Cat taming is not about making it obedient but earning trust, building a respectful relationship, and understanding their needs and boundaries. No matter you a rescuing a stray cat or adopting a shy kitten, it takes a lot of patience and consistency to tame them. Some cats are easy to tame, while others take time due to humans’ fear. Regardless of stray, feral, or domesticated type, every cat can be adopted.
But the real question arises when it comes to their training. Although most cats have the potential to live as pets when they are treated with care and kindness. If you are about to adopt a cat and are conscious about how to tame a cat, the right approach without any rush should be adopted. Fortunately, we’ve covered it all what you need to know about taming a cat and making them a valuable part of the family!
Understanding Types of Cats and Their Behaviors
Understanding the need to tame a cat helps you identify the possible measures and precautions needed. Taming not only helps cats feel safe, reduces stress, and prevents behavioral issues, but also improves their quality of life and socialization. A tamed cat allows easy handling, grooming, and eating, and lives happily with family members.
When we talk about adoption, there are different types of cats, including feral, stray, and shy or timid. Feral cats are the wild ones that avoid human interaction and are fearful and aggressive when anyone approaches. Stray cats are once owned but are currently homeless and are used to human interaction and adjust quickly when rescued. Lastly, shy cats are often raised indoors, which either lacks socialization or suffers from any genetic trauma, requiring time with gentle encouragement.
How To Tame Different Type of Cats?
Taming a feral, wild, stray, or shy cat can be a whole different level of experience because all of them need a different kind of attention and handling. Here are some quick ways to make cats feel like part of your family.
How To Tame A Feral Cat?
When taming a feral cat, it is essential to be consistent and patient. Start gently and offer them different treats. Don’t stare at them or make sudden movements, it might scare them. Have a TV, radio, or some background noise. Calm yourself before taming them. Provide them with food with a specific word. Offer them toys for interaction, and know that consistency is the way to get them to behave normally like a pet.
How To Tame A Wild Cat?
If you are looking for tips on how to tame a wild house cat, first know that domesticating a wild cat requires a great deal of patience. For this, create a comfortable and secure space. Trap the cat humanely, like offering them some strong smelling food. Schedule a visit to the vet for a health checkup. Respect their space and provide a cardboard box-like hiding spot. Communicate with body language, move towards a gentle touch slowly. Also, stick to patience and positive reinforcement.
How To Train A Shy Cat?
Being an owner, one must know how to tame a cat that is scared. Comforting a scared cat can help them avoid any traumatic experiences. Give these cats a safe and calm place to hide. Understand their triggers, and get your hands on some calming products. Set a routine and stick to it, no matter whether it’s about feeding, playing, or training. Ensure interaction at the same time, and observe their body language. Be calm and say to do the same for the rest of the members. Take time to earn their trust.
How To Tame A Stray Cat?
Relaxation and consistency are the key to begin with taming a wandering cat. But compared to a shy, feral, and wild cat, taming a stray one is not an impossible task. Give your cat the maximum possible time to relax. Keep the carrier along, so that she can hide whenever needed. Have at least 1-2 times interaction and don’t let her play hide and seek all the time. Carefully groom the cat with your hand or a wet wipe. Speak to your cat in a low, calming voice and never mistake their fear for aggression.
1. Observe Your Cat’s Nature
There are several factors that will determine the cat’s taming ability, including the cat’s age, personality, human experiences, space, and daily routine. Therefore, the first thing is the observance of their nature.
Get to Know Your Cat’s Personality
After adopting or having a cat, observe your cat for a few days to determine their reaction when humans come close. Look, if the cat is scared of humans? Or is it aggressive? If you think the reaction is dangerous, don’t try handling them by yourself; rather, call animal control or the Humane Society. The professionals will deal with them carefully, and you won’t have to deal with danger or injury risks.
Observe Your Cat’s Body Language for Cues
What you can do next is to observe the cat body language, which can be obvious during any interaction with humans. For instance, an aggressive cat will have flattened back ears, dilated pupils, back and forth switching tail, and the cat must be growling, which is a sign to back off. A scared cat will lie flat with its tail between its legs, so you need to be cautious. In contrast, a relaxed cat will come forward, alert with a straight up tail, and may lie down or roll onto its back.
Notice Your Cat’s General Health
When you are not very close to your pet, you can still observe your cat’s health from afar. Look, if the cat is bony or skinny, it can be hungry. Also, check your kitten or cat’s fur; if shiny, it’s a sign of good health, but if it looks matted, bald, or patchy, it’s a problem. Aside from that, look for other prominent signs like cuts, sores, injuries, limping, and other issues like vomiting.
2. Let Your Cat Adjust to Your Presence
Making a cat comfortable with your presence is another step that leads towards successful taming. You can make a cat get used to your existence in different useful ways to feel safe and more secure in a place.
Introduce Cat to Your Voice
Talking to your vet is the simplest yet useful approach that creates a sense of being important and acknowledged in cats. Make sure to talk to your kitten or cat in a low or gentle voice. Sit near them daily in a specific period or take them in your hands while talking so that they get used to your voice and come running to you whenever they hear your voice. It will not only improve your bond and communication but also teach them some specific tones and emotions.
Set Out Dry or Wet Cat Food
When you begin talking to your cat, offer it some dry or wet cat food to chew. Continue giving it to the cat without approaching for at least 3 days. After that, check for their body language to see if it is comfortable with you. If the cat is comfortable, it will come forward and lie down to eat. But if it is content, its ear will come forward with its tail up, arch its back, and have flat fur.
Try Approaching the Cat With Food
One of the best steps on how to tame a feral cat is offering them a spoonful of food joyfully or playfully. For trust building with pets, you can even nickname your pet “kitty”. If the cat hisses, it shows that the cat is not fully comfortable around you. In this case, give them a proper time until they feel okay to eat around you. Some cats get used to your presence in a few weeks, while some take a few months. So, don’t force interactions and food, because a cat might be scared, or a wild cat can even be defensive.
Watch for Aggression Signs
Cats sometimes exhibit signs of aggression, such as growling and lunging when approached, which indicates that they still need more time to become accustomed to your presence. Teaching a cat to be friendly is also a part of taming, and an owner must know how to calm an aggressive cat by being gentle. Also, you can seek animal control help in case you are unable to handle a cat by yourself.
Use a Cat Pheromone Product
Try giving your cat a pheromone product if you want them to feel more appreciated and welcomed at your home. These chemicals are designed to calm a cat through their scent. You can also use sprays to sprinkle the chemical around the cats while being careful not to scare them. Using a diffuser can also help if the cat is kept in an enclosed area.
Pet the Cat with A Spoon
Take a long spatula or cooking spoon and wrap a fleece cloth around it. Slowly take a spoonful of food towards your kitten without startling. While it is eating, pet them with a spoon. If the cat runs away, don’t force it, but if the cat gets comfortable, try it for a few days until they becomes habitual to it.
3. Making Contact with A Cat
For an effective interaction with a cat, letting them approach you is the best idea so far. When a cat comes to you, don’t make direct eye contact as it can be perceived as a challenge or might scare them, rather slowly blink and use a soft voice.
Wear Protective Clothing
Whether you approach your cat for food or petting, it is necessary to wear protective clothing. Make sure to wear long, thick gloves with a long-sleeved shirt and pants. This protective wear will ensure the safety and minimize the chances of getting bitten, scratched, or injured by any means. If the cat feels defensive, don’t approach it anyway without an animal protection team.
Use your Hand to Pet Cat
Cat human bonding is necessary when it comes to making them a part of your family. If petting your cat with a spoon doesn’t work out, try using your hand under the spoon to pet the cat. Petting the shoulders and head only is advised. Never pat the underside as the felines might take it as a sign of threat and get defensive. When they get comfortable enough, you can touch or pet their belly.
Try Picking Up the Cat
Understanding cat psychology is also necessary when taming a feral kitten. When you’ve pet your cat a few times, try approaching them with a blanket or towel to pick them up. Make sure the kitten is calm and relaxed because it takes a lot of time to get to this stage of holding them. If it struggles and hesitates, let it go because you can get scratched or injured.
4. Visit the Vet with A Cat
Visits to vets are necessary for cats because they can detect health issues early and treat them on time for various conditions, ensuring overall well-being. Also, you can prevent emergencies and critical situations by visiting a vet regularly.
Get the Cat Carriers for Transport
Get your cat used to carriers for easy travels in or out of the city for any upcoming condition. For any health checkup, you can place your cat in a comfy and secure carrier. Keep the carrier open for the cat at home so that it can get along and explore it by itself. You can place food in front or inside the carrier, such as cat food feeders, check our top 10 automatic cat food feeders, so that the cat gets inside to investigate
Take Cat To Your Veterinarian
After you are able to handle the cat enough to take it to your vet by yourself, get its health evaluated first. Make sure your feline is properly vaccinated or has all the necessary treatments and checkups done. Vaccine protects a kitten from various diseases like leukemia, so ask your vet for the recommended vaccines. Get it treated for protection treatments against worms and fleas on the spot.
Get the Cat Spayed or Neutered
After getting the necessary treatments and administering them at home, spay them. Avoid males and females to give birth to feral kittens. The vet will tip its ear during anesthesia to trim off to indicate that the cat has been spayed or neutered.
5. Socializing a Feral Kitten
If you are concerned about how to domesticate a wild cat, the first step is getting a cat to trust you. After you’ve gained their trust, one of the best moves is socializing with them. Gradual introduction of physical touch will make a positive impact.
Try Taming a Kitten B/w 4-8 Weeks Old
A cat between 4-8 weeks old is easy to tame because this is the stage when a kitten is learning to be independent and live without their mother. It is easy to tame them during this stage with proper care, consistency, and being gentle. Once the kitten is socialized, it is officially good for adoption and to be kept at home.
Give Kitten a Place to Feel Secure
If you are occupied and cannot actively work on socializing, you can allocate a specific quiet space where they can relax and notice behavior modification. This space can be a spare bedroom, a store, or a bathroom. Never leave them in a totally dark room; hang a nightlight overnight. After they feel secure, you can reserve an area in your backyard where everyone usually plays for cat routine adaptation.
Start Petting Without Food
One of the important things associated with cat behavior training is petting them when they are hungry or eating food. such as their favorite meal from our best canned cat food guide. Next, you can transition to petting without food. Removing food from the equation will let them know that they are being cared for even when the food is not offered. You can try a petting session when they are hungry or after they are full.
Slowly Introduce Cat to Other People
Your adopted cat needs to be socialized with other family members and relatives besides you. Start with only one person to spend time with your kitten. They can be approached by trying to feed them anything or with some wand toys. Gradually, the cat will get used to or start recognizing the scents, voices, and actions of others besides you.
In the End
Cat taming can be a frustrating and time consuming experience, but not an impossible one. After considering all the essential factors mentioned above, a slow yet consistent process can be started. To become their caretaker and tame them, you can start with gentle interactions, Reward based training, desensitization training, and cat socialization techniques. Monitor their behavior and notice cat anxiety signs or adverse reactions and proceed accordingly at each step. For a successful taming of a feral kitten or stray cat, follow the step-by-step guide on training a cat to make them a valuable part of your home!
FAQs | Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Does It Take to Tame a Cat?
Depending on the cat type, temperament, and prior human experiences, it takes from a few weeks to months or even a year to train a cat.
Can You Tame a Feral Adult Cat?
It is difficult to tame a feral cats who have little to no contact with humans. Because they fear humans, and an attempt to tame them can compromise their well-being.
What’s The Best Way to Gain a Cat’s Trust?
To build trust with a cat, it’s essential to be careful, patient, consistent, and respectful of their space. Create a sense of safety and opt for gentle play to foster good experiences.
How Do You Calm a Scared or Aggressive Cat?
Create a safe, predictable, and calm environment, address their issues promptly, and use positive reinforcement for cats.
Is It Possible to Tame a Stray Cat and Make It a House Pet?
Yes! Compared to feral, taming a stray cat is possible because they have already had some human interaction and are receptive and comfortable around people.
What Mistakes Should You Avoid When Trying to Tame a Cat?
Avoid forced interaction and attention, never punish, and don’t neglect natural behaviour. Rather, create a positive and stimulating environment and be patient and consistent.
Can Treats Help in Taming a Shy Cat?
Yes! Treats can be an effective and positive way to associate with humans. Offering treats can make a positive impression and lead to comfortable interaction.
Do Cats Get More Affectionate Over Time?
Yes! They become more affectionate, but that is not always the case for everyone. Some become cuddly, seek attention, and show visible signs of hearing and vision loss.
