It may be difficult for you to know how to train a cat and even more difficult to know how to teach him to come to you when you call him by name but, we assure you that it is not such a complicated thing to achieve if you use the correct stimuli to motivate your feline to learn.
The two most pleasant things for kittens are food and affection, with which you just have to know how to use them to always train with positive reinforcement so that your pet associates its name with an experience nice.
Cats are very intelligent animals that learn easily, so if you continue reading this article on our site about how to teach my cat his name step by step, we are sure that sooner or later you will achieve it.
Choose the name appropriately
To teach your cat its name you first need to have chosen it properly. You must bear in mind that the name you choose must be simple, short and not compound with more than one word to facilitate learning. In addition, it must also be an easy name to pronounce so that the feline associates it correctly and it cannot resemble any other training command that we have taught it, since that way there will be no possibility of the cat confusing them.
It is recommended to always call your cat the same way, without resorting to diminutives or aliases and with the same tone of voice, so that it is easier for him to associate it with what you are referring to him.
It is normal to choose your cat's name based on its physical characteristics or a specific personality trait, but in reality, as long as you follow the above guidelines, you can choose the name for your cat that suits you best. you like.
If you haven't decided yet and are looking for some, here are some of our articles that can help you:
- Very original names for male cats
- Names for gray cats
- Female cat names in Japanese
- Orange cat names
Guidelines to keep in mind
Although the vast majority believe that cats cannot be trained, the truth is that they are very intelligent animals and learn very easilyif given the right stimulus. They are just as smart as dogs, what happens is that their independent, curious and detached character makes it more difficult to capture their attention but in reality, we just need to find a way to motivate them, just as a dog is taught to recognize its Name.
When training a cat, the ideal is to start doing it as soon as possible, especially in the first 6 months of life, which is when the feline has more capacity to learn since it is in full stage of socialization.
The most pleasurable stimuli for cats are food and cuddles, so this is what we're going to use to attract your attention and teach him his name. The food that we are going to give him, which will act as a "reward", should not be the one we give him on a daily basis, but rather it has to be some special treat or trinket that we know he loves and that is irresistible for our pet, since in this way the learning will be much more affective.
The most appropriate time to teach your cat its name is when it is more receptive, that is, when we see that it is not distracted playing something on its own or that it is not resting after eating, that he is not nervous, etc… because at this time we will not be able to capture his interest and it will be impossible for us to carry out the training.
If your cat has not been properly socialized or has had some psychological problem, it may have more difficulty learning its name, but if not, any cat is capable of doing so if stimuli and motivations are used adequate. Especially when they understand that after doing such a thing well, you give them a reward in the form of a treat.
How to teach my cat his name step by step?
As we have implied before, the key to teaching a cat its name is positive reinforcement, therefore, the first thing we have to do to start training is to choose the appetizing treats that we are going to use as a reward, for example, some tuna candy, which is something that attracts them a lot.
Next, we will begin to call the cat by its name, pronouncing it clearly at a distance of less than 50 centimeters and with a warm and affectionate tone so that associates its name with something pleasant This is very important since we have to get our cat to associate that sound with pleasant, positive or funny situations so that he pays attention to us when we name him and he comes to our call.
Next, if we have managed to capture our feline's attention and get him to look at us, we will give him a reward in the form of a treat for turning around when calling his name. If he hasn't looked at us, then we won't give him anything, so he knows that he will only get his reward when he pays attention to us.
If apart from having looked at us, our cat approaches us when we call him by his name, then we should reciprocate him in addition to treats with caresses and pampering, which are another of the most positive stimuli, to that he understands that we are happy with the behavior he has had. In this way, little by little, the animal will associate the sound of its name with pleasant experiences for it. On the other hand, if he looks at us but does not come to us, then we can get a little closer to him to remind him what awaits him as a reward if he does.
It is important that we know that with 3 or 4 times per hour that we do this exercise is enough not to overwhelm the feline and to capture the message. What we can do is teach the cat its name every day and take advantage of any pleasant moment, such as when we put its food on its plate, to call it by its name and thus reinforce that word even more.
As we see that the cat is learning his name, we can go further and further away to name him, and if he comes to us, then we will energetically reward him with pampering and treats to make him understand that he has done very well. Otherwise, we should not reward him and we have to keep trying with patience and perseverance, but always being careful not to tire our pet.
Precautions for using your name
Negative stimuli are much more effective than positive ones in cats so that one negative can end the exercise of many positive ones, so it is very important that don't use his name to call him in vain or at some negative moment such as when you have to scold him for something, but only to train him and reinforce the sound once he has retained it.
The only thing that we will achieve by calling him to come when we are going to scold him is that the kitty thinks that we have deceived him, not only by not rewarding him with a treat but on top of that we have scolded him with bad faces. So the next time you do the same thing your pet will think: "I'm not going for that". If you have to scold him for something, it is better that you approach him and use a different body language and tone of voice than you normally use so that he knows the difference.
Keep in mind that every member of your household must use the same name to call your feline and must reward it as well as you do it, with food and lots of love. Don't worry because everyone's tone of voice is different because cats know perfectly well how to distinguish specific sounds, so it will be able to recognize the voice of each one of you without any problem.
Thus, teaching your cat its name step by step can be useful for many things, for example, to call it when you can't find it at home and it has hidden, to warn it of some danger or domestic accident, to call him when he runs away from home or simply to let him know that his food is ready on the plate or when you feel like interacting with him with his cat toys. What we assure you is that this exercise will serve to strengthen your bond and that the relationship with your kitten will be much closer.
