we gave them credit for in the past. Cats today need us to be more than two-legged food dispensers. Now that we have them living an indoor lifestyle, they need us to deliver not only that challenging, action-packed lifestyle that is the birthright of every cat but also our company and our appreciation of their essential catness.

Teaching a cat how to live in a human world takes a special approach. Cats can learn and they enjoy learning, but they can never be forced to learn. Cats do things to please themselves, so the best approach is one that understands and respects the basic nature of cats. Take the time to learn why they do things and what motivates them. Think of it as an ongoing process of learning how to relate to a cat. With cats, discipline is not harsh punishment; it’s simply good communication. When you make the effort to build a strong relationship with a cat, he will respond to your efforts to communicate—and that’s all training is, really: an interspecies communications system.

Does that mean that every cat will respond exactly the same way to your efforts to train him? It would be

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