How to Train Your Cat to Respond to Its Name

Naming our cat is a very pleasant moment for us. But when a cat starts responding to its name, nothing feels better than that. But cats need to be trained to understand that it is their name, and they need to respond whenever that name is called. 

But before we start training our cat to understand and respond to its name, we need to make sure we have prepared the following: 

Patience: When you want to train your cat by its name, make sure to have patience. Every living thing is different. They take their own time to learn and be trained. So you need to be patient when you want to train them. They will not instantly learn their name. Some cats will learn faster, and some may take some time. In both ways, you need to be patient and not scold and reprimand them. 

Start early: Start training the cat as early as you can. Cats at an early age are more receptive and learn faster. So you will need to spend less time training them, and they will recognize and understand their name faster. 

Specific Name: You need to make sure that you have chosen a name for your cat. You may ask if it is a given. But it is not. I have seen many people change their cats’ names multiple times, which eventually makes the cat confused, and training these cats becomes even more difficult. So you need to make sure the name is chosen and stick to that name before you start training.

Short name: Cats respond better to names that are short and easy to understand. You can give your cat a big name, but make sure you train it with a short name. Cats will likely be confused if you try to train them with a big name. So make the name short and easy to understand. 

Ask everyone in your house to call it by name: When you have chosen the cat’s name, ask everyone in the house to call it by the same name. I have seen houses where a cat has multiple names. These things confuse the cat because we need to remember that cats are not humans. Their brains work differently than ours. We are taming them, so make sure each cat has only one name and everyone calls it by that name.

Understand your cat’s behaviors and preferences: Like humans, cats have their own preferences, personalities, and behaviors. Before you start training your cat, understand their food habits, tastes, preferences, and behaviors. You need to find out what they like and dislike, because eventually all these things will come in handy to train them properly. 

Schedule your cat’s eating time: Make sure to create a schedule when you give your cat food. Follow the schedule consistently. Making a schedule will help you a lot, not just in training but also in many other aspects. 

Give them time to adjust: When you bring a cat or kitten home, usually the kitten or cat is scared. The kitten or cat will take time to adjust to the new environment. We have to train the cat when it feels secure, safe and comfortable. So after bringing the cat home, give it time to adjust and make it feel comfortable. 

So if you have done all these things, then you have already done 50% of the work to train the cat. Now we just need to implement the actual training. Follow these steps to perfectly train your cat:

Location: First of all, find a location where you will train your cat. The place needs to be a place where the cat feels comfortable and safe, and the cat knows the place well. Remove any unwanted objects that can distract the cat’s attention. 

Food: Training with food is the best way to start training them, as foods are something that every living thing likes. Start the training when it is time for the cat’s eating. Make sure to use the food the cat likes while training. Sit with your cat in the chosen location with food to the cat’s liking. Call them by their name. Try it a few times, and when they respond to their name, give them a reward (food) instantly. While you are training, make sure you are providing the food slowly. Do not give them all the food in one go; do it slowly so you can train them for a bit longer. But make sure they are focused on you and have not yet been distracted. 

After you feel like the cat is responding to you well from closer ranges, now we will get out of a room and expand the range.

Different locations: Start calling your cat from various locations, which are farther away from the place where we started our training. If they respond well, then gradually start calling them from every other room of the house.

Calling their name on every occasion: If you feel like your cat is responding to you well from every place and room of the house, start calling its name on every activity of its. What I mean by that is that when we want to do something with a human, we call them by their name. Like Go Jackson, come Jackson, play Jackson, thank you Jackson. Do the same with the cat’s too. Even when you are trying to awaken them from their sleep, try lovingly calling their name to wake them up. This will create a deeper understanding and recognition of their name in their minds. 

Engage your family in the training: Engage your family in the training. Tell them to call the cat by its name. Sometimes a cat just responds to only one person’s call. We do not want that. So make sure to engage the family in the training activities. But only after you have been trained to respond in a closer range.  

Start Decreasing reward: After you feel like the cat is responding well to its name, gradually decrease the reward-giving percentage. For example, start giving rewards for every 85% of the time, then 70% of the time, then 50%, like this. But make sure not to stop providing rewards in one go. This will have a very negative impact on the cat. 

I believe these steps will help you properly train your cat to recognize its name. Happy training your cat!!