Mary Allen
The little kittens learn a lot from their mother and also from their siblings in the first few weeks of their lives. Kitten education by humans is still absolutely necessary. After all, the mummy kitty doesn’t raise her kittens according to the standards of human manners.
However, it is up to you as a human roommate to make your mini kitties understand that the purpose of your curtains, your wallpaper, and your sofa is not to sharpen your claws on them. In general, it is helpful to understand the reasons for your cat’s behavior. By sharpening its claws on the wallpaper, curtains, and the like, your beloved kitten will mark its territory via the scent glands on its paws. The subtle smell is imperceptible to humans, but it is noticeable to other cats and animals in general. The cat also sharpens its claws in this way, cleans them externally, and stretches and stretches its body.
Sharpening your claws is therefore a completely natural behavior. Your beloved cat is of course still welcome to pursue this, but not at your facility, but on a scratching post or board provided for this purpose. You can usually convey this to your little feline fur creatures with empathy, calm, and a little patience.
This is How Kitten Training Works
It is also important to keep in mind that cats are loners, not pack animals. Thus, they do not consider their human roommates to be alpha animals either. It follows that they do not always necessarily obey what the person at their side would like to educate them to do. In addition, cats are simply different in obedience. Basically, however, kitten training works well if you follow a few tips:
- An important aspect is that you should react immediately to the behavior of your feline fur creatures. If the kitten is on the table, for example, or if it stretches its nose over the edge of the table, if it sharpens its claws on your sofa, wallpaper, or curtain, just say firmly and yet gently “no” and lift your cat from the table or carry him to his scratching post.
- Set up the scratching post or ideally several in one or more easily accessible places. It is also advisable to position the scratching posts near the furnishings that your cute newcomer likes to sharpen his claws on. You can create additional incentives by spraying the scratching post with a little catnip.
Raising Kittens: Showing Immediate Responses
You always have a time window of only one to two seconds to react to the undesirable behavior of the kitten. It is important to do this so that the cat relates your negative or positive reaction to the last action it committed. Every consistent and immediate action by you in connection with positive reinforcement for everything that your little kitten has done well, usually causes the kitten to heed the rules you have set up quickly and sustainably.
Leave Kittens with the Mummy Kitty for a Long Time
It is extremely important that you leave the little kittens with their mother for as long as possible. The closeness to the mother is important for the physical and mental health of the little feline fur creatures. If, on the other hand, small kittens are separated from their mother too early, this can, among other things, increase their level of anxiety. That in turn would reduce the quality of life of the cat – as well as the chances of education. The little kittens are simply more receptive when they feel safe and mentally balanced.
Kitten Education: Aids in Positive Reinforcement
There are various aids you can use to train kittens. Some cat experts swear by the use of a clicker. You can achieve a lot with clicker training using so-called marker signals, which positively reinforce good behavior in your cat. In principle, it is possible to train any cat with the clicker. But here, too, there can be individual differences in terms of how strongly the respective cat responds to this training method.
The clicker works through the distinctive sound it makes. Such a sound does not occur in the cat’s normal environment. As a positive reinforcer, the clicker immediately signals to the cat that it has just done something right.
After clicking, you have a tight window of one to two seconds to reward the little kitten with some dry food, for example.
Clicker training is also used where there is a need to teach cats tricks. For example, also for film shoots in which cats are used. Once you have taught your house tigers the basics of harmonious coexistence with the clicker, you can then usually use this type of conditioning to implement larger tasks successfully. Some owners even use the clicker to teach their cats little tricks.
If one of the little kittens is in the litter box, it often seems to have an inviting effect on the siblings. As soon as a kitten sees another kitten in the litter box, it jumps after it. It is not uncommon for two kittens to use the litter box at the same time. Later on, cats should each have their own litter box.
Reward Through Treats and Pats
However, not all cat experts appreciate the use of this device, which makes a crackling frog-like noise. Some find the use of the clicker to be a bit too impersonal an educational method. After all, the most important thing is to build a deep connection and a relationship of trust with your beloved mini roommate.
Clicker critics believe that when kittens have just done something well, they should be conveyed to kittens simply through food, praise, and petting. In this way, you can let your house tiger share in your authentic joy about his positive behavior.
With positive reinforcement, you can generally quickly and sustainably change the behavior of your roommate kitty. However, sanctions such as the use of a water syringe are strongly discouraged because they would destroy the desired relationship of trust with your beloved cat. The establishment of a trusting relationship is the alpha and omega of successful kitten training.
If your kitty does something that arouses your displeasure, the best way to respond is to say a resounding “no” right away. At the same time, you should take the cat away from the kitchen table, worktop – or wherever it is illegally located – and gently place it on the floor, in its basket, on the scratching post, or the like. This is how your fluffy furry creature usually understands quickly.
Kittens Get House Trained Quickly
Mini kitties also usually learn to use the litter box in a short amount of time. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out here that a mini-tiger can of course have a mishap during the learning phase. If this happens, you should never get angry, but always react gently and patiently and simply put your roommate kitty in the litter box, always talk to her well, and perhaps also stroke her head. Then you could withdraw discreetly so that the little one can do her business unobserved.
Never Stroke One Spot for Too Long
As much as kittens and cats love being petted, their receptors can be overwhelmed by petting them for too long. Under certain circumstances, this can lead to the fact that after a while the kitten shows that it is getting too much. You should pay attention to this aspect and accordingly do not stroke the cat for too long in the same place.
We wish you a harmonious coexistence and a lot of joy together with your feline fur creatures – as a kitten and later as a cat.