How to Make Your Cat Love You - Understanding Your Cat

Cats need love and affection to live healthy lives. If loved and cared for properly, your pet cat will love you in return. This guide will help you foster a loving relationship with your feline friend.

1. Treat cats as independent animals. Even though cats rely on your care, they have a strong need for independence and personal space. While cats enjoy being petted, they are not always interested in interactions with people. If you strike a healthy balance between playing with your cat and giving it alone time, your cat will love you more.
- One of the biggest mistakes pet owners make is to treat cats like dogs. Remember that they are very different animals!
- Dogs are pack animals originally bred to work alongside people. In contrast, cats are relatively solitary animals that historically served humans by killing vermin on their own.[1]
- Don’t smother cats or be offended if they hide from you sometimes. This is part of their nature.

2. Avoid resorting to punishment. When cats are punished by yelling or other aggressive actions, they simply tend run away. For the most part, cats do not learn through discipline. Your cat will not love you if you're a mean owner.
- Never strike a cat as this will only make matters worse.
- While spraying a cat with water to punish bad behaviours is a common tactic, water-spraying may make your cat fear and distrust of you [2]

3. Discover your cat’s favourite treats. Like humans, there are some foods that cats prefer over all others. Find out what these foods are, and instead of discipline use treats to reinforce your cat’s positive behaviour. Tastes among cats vary, but small tuna flakes and cooked chicken pieces often prove irresistible. Ration these treats to make your cat love you.[3]
- Avoid feeding cats milk; contrary to popular belief, dairy is unhealthy for them.
- Also avoid feeding cats chocolate, candy, raw eggs, raw meat or fish. [4]
- Remember that treats are not a substitute for full meals of cat food.

4. Embrace your cat’s unique personality! Although there are certain behaviours common to all cats, considerable variation exists. Spend time getting to know what your cat likes and dislikes. Knowing and respecting your cat's unique personality is important to getting it to love you.