My Cat Will Not Eat

When it comes to training an animal, if you're looking to teach your cat to stay and sit, you should probably think about becoming a dog owner instead. But cats can easily be trained to use the litter box (instead of the kitchen floor) and scratch a scratching post (instead of your sofa). Teaching your cat these simple behaviors will save you a lot of aggravation!

Cats cannot learn any other way than by experience. The equation is simple: a bad experience equals discontinued behavior, while good experience equals continued behavior. That's why the secret to training your cat is to positively reinforce all the behaviors you want to encourage and give negative consequences for unacceptable behaviors.

For instance, lots of cat owners complain about being woken up at the crack of dawn by their cats. But how do they reward that behavior? They get up and tend to the cat, thereby teaching him that his obnoxious behavior accomplished exactly what he wanted.

Another training misstep cat owners make is - upon finding a wet spot on the sofa -- seizing the cat, sticking his face in the spot, hauling him to the litter box and forcing his paws through the litter. Unfortunately, the only thing this will teach the cat is that he should run when the owner is coming, and by all means, he should stay away from the litter box!

The bottom line is: reprimanding your cat doesn't work. If the punishment comes long after the crime, your cat won't know why you're mad. If the punishment comes immediately after the crime, your cat will just wait until you're gone to do what he wants. Some cats will act up simply to get your attention, so noticing the misbehavior at all would be a reward. You can't win!

But if you're still determined to train your cat, there are three simple steps to take. Discontinue all forms of punishment, no matter how badly your cat is behaved. Try to manipulate the environment so that the good behaviors are pleasant experiences and the bad behaviors are negative experiences for your cat.