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Typically by the time a person gets a cat from a shelter or pet store, that cat is pretty well trained. It usually already knows to use a litter box and may even recognize the sound of an electric can opener. But if you're training adult cats on your own and for whatever reason, you may realize that it's much more difficult than you imagined.

Understand Your Cat

Adult cats, like adult humans, are often set in their ways and typically lack the energy and the desire to change which makes it difficult for their owners to introduce new behavior and habits. When training adult cats you need to understand how adult cats think and what will and will not motivate them in order to be effective. Otherwise, training adult cats will be pointless and ineffective.

Rewarding Your Cat

One thing to remember when training adult cats is that cats usually respond better to rewards and positive reinforcement than to punishment and negative attention. This means that you need to praise and reward your cat when he does something you want him to do, rather than emphasizing negative treatment when he misbehaves. When training adult cats, be generous with treats, special foods items such as canned tuna or salmon, and lots of physical attention as well. They'll be more likely to do what gets them these things than to avoid the things that make you yell at them.

Concentrate On Training Your Cat

When training adult cats you also want to be sure that you're not doing anything that gets in the way of that training. For example if your cat is eliminating in areas of the house rather than the litter box, make sure you're cleaning the box properly. It needs to be scooped out once a week and the entire litter changed and box washed every week. A dirty box will be avoided by a cat. Think about this in all aspects of training adult cats; if you want the cats to stay off the counters, don't put their food up there where they can see it and be tempted. If you want them to stop swiping at the baby, make sure the baby is not hurting them. You're wasting your efforts in training adult cats if you're also doing things that are counterproductive to that training or ignore how instinctive they are in protecting themselves when threatened or avoiding unpleasant situations, such as that dirty litter box.

Be Patient When Training Your Cat

The training adult cats can be done but it usually takes a lot more time and patience on the part of the owner, as well as some realistic expectations. Kittens are much more trainable because they haven't learned to be afraid of other animals and have more energy; adult cats usually just want to eat and sleep and play only occasionally. When training adult cats you need to remember these things and be sure that you're exercising that patience. If you do, and reward your cat the way you should, then you're sure to have the most success.

If you'd like more of my Cat Training Tips, check out my "Insider Tricks and Secrets to Training Your Cat".

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