By the time a cat is adult it should have been trained:
1 To be clean in the house and use a litter if necessary.
2 To sleep in its own bed.
3 To come in, answer to its name and know the meaning of certain ‘command’ words.
4 Not to scratch the furniture, carpets or walls.
5 Not to claw or climb the curtains.
6 Not to climb on the furniture or food preparation surfaces.
7 Not to steal food from plates.
8 Not to eat flowers or houseplants indoors.
9 Not to be unduly aggressive.
Training should start at an early age so that the cat doesn’t develop bad habits that may prove difficult or impossible to eradicate afterwards. It is important to realize from the outset that either you or the cat is going to be the dominate personality. If you allow it to be the cat you will almost certainly regret it later.
Toilet training, under the mother cat’s supervision, will start as early as three weeks’ old; the other training from around six to eight weeks, they start of the important socializing period of a cat’s life. During this period cats will adjust naturally to the presence of people and other pets, to being handled and to the animal noises of the household. Kittens which are not adequately handled and trained during the early weeks and mouths of life will usually be difficult to handle when they grow older, particularly by Strangers or outside their normal environment. A name should be chosen as spoken whilst the kittens is being stroked and played with so that it beings to associate the name with itself.
