Reply to comment
Tequila
Hi Barbara -
Great question. The key here is to make haste slowly, as they say. To do a tiny bit often and to associate that bit with something good.
Does Tequila have a favorite food? A bit of tuna maybe? (Now, tuna makes a bad diet for a cat but in small doses, can be an effective treat.) Ben is a pig for plain pork so each cat has their price.
Have tidbit in hand and hand at her nose.(Oh, YUM!!!!) Take the brush and touch her with the back of it - deliver treat. Repeat (maybe). The biggest temptation when working with such animals is the "one more time" syndrome. Try to avoid that. Stop when it has been uneventful - no more than three reps - and walk away.
Over time, we want her to start thinking: Please - please - PLEASE touch me with the brush!
You can see a similar game over at my youtube channel - with introducing nail trimming to a puppy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0qrTsPQ1CI&feature=channel_page
Now, I could not keep a treat to the pup's nose because I was out of hands but same idea.
When you are at that point (or when things have run amok), track me down over at mysmartpuppy.com community (we are cat lovers, too) and I am happy to coach you to the next step or on what to try next.
You're right, there is hope. :)
We reserve the right to remove posts that don't follow these guidelines. By submitting comments, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which include more details.