UK parents don't do toilet training. Cats are better toilet trained than kids!

I have decided that it is possible or probable that the UK's domestic cats are better toilet trained than reception-aged schoolchildren in this country. The shocking headline from The Times is that parents 'don't do toilet training' with the result that 90% of teachers of reception-age children say that nine in ten had a child in their class who wasn't toilet trained.

What do these kids do? Do they poop and pee where they sit at their desks? Or do they put their hand up and asked teacher something like this: "Teacher, I want to have a pee. Can you tell me how to use a toilet?"

It's completely bonkers. A survey by the early years charity Kindred found that of 50% parents believe that they should not have full responsibility for toilet training their children. It would appear that these parents need or want to rely on others, usually teachers to help train their children how to use the toilet. What is going on in the UK?

Equally shocking is the fact that 16% of parents think it is their job to teach their children how to read. Only 16%! Surely it's a fundamental responsibility of parents to do both these chores? That's what being a parent means.

Cats

Domestic cats including kittens hardly need to be trained to use the litter tray. Some might but the majority won't in my view provided the litter tray is positioned in a good place and the substrate (the litter material) is acceptable to the cat which can be assessed through trial and error.

RELATED: 6 tips on cat inappropriate elimination (infographic).

The reason why kittens and cats automatically use a litter tray if it is in an accessible position (quiet and away from the food and water) is because the substrate is the best material in which to go to the toilet. And therefore instinctively they use it. They go in search of something which is like the earth; the soil outside and the cat litter substrate is exactly that.

If they don't find and use the litter tray easily or are reluctant to use it then they can be trained with common sense by placing them in the litter tray and then praising them with a treat when they go to toilet in it.

The tray should be about one and a half times the length of the cat excluding the tail. It's probably safer to provide a cat with an open tray rather than one that is covered because some cats might be reluctant to go into a covered one as going to the toilet places them in a vulnerable position and they want to escape easily.

That's a minor point. If a cat is peeing and or pooping outside of the litter tray it will always be something to do with the caretaking provided by the human companion or a health problem which may itself be caregiver related.

It might be the environment that is too stressful because a cat is bullying and guarding resources or it might be because the cat has cystitis because they are too stressed. It'll be something like that. They might be spraying urine but that is not peeing. That is marking territory.

I have concluded, as mentioned, that it's probable that cats are better toilet trained than young school kids or cats are better at using their toilet than children are at using theirs!

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Cat holds the record for the number of skips over a rope!

This is a very peculiar Guinness Record. For the life of me I can't see the point of it. I know I'm being cynical and world-weary but this is really stretching things too far. That said, this cute, dilute ginger tabby, 13-year-old cat has been awarded a Guinness record for the most skips by a cat in one minute! The cat achieved nine.

Here is the video. 

You can see that the cat's owner rewards her cat every time he skips by putting down a pellet of dry cat food. That is after every single skip she rewards her cat with some food which limits the number of skips per 60 seconds. That wouldn't normally be needed if the cat was fully trained in my view. It seems that she has achieved this record with her cat during the training of her cat.

The whole thing is simply about reward-based training (positive reinforcement). There is nothing particularly clever about it although one has to praise the woman for at least making the effort to get into the Guinness World Records.

The cat's owner is Trish and she said: “By six months old Kit Kat was jumping rope in front of huge crowds of people at the farm, helping to bust myths that cats can’t be trained.”

Comment: I don't think that she is busting myths because you can train a cat to do more or less anything with sufficient patience.

I’ve never seen another cat work as hard and long as he does. He gives it his all no matter what he is doing! He purrs non-stop and loves to please others! - Trish

Trish runs a leading talent agency of animals and has been working as a professional animal trainer for years. I suspect that she wanted to promote her business which is fantastic and she achieved it by getting this record with her cat.

Her cat can do around 20 different tricks including giving high fives, waving, meowing on command and spinning. Trish says that jumping a rope is the most impressive trick that she has trained her cat to do.

I almost forgot; her cat's name is Kit Kat. Trish says that he loves to learn. Trish uses his favourite reward which is Tiki Cat Stix as it's sure to motivate him! He is the most affectionate cat Trish says and he is everyone's best friend.

Can cats be trained like dogs?

Can cats be trained like dogs? The answer is yes. It just takes a little bit longer because cats are not pack animals unlike dogs. Dogs look to their leader, their caregiver for instructions and therefore learn them quicker. But cats are adaptable and they have adapted to the human environment over thousands of years.

And, it is said, that the wildcat hybrids such as the Bengal cat that you see in the video are more suited to being trained. This is because they are, in general, more intelligent thanks to the wildcat element in their makeup. Wild cat species are considered to be slightly more intelligent than domestic cats because they are more challenged.

TWO RELATED ARTICLES:

• Clicker Training Your Cat
• How does a clicker improve cat and dog training?

So, here we have a video of a Bengal cat who has undergone some fundamental behavioural training as you would give to a dog.

The woman would have simply trained her Bengal cat just like any other cat or a dog perhaps using a clicker to bridge the gap between the command and the desired action. You will see other domestic cats on the Internet who have been trained to do various things.

Perhaps the most remarkable example of domestic cat training is of a sweet, little moggy who has been trained to do sign language. Their owner is deaf and therefore they have the ideal teacher.

It is a fallacy to think that domestic cats can't be trained if anybody believes that nowadays. I think that idea has been scotched thanks to the Internet which I think is a wonderful medium for training people! I mean educating millions of people who have adopted a cat for the first time.

Should you let your Bengal cat outside? Answer: it depends!

I have just visited my doctor's surgery. I walked down to the clinic (about 25 minutes) and on the way back I saw a beautiful Bengal cat on the sidewalk and then crossing the road before entering the grounds of his home through the grille of a fence where he marked his territory against an object in the front garden. It got me thinking. Why was this Bengal cat outside wandering freely? Should you let your Bengal cat outside? And the answer is, it depends.

Here is the cat I describe. It is a poor quality picture I am afraid:

Bengal cat wandering outside in Kingston Upon Thames. Image: MikeB

I do not believe that you can let your Bengal cat go outside in the way that I saw today, to roam freely at will wherever they want to. Bengals are too glamorous and too enticing to steal. The cat I saw was beautiful and stood out.

Supervision

However, I do believe that Bengal cats should be allowed outside under supervision. This means that if, in the instance I refer to above, you live in a city, it must mean on a lead and harness. You can teach your Bengal cat to accept a lead and harness. This is much easier if you do it when they are young and ideally a kitten.

Most domestic cats need training to accept a harness and lead. Once you do they will generally walk with you although not like a dog. You are going to need a lot of patience and going nowhere for a while they investigate their immediate surroundings. Taking a smart phone with you to surf the internet will help with your patience 😃✔️. But keep a look out for dangers such as dogs.

Also, you can allow a Bengal cat outside if you have a backyard without trees and around which you can place a cat confinement fence. This may be very effective. I think, however, that it will be less effective than a harness and lead.

The reason is that a Bengal cat might be able to escape a cat confinement fence even if it is customised and cleverly constructed. Bengal cats are very athletic, inquisitive and determined. Of all the domestic cats the Bengal is the most likely to escape a cat confinement fence around a backyard.

A third option is a catio which allows a Bengal cat to smell the air and perhaps feel some grass under their feet. Catios are a good compromise between keeping a domestic cat indoors full-time and allowing them to have some sense of nature and stimulation from nature.

Stimulation

The need to stimulate a domestic cat is particularly important with Bengals because they are wildcat hybrids. Wildcat hybrids are generally slightly more intelligent than your typical domestic cat because they inherit their intelligence from their wild cat counterpart which for the Bengal cat is the Asiatic leopard cat.

And because they are confined to the indoors full-time they are likely to get bored and they might become a bit difficult. Plenty of stimulation which means playing with them and customising the interior of your home with, for example, a catio, and climbers is the way forward.

Harness and lead

Personally, I would go for adopting a Bengal kitten and immediately train them to accept a harness and lead from the get go and take them out. The harness should be a thick and secure one. You do not want your Bengal cat wriggling free. Some of the earlier harnesses and the cheaper ones are not, in my opinion, secure enough to stop an anxious Bengal cat wriggling out and running away.

Sometimes domestic cats become anxious and excitable when in a harness on a lead. This can make them do stupid things and in the wrong environment those stupid actions can lead to harm.

Good training when young and sensible supervision when on a lead is the answer.

Dr Bruce Fogle

Dr. Bruce Fogle, the UK's number one veterinarian/author, boldly and confidently states that training your cat is logical. Domestic cats train themselves very often and they sometimes train their owner as well. It is a mutual form of training.

In one of his books, Complete Cat Care he says that when cat owners come into his veterinary clinic it is pretty normal for them to feel guilty about not letting their cats go outdoors. And he recommends what I recommend by saying that:

"If you want to give your cat the option of going outdoors, and it too dangerous for it to do so on its own, training it to walk on a lead is an option for any relaxed cat that's not fearful of the outdoors."

Bengal cats are normally pretty confident and therefore should not be fearful of the outdoors. You can go online, I would suggest Amazon, to find a thoroughly sound harness and lead. Some harnesses are much easier to get into than others. I would pick one of those because it can be difficult to get a cat into a harness! But there again if they are trained from kittenhood it shouldn't be a problem.

Bruce has some lead-training tips and here they are:

• Training a cat to walk on a lead takes patience. It is designed for confident cats who are not frightened of the outdoors. Note: confidence can be built up and taking your cat for a walk on lead will get them used to the outside safely.
• If you decide to train your cat to walk on a lead you should continue to do so because once they experience the outside on a lead they will possibly find the indoors boring and it would be unfair on your cat.
• You should never apply tension to the lead as it is not designed to direct a cat but to simply keep them safe.
• You should avoid parks with dogs or noisy frightening places. A quiet, possibly fenced area, is the best.
• During a training session to walk on a lead, if your cat pulls on it wanting to go somewhere, go with the flow and don't pull back as your instincts might direct you. I think that this is where it is different between a dog and a cat. You can't really train a cat like a dog. Cats are trainable but there needs to be a little more flexibility in how you walk a cat on a lead compared to a dog.
• While walking outside with your cat on a lead, if you don't want to go where your cat wants to go, instead of pulling back, just pick your cat up, move elsewhere and start lead walking again.

Dogs have a grasp of human vocabulary equivalent to a one-year-old infant

A well-publicised study concluded that dog owners reported that their dogs responded, on average, to 89 words and phrases. It varied, depending upon the circumstances and the dog, between 15-215 words and phrases. The researchers provided participating dog owners with 172 words and phrases separated into seven categories which the owners then rated. 

Dogs have a grasp of human vocabulary equivalent to a one-year-old infant. Image: Pixabay.

The owners could add words and phrases. The 'goal of the study was to develop a reliable, valid and comprehensive instrument designed to estimate the number of words and phrases to which domestic dogs reportedly respond consistently and differentially' in the words of the researchers.

The researchers are from Dalhousie University, Canada. The research is published online in Applied Animal Behavioural Science. The classic response to the phrase "Good girl/Good boy!" was usually tail-wagging or a treat-seeking behaviour.

Different languages?

Clearly the dogs responded to the English language in the study. We have to presume that dogs in different countries respond to different languages in the same way. It would be interesting to find out if dogs find understanding some languages more difficult than others. I would doubt it, but it is a possibility. This is not discussed in the report that I've seen.

Commands

In all, 165 owners participated. Their dogs recognised the names of their owners and phrases concerned with eating such as "treat" and "dinner". They also responded well to objects that they can chase such as "ball" and "squirrel". And of course we would expect that commands that are commonly used such as "sit", "wait", "no biting" and "no jumping" to be commonly understood and they were.

The researchers concluded that a dog's ability regarding vocabulary is equivalent to a one-year-old human.

Commands make up a substantial proportion of words and phrases spoken to dogs. The response is normally immediate and consistent. This allowed the participants to assess their dogs' reaction accurately. Dogs appeared to respond to commands relatively easily and their owners used a preponderance of commands when communicating.

Nouns

They state that nouns may be more difficult to teach to ensure that dogs' responses to them are selective. They state that only "select dogs with extensive training appear to learn to respond selectively to object words".

Several of the participants selected the word "toys" to add to the provided list. The researchers expected to see responses dependent upon the dogs' age. However, there was no correlation between the age of the dogs and how well they were responded to words and phrases. The age of the dogs varied between five months and 14.6 years.

Dog's age

They concluded that "word-based responses in dogs may not increase systematically with age as it does for human infants". Dogs depend upon training rather than life experiences to understand words and phrases.

Purebred

Owners added their own words and used more verbs if they lived with a purebred dog compared to mixed-breed dogs. This is probably because purebred dogs had already received some sort of training from their breeder and perhaps it is because the owners of purebred dogs might in general be more experienced in training dogs.

Dog breeds

More experienced dog owners are likely to use more words and phrases when communicating with their dog. The purebred dogs responding the best were the toy-companion and herding dog breeds. Therefore not all purebred dogs are equal in their abilities to respond to human language. Herding dogs are more likely to be better as they are bred to excel at human interaction. And toy-companion dogs are also specifically bred to interact with people but not for work purposes but for entertainment and companionship.

In contrast, sports-gun dogs responded less well to words and phrases compared to toy-companion and herding dogs. A factor in this difference may be "differences between owners of different breeds rather than dogs belonging to different breed groups". This implied that the behaviour of the owners had an effect upon their dogs' understanding of what they were saying.

The researchers stated that dogs have learned to respond to human non-verbal and verbal cues in a way that is unmatched by any other animal.

Cats

What about domestic cats? As usual, researchers prefer to work with dogs because they're more pliable and obedient. They perceive cats as being unmanageable in a research environment. That's my perception. But it would be nice to know how cats compared to dogs. They would no doubt compare badly. This is essentially because the domestication of the dog was about working dogs. Working dogs interact with their humans all the time. This has generated an ability to respond to human language. By contrast, domestic cats only fleetingly were working animals when they were first domesticated. They are companions for company and entertainment. They don't have a history of having to understand human commands.

Train cats

That said, cats are trainable and Dr. Bruce Fogle believes that cats should be trained at least to a certain extent so that they can understand what you want which in turn benefits the human-cat relationship. Training cat would result in less cat relinquishment to shelters. There is no doubt in my mind about. It needn't be complicated or demanding. Just some basic commands would do. Of course, in the best homes there is always an informal level of mutual training.

Is spraying cats with water bad?

Spraying cats with water to stop them doing something that you don't like is a form of punishment and therefore it is a bad thing to do. Punishment is misunderstood by domestic cats as it is a human concept and it may harm the human-to-cat relationship. To be effective it requires a knowledge of right and wrong, morality and self-awareness.

Motion activated water spraying cat deterrent. Photo in public domain.

However, if you can spray your cat with water without them realising that it is you who is doing it then from the cat's perspective it is divine intervention. What I mean is the cat just thinks that what they're doing results in something unpleasant and therefore they won't do it anymore but there will be no connection between the unpleasant experience and their human guardian/caretaker. This prevents any damage to the relationship and it is no longer, strictly speaking, punishment but, as mentioned, divine intervention.

Training a cat with punishment is not good. Image: MikeB

That said, there is a third way which is better than both these. You don't spray water at all but you use positive reinforcement through training to stop your cat doing something that you don't like. It is always better to use the positive route for obvious reasons. Spraying water is negative no matter how you do it whereas gently training your cat to do something that you refer is positive. The downside is that it takes longer and more skill to achieve a result doing it this way. It is very simple and direct to spray water over your cat. Instant result.

Personally, without wishing to be boastful, and without wishing to feel superior, I would never consider spraying water over my cat even if it was in the form of divine intervention. I prefer to accept his behaviour. This is the fourth way: nothing that your cat does is wrong or bad behaviour and nothing that he does requires modification through either training or divine intervention. If he does something that you don't like adjust expectations. If he does something 'bad' look at possible medical reasons e.g. cystitis causing peeing on the carpet.

You just accept it and learn to live with it because it is part of respecting your cat. That may seem like an extreme point of view but it suits me and it ensures that the relationship is entirely equal which supports animal rights, and that pleases me.

Domestic cats perform circus tricks on America's Got Talent

What do you think about this? The cats are undeniably impressive. They are almost bound to be because domestic cats are so athletic. Training them is not that difficult as long as you have the patience and the commitment to see it through.

Trained cats perform tricks on America's Got Talent. Screenshot.

On the downside, you could argue that it is not a great example of cat welfare. Although I don't know how much the cats dislike doing this. They probably actually quite like it or certainly do not dislike it. And when you train cats you have a very close connection to them which is good for both the cat and the person. And also when you train a cat to do these circus tricks they are challenged and fully occupied.

One of the great problems, I think, of modern day life for a domestic cat, particularly full-time indoor cats, is that they do not have enough to do. They are not challenged enough. Training them to do things, and it need not necessarily be circus tricks like we see in this video, is good for them.

That's the argument about training although nobody does it because it's too boring I guess for most cat owners. And some cat owners simply disapprove.

The point, though is that both the person and the cat are automatically trained in a good relationship. There is a lot of informal training going on and of course cats probably train their owners more than vice versa.

Arguably, all domestic cats need to be trained to live with people in their homes. They are self-trained very often. They learn by observation how to fit in.

The most basic form of training is to request your cat to come on a call. A lot of cats respond because they learn the sound of their name. It is a "command" which enhances their safety if they are outside cats. This basic training like all training is based on positive reinforcement. The cat comes because there is a reward at the end of it.

You can link a another sound to the sound of their name. Dr Bruce Fogle trained his cat Milly to come to him on calling her name. And at the same time he shook a pot of vitamin tablets that she craved. The shaking of the vitamin tablets in a container enhanced the command. It made it sharper and it made the command more recognisable. 

And after a while he dispensed with the name and shook the container to elicit the same response. That's a classic example of associating a sound with a call to the point where the original call is no longer required.

CATS! TALENTED Cats On America's Got Talent Are FELINE Good! | Amazing Auditions

Picture and video of cats lined up on wall platforms

This is a nice video. It is not abusive. It is beneficial to the cats. It is beneficial to the people who view it because it entertains people. And as I believe it was filmed in a cat café somewhere in Asia. The cats performance is also beneficial to the clients of the café because they can watch these wonderful cats carrying out their instructions. 

And they do carry out their instruction so well. The woman has done a wonderful job in training them. I am convinced having looked at this video that it is in a cat café and that what you see is part of the entertainment for people in the café. 

I may be terribly wrong on that and if so I apologise but that is my current assessment. It makes for a good video. It also tells you that cats can be trained quite nicely with a bit of patience and positive reinforcement.

@tiktokcats

How many cats can you count? 😹😻

♬ Lalala - Y2K & bbno$

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Do cats learn from other cats?

Mum taught me - Photo by yajico

Yes, cats are "excellent observational learners". They can learn by watching another cat do something and they do this quite quickly. Kittens learn fastest when they watch their mother. This form of learning usually applies to learning hunting skills. The mother starts by bring dead prey back to the nest (den) and then live prey when the kittens are about four weeks of age. Thereafter the kittens might accompany their mother hunting and learn from that experience. If a kitten's mother is present when her kittens are being introduced and socialized to people, they learn more quickly. Kittens also learn social skills from observation. (1)

As humans are surrogate mothers, cats learn from us sometimes. An examples is opening doors. There are many examples of cats opening doors by depressing a door handle having jumped up to it. I remember a video of a cat watching TV. The program showed a boxing match. The cat was waving his arms around as if boxing. Individual cats might learn from watching TV.

Observational learning of social skills is important in groups as communication between cats is important for the well being and survival of the group. Cats learning from other cats is an efficient way to problem solve.

Cats who live together often teach each other certain forms of behavior. A typical example in a household is a new cat learning how to use the cat flap (door) by watching an existing cat use it. My older cat has taught my younger boy cat that the garden is safe to visit and certain parts are good places to rest and watch.

Although mother cat provides the main source of learning, other relatives and particularly fathers play a role. In colonies of ferals cats and multicat households learning social skills from parents and indeed other cats is important for the harmony of the colony.

Some commentators say that learning by watching is not so much about copying mother doing something but more about acting "as a stimulus for the cat to focus attention on the problems..." (2)

See: Cat Training Fundamentals | Cat Clicker Training

Notes:

(1) The Welfare of Cats by Irene Rochlitz - ISBN-13: 978-1402061431

(2) The Cat It's Behavior, Nutrition & Health - ISBN 978-0-8138-0331-9

Operant Conditioning Cat Training

'Operant conditioning cat training" is training cats to do something by giving them a reward for doing it. That is it in its most simplest sense and is an example of positive reinforcement in operant conditioning designed to get a cat to do something. It is the best form it seems to me. Others are negative reinforcement (removal of something that is not nice to cat) to get a cat to do something, positive punishment (squirting water at cat) also designed to stop a cat doing something and negative punishment (removing something that cat likes) to stop a cat doing something. I say never punish a cat.

In a basic way, it actually happens naturally and informally. I'll give an example. You go up to your cat with an empty cat bowl. Cat responds by following you to the kitchen where you put food in the bowl and place in the floor.  The bowl is a focus. The cat knows its production will lead to food so she follows you to the kitchen. The action trained is following you to the kitchen. The positive reinforcement is the food.

Cats train us in a similar way. A cat meows at us at a certain time of the day. Person responds by giving food to cat. Cat meows next day. Person fails to respond. Cat continues to meow. Person realizes that to get their cat to stop meowing he has to provide food so he does. Person is therefore trained to provide cat food when cat meows at certain times and in certain way.

In positive acts of cat training the trainer uses a stick as a focus and a clicker as a "bridge" to facilitate the training process and make it more manageable and successful. The clicker bridges the time between the cat doing something and receiving the reward, usually food. It achieves this by being more precise and quick so that the cat can connect the action being trained with the reward received. Timing in cat training is important so the clicker better enables the connections between action and reward to be made and it also connects the sound of the clicker with the reward, the food.

Cat Barking

Some cats do make sounds that are like a dog barking. It is about individual cat characteristics. The Siamese cat, being very vocal, is predisposed to making loud sounds that we are not familiar with as cat sounds.

We tend to think of cat sounds as meowing, purring, growling, hissing etc. But there is a much wider range.

My three legged cat cat makes a sound that is neither a bark nor a meow. It is a sound that we would not normally associate with a cat.


Cat Sounds and Communication from Michael Broad on Vimeo.

The truth is that cat sounds and their meaning are work in progress. The video that "cat barking" refers to is of a black cat at an open window.

At first you might think that it is a fake but it seems real. It is possible that a cat can mimic a dog. Cats learn from observation. They usually learn from watching other cats. If they are raised by a dog they might learn from a dog; not only learning how to bark but what to bark at! That seems possible to me. I am not saying that that is what happened in this case.

What is interesting about this video is that when the cat sees the camera person, he or she reverts back to a very typical cat meow. When barking, the cat was behaving instinctively as if in the wild. When the person turned up he became a little kitten, the person being the mother cat. We keep our adult cats in permanent kitten-hood because we feed them and keep them warm and safe etc.




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Cat Clicker Training

I find the concepts behind cat clicker training hard to understand and the explanations of how it works unclear. Maybe it is me being a bit thick but I would like to see if I can put an explanation about this training aid into clear simple language.

Cat clicker training is part of training cats by positive reinforcement or giving the cat a reward for behavior that we consider good. Let's be clear though. From the cat's standpoint the behavior is neither good nor bad. It is plain natural, but we like cats to do certain things.



Whereas we train ourselves to do things for monetary reward cats don't understand money. The classic reward for a cat is food - their favorite food or treat. This will motivate a cat in a positive way.

If a cat does something that pleases us we reward the cat with a treat. If we do this enough times the cat will do the same thing so that he or she gets the treat. Positive reinforcement happens naturally all the time. Often mutual training is going on. This is my example.

My three legged cat likes to sit on top of the sofa. The position suits the fact that he has three legs. When he is hungry he calls out. On one occasion I picked him off the sofa and took him to a fresh bowl of food. I did this to avoid the need for him to get down from the sofa which is hard for a cat with three legs. It also gets the job done quickly and stops him screaming at me. I did this a few times. Now he knows that if he screams at me from the top of the sofa he will get carried to food. I inadvertently trained him to do that through positive reinforcement. And he trained me in the same way to lift him down. My reward was to avoid him asking me again and again.

Where does the clicker come into this? This is the bit I find hard to understand. The clicker is a device that you can buy on the Internet and which emits a nice clean sharp but not unpleasant sound. It is based on the toy crickets you used to be able to buy.

You click immediately after the cat has done what you want her to do and then immediately after that you give her the food treat. The click and the treat become linked, each being a part of the reward (you are "pairing" the click and treat). The sound of the clicker allows the cat to more precisely and more promptly identify the action with reward. It is a form of quick and clear communication that is more efficient that simply giving a treat or verbally praising which, because they are delivered relatively slowly, may not be connected to the desired action of the cat.

The clicker makes that certain connection between behavior and reward and it is also connected to the food treat. It is a secondary reinforcer and it creates a bridge between the action (called the "response") and the reward (the "reinforcement").

Once the cat has learned that a response (the desired action) leads to the reinforcer, you can attach words to the clicker to allow you to make commands that are acted upon by the cat - the actions are a response to the command. You can also use the cat's learned awareness of the clicker to train her to do other responses. Actions by us such as tapping with a stick can be used rather than our commands but I guess the objective is to attach a command to the clicker. In the early part of the cat clicker training the food treat is attached to the sound of the clicker.



See the above video YouTube.



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Cats Playing Fetch

We all know dogs can be trained to play fetch. They do it "professionally", after all. I am thinking of gun dogs. Dogs are arguable more useful in a strictly utilitarian way. But cats playing fetch are all over the 'net and that athletic star, the cat with bling, the Bengal cat is the one most likely to be doing the fetching. This is because of the wild blood in the Bengal. They are wildcat hybrids and even the 4th generation cats from the wild, called SBT (Stud Book Tradition) cats have an estimated 12.5% wild blood.

The wildcats have to be smarter than domestic cats in order to survive and this ability it passed down to the hybrids which also include the Chausie and Savannah, for example. Here is a young spotted Bengal cat playing fetch with extreme discipline and proficiency. He is a frisky boy:

Q: you have a nice house and a cute kitty! did you have to train it or does it just do that by itself? soo cuteeee~!

A:Thanks :)
I didn't have to teach him..I think Bengals just naturally like to fetch..go figure.
They used to be quite expensive but now I think you can get one for like $200? Maybe even a free one at an animal shelter but I dont think many people would give one up..they're lots of fun :)

But it doesn't just have to be Mr Bling who is the cat playing fetch. Here is a Siberian cat doing it just as well. Siberians look like Maine Coons and Norwegian Forest cats (NFCs) and may come from the same ancestors. He clearly loves this game as he is purring. And he plays with great vigor and enthusiasm:



Who said cats can't be trained and be useful (not all Bengals need training - see comment above)? Siberians like NFCs are particularly good jumpers. And this shows in the video. Despite being a large cat and a tad overweight (no criticism intended) she or he jumps bl**dy well. Siberians are meant to be hypoallergenic. This is not true as there are no hypoallergenic cats unless we believe the Allerca cat story. See Fel D1 too.



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Litter Box Habits

When I say litter box habits, I mean for us and our cats and mainly for us because what we do mostly dictates what out cats does. And when I hear that the most common complaint about cats is "inappropriate elimination" (a ghastly phrase) or "house soiling" or requests on "how to train your cat [to use the litter]" I get a little uneasy because this puts the emphasis on the cat when, in fact, in my experience the emphasis should be firmly placed on us. We manage the situation. We need to create and maintain a suitable substitute for what would have been soil in the wild.

If our cat does go to the toilet in the wrong place or we think that she has bad litter box habits the following checks should be made before any consideration is given to "training":

1. Is our cat in good health? Peeing on the carpet could be due to a urinary tract infection (also see kidney disease), for example. If our cat is in good health, for sure, then the following should be checked:-
2. Is our cat calm and comfortable? Are we doing something to stress our cat (e.g. out too much) such as create too much noise or shout at our cat (a definite no, no as the opposite, a quiet calm voice is so important).
3. Is our home clean and if our cat has used the carpet then has that area been cleaned properly (if not our cat will associate the area as a litter tray)? The only way to clean urine is by using a special enzyme based cleaner such as Zero Odor. There are others.
   
4. Is the litter in a quiet out of the way position?
5. Is the tray large enough? The larger the better and a lid on it makes it quieter for the cat and keeps the litter in better. It also filters out some of the odor.
6. Is the litter cleaned at least daily, perhaps even twice daily? Wood chipped litter keeps the tray cleaner, much cleaner.
   
7. In a multiple cat household several litter trays are necessary. Is this the case?

If all these check off perfectly then it will be unusual, but training may be the answer. One way to train good litter box habits (a way that is known to work) is cat clicker training (positive reinforcement). That is pretty much it. Living with a cat is not complicated. We need to accept our cat, love our cat unconditionally and keep a clean house and all will normally be well.

OK enough serious stuff. Come on. Chill out Michael...:





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Kitten Taming

I have just received an email from Amazon promoting a book called "Kitten Taming". I just don't get it, sorry. If we adopt or even buy a kitten we should expect this animal to behave like a kitten and we should expect and look forward to an adult cat to also behave like an adult cat. Isn't that why we adopted a kitten in the first place?

A well socialized and healthy kitten (balanced personality for a domestic cat) will use the litter naturally. All the other stuff such as tearing around the home and leaving scratch marks is all part of having a kitten. Why else have one? If any training is required it should be directed at us. To train us to start accepting companion cats as companion cats.

Cat Agility

Cat agility is legendary. Of all the domestic cats the standout breed (purebred cat) for agility is the Bengal cat. There are many others and most of the best will be the wild cat hybrids. But that said I can think of a Sphynx cat, behaving like a monkey at a major cat show in London. Sphynx cats are very intelligent and like to behave like monkeys!. They have monkey like toes as well.

Back to the Bengal. A fantastically quick runner (max speed 30 mph in short bursts) and athletic climber. Here is an example:



But the good old moggie (mixed breed or more accurately not a purebred cat) can be pretty darn agile to. And cats can be trained to go around an agility course just like a dog. There is the case of a white cat called Fly, an Australian rescue cat, who has been trained go around a cat agility couse, albeit slowly. But they aren't all slow. I am sure that a lot of cat keepers who train their cats to complete a cat agility course are keepers of Bengal cats. And here is one in action:

Cat Clicker Training

Cat clicker training may be the only way to keep your highly active Bengal cat off your computer key board - if you really want that to happen.

Clicker training is normally associated with dogs but can be used for cats. The big issue with cat training is do we want to bother? Do we have the time and energy? This might sound a bit negative but I sense it is a fair question.

If the answer is yes then proper cat clicker training will prove effective. However, some conventional ways to keep Mr. Bengal cat of the computer might be a to put something that cats don't like (in terms of smell) next to the computer. This might be a bowl of oranges or hot pepper flakes perhaps. Maybe suck-and-see testing is required. Another possible alternative is a product called a Scat Mat. They release a static charge when touched. They're about $70 (USA) or £45 (UK). A computer is probably attractive because it is where we are or have been and it is warm. If the attractiveness is neutralized it may put our cat off going near the computer.

Cat clicker training is the real deal though. This is not guesswork but real control using action reward. The clicker seems to act as a reinforcer and marker for the reward element of the training process. The underlying methodology is positive reinforcement. The same process occurs when a dolphin is trained using a whistle, for example. Your cat is "empowered" by finding a way to make you click and then receive a reward. Once cats figure out how the game is played, they may prefer the "game" over the reward. Click-and-treat training is a means of non-verbal communication, which can be followed by voice cues later.

Clickers are cheap and readily available on the internet. Try googling, "training clicker".

Here is a good video on cat clicker training:



Yes, it might take a bit of time but a result would seem to almost certain.

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