Coming When Called

If you teach your cat to come when called, you will save time and frustrations (overall if you take him outside frequently), although some can be really stubborn.

Get used to call him always by its name, especially when serving him food, and make that all the members of the family do the same, this way the cat will familiarize with all their voices and intonations.

The instruction "come" must be always followed by his name. The next step is to call the cat at different hours and reward its obedience with some prize (caresses, pets, or even a sweet). Cats that are used to go outside the house must be able to hear their calling from a very far distance, so the best is to use a stronger sound, as by pounding on their food plate with a spoon or using a bell.

Damaged furniture
A non educated cat tends to play with the furniture, urinate over them, to scratch the couch and curtains and to sharpen its claws with the legs of tables and chairs.

One of the advantages for sterilizing cats is that it avoids some of these behaviors as is urinating all over the house, although they might keep on doing it if there is a menace on his territory.

Because of it, have in mind that each time you change the place of a piece of furniture or you bring a new animal to the house, your cat will impregnate it with its odor to mark his property. Cats that usually go outside tend to leave their urine marks outside and not inside the house.

Repellents
It's not of much use to reproach the attitude of a cat when the bad deed is already done, but if at anytime you catch him urinating, give a shout saying "no"! and give several clapping with your hands or shake a newspaper to dissuade him to do it again.

If the cat urinates when the owner is not there, the problem is more serious, although there are effective repellents on the market that emit unpleasant odors for cats.

A cheaper option, that you can acquire at the drugstore, is the citronella oil, purgative which use must be moderate, due that a simple drop extended over any surface is more than enough.

The repellents are also useful for dissuading cats from scratching rugs and furniture, but there is a more effective and lasting solution: scratching posts.

To sharpen their claws is a vital behavior for cats, an instinctive activity for hunting and of survival, and it's not logical to expect cats will stop doing it.

However, you can teach them how to do it in an adequate way and on permitted places.

You can buy a scratching post in pet shops, but they are not hard to make them with a hammer, some nails and a bit of skill. They must have a measure of between 60 and 90 cms. And have a firm base. It's best to use pieces of soft natural wood covered with bark.

There are people that cover the post with a velvety carpet, but if you do, you must change it frequently and never use the same material that you have at home, or the cat might get confused. You can also use planks covered with this material or cork planks that you can fix to the wall.

The important thing is to teach the cat to use them, putting him in front and moving their front paws as if scratching the surface. And don't forget to give him a reward.

Even cats that go outside often like to scratch things at home, although only for sharpening its claws (to sharpen them outside also has a sense of territoriality).