"come", "food", and his name. His last owner apparently put a lot of effort into teaching him. It can be done. What have you done to teach him what the words mean?

nothing formal

professional dog trainers only give their dogs food as reward. they dole it out over the course of the day. you dont need to go that far, tho.

if the cat eats kibble, put it in a baggy and carry it around. reward him for sitting, coming, laying down, and stop/leave it.
dont worry about signals or words till you have the behavior where you want it. use a whistle for come instead of a word. dont use his name. teach that separately. its just means pay attention. you need it for other things than come.

shape. take little steps.
treat them for funny stuff they do. look up some cat tricks on youtube.
dont forget to gush.

I was surprised at how accomplished this cat is. I never had a cat so accomplished before, because I never trained one since I never knew they were capable of so much. This cat came to me from a deceased owner when he was already 10.

dogs have a lot more truly domesticated brains.
cats, we have messed w their looks. but dogs we gave a part of our brains. and we have bent them in a whooooole lot of ways.

but yeah, they do clicker demos w chickens all the time.
and my parrots are probably more wild still than any animal. and they are pretty trainable once you are the fountain of food.

The cat is the boss and always will be the boss. You are his servant. That is the natural order of things. What you want is not important.

However, they have very nicely taught me Catish and I am now a well trained human. Their goal has been accomplished. I have been assimilated.

every word you say. And he is keeping a mental log. Better learn to sleep with one eye open. Just sayin'...

YOU have to learn how to speak cat. It is your responsibility to recognize that EVERYTHING you do is for him. You only go to work so there is a roof over his head, food, heat, petting, couches, counter tops, food, cat pans, beds, and food. Now there is a king for you.

you may have a breakthrough.

Now, when I want to discourage one of my girls, I just shake the bottle. I haven't had to use it in some time.

he didn't understand anything but the sound of a can opener. I knew a little of his history, so I tried Spanish.

Well, the old bugger brightened right up to words like "comida."

I always joke that I started learning Spanish so I could talk to my cat.

when they went back they left their kitty. We got him from the shelter.
But the only Japanese I know is like Sushi and Fukishima

Her previous owners had been a Korean doctor and his wife, a colleague of her son - who apparently split up. She did learn English, though the most important thing to her was playing fetch. If you didn't throw the toy the first time, she'd just keep dropping it closer and closer until it was right on your foot, LOL. She was such a sweetie, I loved taking care of her...

but may come in Handy when 45 hands the keys over to Pootie

to a dog - you feed me, house me, take care of all my needs - you must be a god.
to a cat - you feed me, house me, take care of all my needs - I must be a god.
Does it all make sense now?
-Airplane

welcome to DU and the Lounge

For example, with "no", it's just "no." Not "bad kitty," or "unh uh," or anything else. Repeat the word with a tough tone of voice.

I saw that on TV and tried it and it works great with my three. They all understand no.


Cher

p.s. oh, and did I say what a beautiful kitty he is!?