# Why Train Cat Tricks??



## JoeShmo43 (Oct 19, 2009)

There are a lot of reasons to train your cat to do a few simple tricks. Its much more that just having a cat that knows cool tricks so you can brag to your friends 
A few reasons that come to my mind.
1. provides structure -- helps with your cats temperament, mental health and behavior.
2. fun interaction with you -- your cat needs to interact with you! and its fun why have a cat if you don't want to spend time with her/him? 
3. both mental and physical exercise. Pretty self explanatory -- just spending a few min a day playing with your cat and teaching a few simple tricks to do wonders for your cats health and well being, and who doesn't want to keep there cat away from the vet!
4. Learning tricks can even help solve some behavioral issues.

here are some simple tips to get you started with your training (they come from Dr Yins website about teaching cats tricks -- she is just a popular behaviorist) 
Tips for Training Cat Tricks

1. Only train when kitty is hungry and stop before hes tired or full.

2. Decide what you want to reward and get the treat to kitty immediately when he performs the right behavior. Repeat 5-10 times in a row before going on to the next step.

3. Shape the behavior. Start by training a baby-version of what you want and gradually train behavior closer and closer to your goal. (e.g. targeting by just stretching the neck to touch the target and eventually running across the room to touch the target).

4. Use a verbal cue ONLY when you know kitty will perform the behavior otherwise hell learn to ignore the cue

I hope others will post some of there training tips here

as well as reasons why you should train your cat. Maybe you can add to what i said. Thanks


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## dagny0823 (Oct 20, 2009)

I successfully taught my cat to sit. And another plays fetch, just like a dog. The dog refuses to fetch, by the way, but the cat is obsessed with it.


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## KarenHSmith (Apr 20, 2008)

Great information there. My cats don't know anything, other than what it means when the tin meets the folk  :lol:


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