Let's be honest: a cat is not a dog. It's obvious. But there are people who think that both can be trained equally, which is a very big mistake. The feline behavior, its way of learning, and even its learning rhythm is very different from that of the dog. Therefore, when we want him to come to our call, for example, we must have earned his trust before, otherwise he will not pay us any attention.
So, if you're wondering how to train your cat to go when you call, Next I will tell you what you have to do to achieve your goal.
Win your trust
This is the first thing you have to do. If the cat does not trust the human, he will not pay the slightest attention to him. What to do to make him see you as his friend? Many things, but all of them very simple:
- Respect their space: If he huffs and / or growls at you, take a step back. Don't force him to do anything he doesn't want to.
- Make sure they always have food and water at their disposal: also give him a quality diet, without grains, so that his health is strengthened. If he sees that you care about him, he will love you more (except if he is a feral cat, which cannot live inside a house with humans).
- Let him be the one to take the first step: you can for example take a toy and move it as if you were playing with it, but do not force it to play if it does not feel like it.
- Make sure you live in a quiet and safe environment: the screaming, the stress, ... all this is useless (not even for you).
Get him to come to your call
Once you have earned his trust, something that by the way you can know if he does things like greet you when you get home, or climbs on your lap without even having asked him, it will be time to teach him to come when you call him. How do you do that? Very easy: following this step by step:
- With a cat treat in hand, call out to him using a very cheerful tone of voice. In the event that he does not come, get closer to him, showing him at all times what his prize will be.
- Call him back. Say things like "look, look what I have" (he will not understand, but as the days go by and you repeat it, he will end up associating those words with something very positive).
- If he hasn't come yet, play a bit interested. Look at the treat like you really want to eat it. And, in an unexpected moment, quickly get up and walk away from him while calling him.
- As soon as you have it right in front (or to the side), give it the treat.
If you see that he is having a hard time learning, instead of a treat, offer him a can of wet food. The latter never fails  .
Then it will only be a matter of repeating these steps over and over again. Sometimes with food, sometimes without. As you see that he understands it, substitute more and more food prizes for caresses, since you will not always have candy or cans to give it.
I hope it has been useful to you  .