Cats dont do tricks, right? At least, thats the reputation theyve garnered, but it isnt true. Cats can and are trained. Most animals in movies and commercials have been trained, and that includes the feline stars in your favorite cat food commercials. They can come when called, sit, stay and do all the same things dogs are trained to do, but the way you go about it is a little different.

Dogs are best trained with treats and lots of praise. Cats are trained with treats, some praise (though not the same gushing praise youd give a dog) and the best way of all is to make the trick a natural part of the cats typical day. The last is the most effective. Ive also found that older kittens are easier to train than young kittens, and even old cats can learn new tricks rather quickly.

For simple parlor tricks, like sit, stay, and sit-up, the treat method works best. For these actions, give the command, then with happy praise when they succeed, give them a treat and a little rub behind the ears. Obviously, these will be the easiest tricks to teach. Dont make your moving cat sit, but wait until she is sitting already. Have the treat ready, give the command, sit, then immediately show the cat the treat, give it to her while shes still in position, and praise her for sitting. If you do this consistently for a few days, then you will be able to give the command and the cat will obey you even if she had been on her way elsewhere.

Once youve established sit, move on to stay and do essentially the same thing you did approach the cat and give her the treat. You should be able to go further and further away each time you give the command. If the cat gets up to follow you, give the sit command, then say stay and again, approach the cat to give her the treat.

For teaching your cat to sit-up, use the treat as the incentive by holding it above your cats heads, high enough that she can almost reach it, but not so high shed have to jump for it.

You can teach your cat to indicate yes or no with nodding or moving their head side to side by moving the treat in the direction that matches the command. Up and down for yes, side to side for no. This one takes a little longer to move to other situations outside of treats but once your cat makes the connection, and if you reinforce it with using the motions yourself as much as possible, they will use the head movements to communicate with you.

For example, once the yes and no are associated you can ask your cat if shed like to play with a particular toy. Ask, yes? as you move your head up and down. Then put the toy away and say no, while shaking your head. After a few weeks, you can ask your cat if hed like to play and if he nods, then you can get a toy out. If he shakes his head, dont get the toy out.

Other tricks you can teach your cat are most easily done by making them part of a daily routine. If you always say to your cat immediately before feeding time, I bet youre hungry then soon, youll be able to simply say that phrase and your darling will be meowing on her way out to the kitchen.

I once taught my cat to give kisses and hugs. Every morning when I left for work, Id say Im leaving now. Come give me a kiss. Id pick her up and kiss her, and then set her back down on the ground and wave goodbye. Every evening when I came home, Id call out Im home! Can I have a hug? Id go pick up my cat, give her a gentle squeeze, kiss the top of her head and set her down.

In only two weeks, she was trained. I didnt even need to say the whole phrase. I could say, Im leaving now, and shed run out from wherever she was resting or playing, jump into my arms and set her nose to my lips, then let me set her down. When I got home, Id call out, Im home, and again, shed come running, jump into my arms and let me give her a little squeeze. It got to the point where I could be sitting on the sofa, relaxing after work and I could look over at her and say, give me a kiss. Shed run over, set her nose to my lips, then either go off and do whatever it was she wanted to do, or shed lay on my lap and let me pet her.

As long as you dont force your cat, but make her training feel natural to her, she can and will learn to do a lot of so-called tricks, though to her, theyll just be a normal part of daily life.