{"id":1343,"date":"2017-07-02T16:48:02","date_gmt":"2017-07-02T16:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/pets\/the-joys-of-cat-training\/"},"modified":"2017-07-02T16:48:02","modified_gmt":"2017-07-02T16:48:02","slug":"the-joys-of-cat-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/pets\/the-joys-of-cat-training","title":{"rendered":"The Joys of Cat Training"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"kIttens<\/p>\n

Dr. Meredith Kennedy, DVM, Long Beach Animal Hospital (LBAH)<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

So\u2014why would we even want to train cats? Don\u2019t they know how to be cats already?<\/p>\n

They sure do\u2014they are beautifully designed by nature to be sleek, resourceful, athletic, predatory survivors. Cats are the ultimate predators and can survive just fine with or without human beings.<\/p>\n

But the natural behaviors that make them so successful as solitary predators don\u2019t always translate into being good roommates. Marking their territory (spraying urine), sharpening their claws (on the furniture), hunting for food (on the kitchen counter and dining table) and exploration (zipping outside when the front door is open) are common complaints from exasperated cat owners. The cats see nothing wrong with any of this because they\u2019re all natural behaviors. <\/i>But what if we started young cats with behavior modification by reinforcing desirable and discouraging undesirable behaviors? What if we did it in a way that mimicked the sounds made by a mama cat with her kittens?<\/p>\n

In order to do this, we come up with a \u201cyes\u201d noise and a \u201cno\u201d noise. <\/i>\u201cYes\u201d <\/i>is a pursed-lips \u201ckissing\u201d type sound repeated four or five times in a row. The sound is similar to the chirping of a mama cat. This sound calls her kittens to her, and they\u2019re rewarded with food, grooming, safety and comfort. We reward the kittens similarly by providing food and petting when they come near. They\u2019re rewarded for coming to you when they hear the \u201cyes\u201d noise.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo\u201d is an immediate sharp and strident \u201cPSSSS\u2014PSSSS\u2014PSSST!\u201d reinforced in the early days of training with a hand slap on the table or counter at the same time. There is, of course, never <\/i>any indication for physical punishment; we are simply getting the kitten\u2019s attention with a loud noise and hissing similar to a mama cat\u2019s hiss. This means \u201cNo! Stop what you\u2019re doing!\u2019 and usually results in the kitten stopping; backing away a little from the table, curtains, open doorway or wherever the undesired behavior is; and expressing confusion by ear twitching and widened eyes.<\/p>\n

\"CAt<\/p>\n

Now<\/i> is the time to reinforce good behavior with the \u201cyes\u201d noise. So, your kitten has stopped doing whatever \u201cbad\u201d thing he or she was was doing and is momentarily confused. Watch the behavior as you reinforce with the kissing \u201cyes\u201d sound. The cat approaches, relaxes, purrs in response to your petting\u2014just as with his or her own mama. Climbing on the table, scratching the couch, going out the open door and whatever else has stopped, and the cat has been reassured that he or she is a good kitty, you\u2019re happy with him or her, everything\u2019s okay. Discourage the undesirable and encourage the desirable behavior.<\/p>\n

What about using a spray bottle? A quick blast of water from a water bottle also has an immediate \u201cStop doing that!\u201d effect, but it has to be done immediately or it won\u2019t have the effect you want. If you have to go into the next room to find the water bottle while the cat is running outside, eating your sandwich, or spraying the curtains, it won\u2019t be very effective. But you always do have your voice and hand, and a quick \u201cPSST\u2014PSST\u2014PSST!\u201d with a hand-slap on a table or counter is something you can do immediately, anywhere. If you\u2019ve successfully gotten your kitten\u2019s attention and the cat stops the behavior, then give a \u201cyes\u201d reward combined with petting. You\u2019ve now communicated with your cat and helped to shape his or her behavior.<\/p>\n

Two things to remember about behavior training with cats:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It may save your cat\u2019s life someday. An indoor cat who stays indoors will never be run over by a car, attacked by dogs, fall from a tree, or be exposed to viral diseases from stray cats.<\/li>\n
  2. Take a look at overflowing animal shelters. The number-one reason for surrender of cats is behavior problems. Most of these are probably very nice pets\u2014but how much effort was put into modifying their behavior?\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"cartoon\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Cats are beautifully designed by nature to be sleek, resourceful, athletic, predatory survivors. Cats are the ultimate predators and can survive just fine with or without human beings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[388],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pets","tag-the-vet-is-in","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1343"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=1343"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}