How to gain a cats’ confidence

Cats have been favoured by humans since time immemorial and since that time everyone knows about their difficult character. Cats are wilful and capricious, and to speak their language is a difficult but interesting task. Nowadays the reason for establishing a good contact with a cat is not its usefulness as a vermin exterminator but the will to see the beloved cat content, friendly and affectionate.

To gain a cats’ confidence and inclination you need to create for your pet such living conditions in which it will be absolutely and always sure that in your hands or just beside you it will feel safe and calm. The feeling of comfort and safety for cats plays an outmost importance and, on the contrary with dogs, the food is not enough to make your cat a faithful and affectionate pet. In this case a cat will purr and lean to your legs only when it was asked for but the rest of the time it will be on its own. When we adopt a cat we want it to spend time on our laps, sleep beside us and sit in the room where we are just doing our things and not playing with it. As everyone knows to watch a sleeping cat is a pure pleasure and it’s worth one’s efforts.

Thus, rule number one: a cat in your hands must always feel safe. Of course, there are situations when you will need to do some important but not pleasant procedures for your cat. But even in this case, after and during each procedure pat your cat the way it likes the most and when it calms a little bit down give something tasty still holding cat in hands. This will help to avoid negative imprinting.

Besides, like many other animas, cats are very sensitive to your mood. That is why people say that cats understand everything and are able to endure unpleasant medical procedures. In fact, they not understand this mentally but they feel the owners’ mood and behave properly if the owners’ feelings are based on making good. Cats can understand the reason of unpleasant procedures only when they become regular and make them feel better instantly. Then a cat can remember the sequence and endure this procedure to feel better.

But we are talking about comfort of your pet in your hands now. This means that if you hold your cat in your hands then another person is not allowed to jerk or scare it, pulling its tail or creating other unpleasant situations. If something disagreeable happens in a cats’ environment (sharp noise, for example), don’t let it off your hands. Even if it tries to escape caress it and calm down. This will help your pet to get accustomed to the feeling that even if in the “outer world” something goes wrong in your hands it will always feel safe and good.

The rule number two: you feed your cat personally. For cats this moment in less important than for dogs, but still you have pay attention to it. A person who feeds gives the sense of confidence and stability for a pet. Also, before the meal it is always good to caress your cat creating the additional positive reinforcement for contact with you.

Rule number three: when you are holding your cat never throw it down the way it won’t like. Even if you are busy at the moment and a cat is disturbing you put it down carefully and shift its attention to a toy. Your cat will do its own things and you will be busy with yours, but your relationship with your pet won’t suffer.

If a new pet happened to enter you home it is you who will have to acquaint your cat with this newcomer and by no means let your cat think that this new member of your pack is more important than it. Holding your cat in hands, keep giving it something tasty. This will also help to strengthen its will to spend time with you.

Author: Alena Morgunovskaya