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No matter what type of pet you have, you will eventually have to deal with behavior and training. Many people believe that only dogs need training, but that is not true. Cats can benefit from some training, as well. In fact, understanding cat behavior and training methods can help you and your cat to get along much better and live harmoniously.

Training a cat is not too difficult, if you understand the basics of cat behavior and how a cat learns. Cats learn through experience. Just like a small child, they will avoid doing things that cause them pain or that are not pleasant. A cat will seek out things that give them pleasure or get them attention.

So why are so many cats untrained? Well, some people that own cats are making a giant mistake! They are rewarding their cat when their cat is behaving badly. Those cat owners are not doing it on purpose. If fact many of them don't know they are doing this. A quick example would be if your cat is excessively meowing and you stop them by holding them or feeding them. Well, your cat just associated being loud and obnoxious with love and food so you can expect they are going to do this behavior more often to get want they want.

Cat owners are frustrated and confused when their cat training practices are not successful. Well, if you are trying to train them like a dog it won't work. Using punishment to train your cat like using a spray bottle to spray your cat when they are doing something wrong doesn't make them afraid of behaving badly it just makes them avoid you since you are the one spraying them. If you're are the one making the environment unpleasant they associate the punishment with you.

One of the things you must do is provide your cat with an environment that encourages good behavior and discourages bad behavior. The litter box can often be an area where problems occur. If your cat does not seem to want to use the litter box then the problem could be with the litter box and not the cat. A litter box should be in a private place, away from noise and kept clean. Additionally, other cats or animals should not be using the same little box as your cat. Providing a litter box that gives your cat privacy and that is clean will provide an encouraging place for him and should help stop accidents.

If your problem is cat scratching then your problem is not the cat scratching it's where they scratch. It's natural for your cat to scratch and because of this can not be trained not to. They scratch things when they are stressed out, need to groom their claws, and when marking their territory. To stop your cat from scratching your furniture and other belonging you will need to get them a scratching post or anything else that they can scratch on instead.

After knowing this you and your cats relationship is easy to save. Remember to avoid punishing your poor cat. It doesn't do you any good and only makes them afraid of you. Then remember that they love attention. There's a rumor that cat's don't like attention. This is wrong! Cat's are naturally independent but still have feeling and love to be loved. Your cat will do anything for you to give them a little love. Just don't give it to them when they are doing something bad. *Important: Your cat may be misbehaving because they don't feel well and this is the only way they know to get your attention. Take them to the vet to rule out any medical conditions before implementing any form of training.

Take a little time to understand your cat. It will keep their behavior under control.