Kittens that age tend to be a bit mental. They don’t seem to get much sense knocked into them until they’re about a year old. You should start seeing small improvements over the next few months, though.
Training him is a good idea. Most cats take really well to clicker training, just don’t expect them to have the same attention span as a dog. Don’t be surprised if you can only hold his attention for a few seconds at the beginning. Good beginner exercises are “touch” (with the nose), “sit” and “paw”.
Clicker-training is considered great fun in our home and the cats come running as soon as they hear me taking the clicker from the drawer. It’s definitely something they enjoy - and it tires them out as well. Always a plus with young cats.
If by “proper” training you mean things like stay off the tables, don’t scratch the furniture etc. then I would say definitely train him. It’s so much easier living with a pet who can follow some basic house rules and who has learned to let himself be handled (your vet will appreciate this as well).
Nikki T on
August 22nd, 2009
One of my cats will do anything I ask of him, sit, lay down, speak etc…. but he is still a nut case and runs through the house like someone lit him on fire. I thought he would out grow it, but here he is at 4, crazy as ever.
Has he been neutered yet? That usually helps take the edge off the craziness, it helped a bit with my cat.
Kittens that age tend to be a bit mental. They don’t seem to get much sense knocked into them until they’re about a year old. You should start seeing small improvements over the next few months, though.
Training him is a good idea. Most cats take really well to clicker training, just don’t expect them to have the same attention span as a dog. Don’t be surprised if you can only hold his attention for a few seconds at the beginning. Good beginner exercises are “touch” (with the nose), “sit” and “paw”.
Clicker-training is considered great fun in our home and the cats come running as soon as they hear me taking the clicker from the drawer. It’s definitely something they enjoy - and it tires them out as well. Always a plus with young cats.
If by “proper” training you mean things like stay off the tables, don’t scratch the furniture etc. then I would say definitely train him. It’s so much easier living with a pet who can follow some basic house rules and who has learned to let himself be handled (your vet will appreciate this as well).
One of my cats will do anything I ask of him, sit, lay down, speak etc…. but he is still a nut case and runs through the house like someone lit him on fire. I thought he would out grow it, but here he is at 4, crazy as ever.
Has he been neutered yet? That usually helps take the edge off the craziness, it helped a bit with my cat.