In the wild, cats have a natural ability and instinct to care for themselves.  House cats, on the other hand, depend on humans for care and feeding.  They require a considerable amount of attention.  Bookstores and local humane societies can provide cat owners with a plethora of educational materials on the responsibility of cat ownership and the care of cats. Here are some tips for how to care for a cat.

Many people falsely believe that it is impossible to train a cat.  You can train a cat with any positive training program that is based on a system of gentle training and rewards.  Rewarding good behavior and ignoring bad behavior is a proven way of training your cat.

It’s true that cats keep themselves clean.  They like to clean themselves up a little daily.  Nonetheless, your cat needs a good bath every three weeks.  Products designed just for cats are available at your local pet store, but any mild soap is sufficient.  Some, if not most, cats don’t care for baths. Unless you train your cat from the time it is a kitten to get used to bath water and reward it with a treat following every bath, you will have a scratchy situation on your hands when you try to bath the cat when it gets older.  Start when your cat is a kitten and you should be able to acclimate the cat to bathing.

Try to keep going into the bathroom for a bath calm.  If the only time you take your cat in the bathroom is for a bath, it is going to tense up when you pick it up and head for the bathroom.  Allow the cat to enter the bathroom with you at other times so that it becomes just another room in the house.  Then, when it is bath time, try to keep your cat calm and entertained.

Towel dry your cat and brush it.  Do not ever dry your cat with a hair dryer.  The sound and heavy air from the dryer will likely make your cat try to run away.  Also, the air from a hair dryer is too hot for your cat’s skin. Don’t forget, before bath time is over to carefully clean your cat’s ears and nails with a q-tip.

Most cats like to sleep with their owner or at least nearby. It’s a bad habit to allow your cat to sleep in your bed.  You’ll constantly have cat hair on the bed and your clothes.  Get the cat its own bed.

It’s best to place the litter box where the odor will not bother the family.  Keep the litter box clean or your family may not appreciate you or your cat! Keep some of these tips in mind when it comes to choosing a pet for kids as well.

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