ModernHealthJournal.com

Train Your Cat To Come When Called

Here, Kitty! How many times has someone called out to their cat to come since the beginning of time and in how many languages? The answer to that question isn't really that important but we know the number would be astronomical. The real question is whether or not any of those fickle felines ever did and, more importantly, why they did. Now, if you want to look at the anecdotal evidence there are plenty of examples of cats coming to their owners when called but it's hard to tell exactly why the cat may have done that. For example, it could be that the cat simply recognized its owner and associated them with food or some other need it may have had. And, if that was the case, then is that a bad thing. After all, it's probably not that important what the reason was as long as the desired result was achieved.

Still, there are millions and millions of cat owners all around the world who want to believe that their furry little friend wants to come to them out of a sheer desire to be close to them and share a real moment of bonding. Now, all of the available science tends to point to the fact that cats do not think like humans do but there is also plenty of evidence that they do have feelings and emotions which bond them to us even if it's on a level that we do not fully appreciate or understand.

So, keeping all of that in mind, let's take a look at what we do know about our four-legged feline friends so that we can figure out just what kind of communication we can really expect to have with them.

Early Cats

No, we're not talking about those cats that decide that three o'clock in the morning is a good time to start their day and, as a cat owner would know, have us start our day with them. Instead, what we're talking about here is the history of cats and, more importantly, their history with humans.

There is a lot of research that has been done when it comes to studying the relationship between humans and cats but the best evidence suggests that small cats which, of course, lived in the wild, began to live closer and closer to humans as mankind developed to the point where they had some form of tribal home and had permanent or, at least, semi-permanent homes where scraps of food were left around. Obviously, this kind of thing would have been attractive to cats as well as wild dogs who we know were adept at following humans as they moved around in a nomadic lifestyle and would leave scraps for the wild dogs to feast on. Now, at first, it was unlikely that men were consciously leaving food for the dogs but, over time, they probably saw that the dogs were good at giving men early signs that other, larger predators were nearby. So, seeing the advantage in having dogs around men began to welcome them and even start to domesticate them. And, as we all know this relationship has turned into a deep and lasting one that has made dogs a central part of life for countless millions of humans.

And then there is the cat. Now, as discussed the relationship between humans and cats appears to go back just about a far as the one with dogs but, being that cats do not really offer much in the way of what humans could rightfully call any real tangible benefit when it comes to things like being able to protect us from predators the question then becomes what use are they really? The answer is really quite simple - cats make people who like them feel good and their generally quiet and independent nature makes them great pets for people who like to have a snuggly little creature around and for those who like to make stupid cat videos. Because, if there's one thing that the internet age has taught us, it's that cats can really make us laugh when they’re not breaking things that we love.

Who Is Training Who?

Okay, it's time to look at just how we can make our cats come to us when called. The simple fact of the matter is that cats are not going to come to you because they think you deserve to be treated with respect for all that you do for them. No, they will come when called because they know there is something in it for them. In most cases that means food. So, since using food as a way to get your cat to come when called seems like an obvious choice, the question then becomes what kind of techniques will really work. After all, we can't just keep pouring cat food into a bowl hoping that the cat will come running. That might work sometimes but it sure doesn't qualify as having the cat come running when called.

Still, we can use the basic desire for food, if we get the cat to associate some kind of treat with a particular sound that we make. The sound itself isn't all that important as long as it is somewhat unique so that when the cat hears it. The key is to combine the sound made by a treat container opening with the utterance of the chosen human sound. So, the trick, as demonstrated by many who have tried this, is simply to give the cats some kind of treat over and over again while uttering the sound. In time, most cats will learn to associate the sound with a treat and come running.

In the end, a little trickery is okay if it gets you a little closer to your cat.