Anne P. Jackson

Kitty Time Training Your New Kitten

So you are now the proud owner of a brand spankin new kitty! It's one tiny purring ball of fur with a little pink nose attached to it – and a whirling fluff of a tail!

When a kitten is born they can't see or hear. They can taste and smell and definitely know where the food is! Like human babies, they mostly just sleep and eat. At around 2 weeks of age their sight and hearing begins to “come in” and they are now ready to do a little bit of exploring. This is when momma starts to earn her keep! The best situation for mom is having her litter in an enclosed space, otherwise she is spending way to much time gathering her wandering flock!

Before we start training our cats to do something or to stop doing something, we need to look at how cats learn. They don't understand English, they can't read books or attend lectures. They learn by experience. If the experience is good, they will try to repeat it. If the experience is unpleasant, they will try to avoid it in the future. They enjoy raking the furniture with their claws, so they continue to do it. But it's quite a shock when they stick their nose in a candle flame, so they won't do that again.

The key to training is to make sure that whatever you want your cat to do is exceedingly rewarding and pleasurable. Whatever you don't want your cat to indulge in must never be rewarding or fun, in fact, it must be unpleasant.

What happens when your cat pounces on your feet when you're trying to sleep? How often do you think it's cute and play with him for just a little while? Folks – that's just what your adorable kitty wanted! You're rewarding your cat for waking you up and playing with your feet! Until you stop rewarding him and actually make it an unpleasant experience “Fluffy” will just keep on waking you up at 5AM.

Cats are nocturnal animals so it is perfectly normal for them to want to play when you want to sleep. You need to switch your cats sleeping habits. Gently wake him up when you see him sleeping in the sun. Get down on the floor and play with him. Get him up and running after his favorite toy. Do this especially early in the evening. You want him nice and tired when you go to bed. After a few weeks, you'll gradually start to see a change and Fluffy will start to sleep at night and be alert and ready for mischief during the day instead!

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