How Your Cat Trains YOU

I know lots of tricks, taught to me by my human. High five, ringing a bell, jumping through hoops, and more. But there’s one trick that she didn’t teach me, and it’s one all cats know: how to train humans!

That’s right, you humans have been trained to do tricks by your cat. And we use the same methods that humans use when they train us: persistence and routine. Because that’s what we know, and what we’re good at.

You don’t believe me? If you don’t think your cat has taught you do to anything, let me know which of these you do.

• Get up an hour (or two or three) early to give us an early morning snack.
   
• Allow us to go on the dining table and/ or counter as we wish.
   
• Bought a cat tree and a bunch of scratchers because we kept clawing the furniture.
   
• Sat or slept in an uncomfortable position for hours because we were perched on top of you.
   
• Twisted yourself in weird positions to rescue our favorite cat toy that we batted under the sofa, just because we asked you to. Even if we are clearly batting it there on purpose.

When we cats want something, or want a behavior out of our human, we won’t stop until we achieve it. The main reason humans aren’t quite as successful training cats is because they give up way too easily!

The moment a cat falls over in a harness, or a trick takes more than two three-minute sessions to learn, a human gives up. We cats will never stop waking you up at 4 AM until we get our snack.

Just imagine what you could accomplish with your big human brain if you put in as much effort as we cats do with our tiny walnut-sized brains! You might even figure out a way for your cat to stop waking you up at 4 AM. Think about that!

What has your cat trained you to do? I really want to know! Let’s talk about it in the comments.

Here are more cat truths you’ll want to know: