How to Teach a Cat to Fetch

After sharing that hilarious kitten fetch video, a dog-envying friend instantly contacted me wondering how she could get her sweet kitty to play fetch, too. For her benefit, and the rest of the cat owners who want to delve into fetch duty, check out some quick tips to get started at home. If your pup's not into the game naturally, or hasn't learned yet, this is similar to how I taught lil North to play . . . minus the catnip parts, of course!

• Pick a time. Consider both when your cat's most active and her mealtimes. Try to find a time when she's not napping or hasn't eaten recently and it's time to go.
• Pick a toy. Most pets have a favorite plaything. Choose one that she can easily carry, and preferably not one with super-tempting catnip already packed inside. See if you can get her to chase after it when you toss it a short distance. If all of those things succeed, it's time to work on the fetching part.

Curious why the toy should not have catnip already inside? Find out and read more.

• Grab the catnip. I'd prefer to not use a toy with catnip inside because part of the trick to the lesson's success comes from the addition of something special. If the toy is already intriguing, we only want to make it more so. Rub the toy in some of the green stuff 'til it grabs the scent.
• Play come back. Throw the toy a short distance away to start (say about five feet) until she chases after it and say "fetch" as you do so. If she takes the toy in her mouth, call her back to you, luring her over with a treat. Offer the treat and, as she drops the toy, give her the food, take the toy, and offer your words of praise. Gradually increase the distance of your toss as she picks up on the process.
• Work through the problems. If she prefers to roll around over the toy, go over to her and hold a small bit of kibble by her nose to distract her. After you give her the food and offer words of praise, you can take the toy back and go to your original spot.

Eventually, she should associate both the word fetch and the action with getting a treat in exchange — Sooner or later, she can do this with no bonus food needed.

Source: Flickr User ibm4381