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Cats are greatly popular, and among the top favorites to have as pets. They are cute, fun, and greatly independent, making them easy to have around. However, if you don't know how to train them, your cute kitty, can turn into a great pain.

If you've ever spoken to someone about training a cat, they have probably told you that training a cat is one of the hardest things you will ever have to do. Cats aren't dogs, however they most definitely can be trained. Though they are known to be stubborn and known not to listen to anyone, cats are generally easy to train if you know what you are doing.

These are a few cat training tips to ensure a successful training program:

1. Don't give up before you start

The process of training your cat will take time. It may seem hopeless at the beginning but it just takes time for your cat to pick it up as a habit. They are creatures of habit and once they get it, they get it. Be persistent, and success will follow.

2. Know your cat

In order to train your cat, you have to know what his/her personality is like. No two cats are the same, so if you know how your cat acts, it will make training much easier for you. You need to learn what your cat likes and doesn't like and go from there.

3. Don't Push Too Hard

You need to know when it's OK to train your cat. First, don't wake them from a catnap to train them. They're just like a sleeping baby. If you wake them up when they aren't ready to be woken up and are still tired, you're going to have a cranky kitty on your hands. You're going to get frustrated because your cat is frustrated. It won't want to listen to you, when all they want to do is nap. Plus, you need to keep training sessions short. You don't want your cat to get overwhelmed or worse bored. This will be counter productive, and leave you again frustrated.

4. Positive reinforcement

This is the key behind training your cat. All you have to do is reward your cat each time he/she does something that you like. When your cat does something that you don't approve up, don't reward the cat. In fact, don't do anything. If your cat does a trick, you give him/her a treat. If the cat doesn't, you don't praise it for doing nothing.

5. Small steps

The smaller the steps the more likely it is for your cat to pick up the habit. Since, you already know your cat from step 2, you should know when they are ready to move on, or when you need to spend an extra day reviewing what they've learned. A baby doesn't pick up how to talk one day, crawl on day 2, walk on day 3. Well cats are the same way. This is a process, a training program. You need to know your cat got one step before you move on to the next. And most importantly you must go through all the steps associated with that certain training program. If you are trying to teach your cat to be toilet trained (Yes, this is definitely possible) then you can't jump from step 1 to step 5 and expect your cat to know what's going on. Take it slow, hit every step, and be persistent. Your cat will respond positively to your efforts.

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