Although they lead the 'top' of pets preferred by Spaniards, dogs and cats are very different companion animals. Therefore, their education must be addressed individually for each one. In the case of kittens, they are much more independent and distrustful, as well as less docile and accommodating than dogs.
This does not mean that cats do not also feel love for their humans, nor does it mean that we cannot educate a cat. But if we want to teach our cat certain lessons, we must take into account its particular character to ensure that the effort produces positive results instead of being a waste of time. In this sense, the following tips will be of great help to educate your cat.
Patience should be your maximum during the process of educating a cat. You must adapt to his rhythms and not insist or force him when you see that he is not willing to listen to you.
Also, you have to be very realistic with the training objectives. You will not be able to teach a cat tricks such as giving you the paw or bringing you the slipper, but rather its education must focus on basic aspects of coexistence and necessary lessons for its well-being, such as eliminating in the litter box, not biting, not scratch the furniture or behave when there are visitors at home.
Scolding or punishing your cat when it does something wrong will not get you very far, but rather the opposite: it will worsen your bond with your pet, it will distrust you and it will not want to come when you call it for fear of retaliation. If you don't want him to do something, just say a resounding "no" and ignore him without loving it for a moment. Also, offer him alternatives so that he understands the correct behavior. For example, if you see him scratching the sofa, take him to the corner where his scratching post is and try to get him to use it instead.
The best thing to educate a cat is to opt for positive reinforcement. This consists of rewarding the animal every time it has a behavior that you want it to adopt or repeat in its routine. If he relieves himself in the sandbox, plays with his toys, is affectionate with a visitor... that's when you should congratulate him with affectionate words, give him some caresses, play with him for a while or offer him a treat. This is the most efficient method for the animal to associate these acts with something positive and internalize them.
You have to be very persevering in the cat's education, constantly insisting on it whenever you want it to do something or stop doing it. If one day you don't feel like getting up to take him to the scratching post if you catch him scratching the curtains, you will be regressing in your progress. In the same way, always insist on compensating him for positive behaviors, even if it is only with a few caresses. If you stop rewarding him, he will forget the lesson.
