How to tame a horse, wolf, and cat in Minecraft
Contents
The taming data comes from three pages on the community-run Minecraft Wiki: Horse, Wolf, and Cat. These are three different animals with three different taming mechanics, though what they share is a need for specific food and a bit of luck.
Horse: temper, not instant taming
Taming a horse works differently from a wolf or cat — it relies on a hidden temper stat from 0 to 100.
- Mounting attempts. Every failed attempt (the player mounts, the horse throws them off) raises temper by +5.
- Food as an accelerator. A golden apple adds +10 to temper at once, and a golden carrot adds +5. Food doesn’t tame a horse instantly, but it significantly cuts down the number of attempts needed.
- Taming threshold. Once temper reaches its threshold value, the horse stops throwing the player off — at that point it’s tamed.
Wolf: bones and a 1/3 chance
- What you need. Bones — the only way to tame a wolf.
- Chance per attempt. Every bone fed to a wolf has a 1/3 chance of taming it. That means it’s not a guaranteed result even on the first try — it may take several bones.
- Wild vs. tamed difference. A tamed wolf has 40 health points versus 8 for a wild one — five times the durability.
- Behavior after taming. A tamed wolf follows its owner and teleports to them if the distance exceeds 12 blocks.
Cat: cod, salmon, and a sleep bonus
- What you need. Raw cod or raw salmon.
- Chance per attempt. Same as the wolf — 1/3 per attempt to feed the fish.
- Practical benefit. A tamed cat scares away creepers within 6 blocks and phantoms within 16 blocks — it’s not just a decorative companion but real protection against two specific threats.
- Gifts. After sleeping, a tamed cat has a 70% chance of bringing its owner a gift.
What’s shared and what differs between the three animals
The main difference is in the success mechanic itself. Horse taming is built on a cumulative stat (temper grows with every attempt and every piece of food), while taming a wolf or cat is a series of independent attempts with a fixed 1/3 chance each, with no progress carrying over between failed attempts.
What’s officially not said
- The exact temper threshold at which a horse is guaranteed to be tamed isn’t given as a single concrete number on the Horse page — the mechanic is described through increments (+5 per attempt, +10 for a golden apple) rather than a fixed success threshold, so naming a made-up threshold number here would be incorrect.
- Whether game difficulty (peaceful/easy/normal/hard) affects the taming chance for a wolf or cat — the checked pages say nothing about this.
Practical advice
If the goal is a quick ally for combat or defense, a wolf or cat is more reliable than a horse: it just takes gathering a few bones or fish and repeating the attempts. A horse is more useful for getting around — and fast travel matters especially on trips into the Nether or long trading visits to a village, where tamed animals can accompany the player along the way.
Frequently asked questions
How fast can you tame a horse?
The mechanic is based on a temper stat from 0 to 100. Every failed attempt to mount adds +5, and food like a golden apple adds +10 at once, so combining attempts with food speeds up the process.
Can you tame a wolf on the first try?
You can, but it's not guaranteed. Every bone fed to the animal has a 1/3 chance of taming it — meaning several attempts are usually needed on average.
How does a tamed wolf differ from a wild one?
A tamed wolf has 40 health points versus 8 for a wild one — five times more. It also follows its owner and teleports to them if the distance exceeds 12 blocks.
What food do you need to tame a cat?
Raw cod or raw salmon. As with the wolf, each attempt has a 1/3 chance of success, not a guaranteed one.
Does a tamed cat give any benefit besides company?
Yes. A tamed cat scares away creepers within 6 blocks and phantoms within 16, and after sleeping has a 70% chance of bringing its owner a gift.