#feline training

[happyhealthycats]

How do you feel about teaching a cat to poop and pee in a toilet instead of a litterbox? How would you go about doing that?

If you wanna potty train something, I recommend finding a human toddler and teaching them. I don’t recommend toilet-training cats. It goes against essentially every instinct. Now we CAN train cats to go against their instincts, but again, I only really support it when it’s for the benefit of the cat. Training them to tolerate travel is better for their overall stress, mental health, and well being. Training them to walk on a leash keeps them safe while still providing great (though not mandatory) outdoor enrichment. EVEN “useless” tricks like sit, stay, place, or even more advanced techniques still offer enrichment and learning opportunities, but the end goal is to keep a cat from using the litter box, and with the HUNDREDS of issues I hear about litter box problems, NOBODY needs to add to that kettle of fish.How on earth does toilet training a cat benefit them? Scooping is essential for monitoring your cat’s health, and teaching them to drop a turd in a toilet is NOT letting you monitor their health. It’s a REAL fast track to developing other litter box issues, too. Cats do not WANT to use a toilet, and there is no real benefit to them doing it. So unlike cats not wanting to go to a vet but doing it anyway for their own safety and well being, I don’t see the benefit, or even appeal. As a general rule I do not instruct people on how to perform this stunt.And for the record to anyone commenting/reblogging. If you trained your cat to shit in a toilet and they turned out “just fine”, neat. You are an outlier. This is not the common reaction, and I do not recommend it. I also don’t recommend letting cats outside (outside of using a leash and/or catio) and I still feel like I’m screaming into a void on that one.I’m sick and 100% not dealing with whatever fallout this brings lol.

[happyhealthycats]

Simcoe and I had a little calm down cuddle after I had to give her a closer check before her vet visit next week. She gets very upset with any sort of handling, and because she gets FHV flare ups with stress, training her has been incredibly careful and very slow. We let her hide and gave her plenty of space directly after, but after 10 minutes or so she got really affectionate. So we sat together and I made her one of her favorite things, a blanket fort, while I told her what a good girl she is in a soft voice. She's purring and kneading now.

I'm always just so proud of her. And I'm so grateful for how much trust she's put in me over the past year and a half.

[happyhealthycats]

Hey there, 1. I just found your blog and you are wonderful. 2. Ignore this if you’ve already answered it but: my cat is really aggressive but only in play. The big problem is he attacks my lil feets when I walk and my head when I sleep. I’m covered with scratches, it looks like I self harm sometimes. I just read your post on spray bottles and that’s what I’ve been using. I don’t know how else to get him to release his grip when he’s latched on and it’s upsetting. Thoughts?

First off, thank you so much!

So the biggest thing, if you haven’t already done it, is to BAN play of fingers and feet. What do I mean by that? It’s a VERY common response to wriggle our fingers so cats and kittens will pounce on us and try to “hunt”, while it’s very cute, it can lead to only kitten syndrome, where cats who grow up without siblings, or once they’re separated from their litter mates, may lose that important claw and tooth control as an adult. Hands are ONLY for gentle petting. Meaning if you pet your cat, and he turns around and gives you a little nibble, you disengage completely. This is the most important aspect of getting a cat to stop using claws on humans.

Disengaging is going to be your biggest tool, essentially. It’s how mom cats deal with little brat kittens who just want to play hard and mom’s had enough of their crap because she’s raising this litter and working two jobs and one’s overnight and she’s tired of hearing from her coworker Brenda just how much sleep she got last night.

Disengaging is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Stop whatever you’re doing. Go slack if you have to. Be very careful not to respond to the clawing in any way. No yelling, and definitely don’t shout at the cat. Even saying “No” is seen as reinforcement, and will encourage them to continue. Cat moms will physically get up and ignore their kitten once they tip over that threshold into “too much”, but what’s important is that you need to solidify that ANY claws are “too much”, and mimic the behavior of the queen.

If you’re walking down a hallway and he attacks your feet, stop moving, don’t give him a moving target, and walk away. If he chases your feet, stand completely still. Do not look at him, talk to him, or acknowledge him. And try as hard as you can not to move your feet (even if it hurts). Distract him if you can with another toy, encourage him to use that instead. It may require you to keep a toy on hand, but he’ll get the idea pretty quickly. 

Ideally, you want to be able to get to him BEFORE he starts attacking you. So encourage play beforehand (if you can), so he’s otherwise distracted. 

And just a casual reminder to trim your cat’s nails! If they’re getting you badly, it may be time for a trim!

[happyhealthycats]

Hi! Do you have advice on trimming nails when we are also working on curbing a tendency towards batting and rough play? All the advice I've received has been not to engage with her in ways that over stimulate or that make her think People "Paws" are playthings, but approaching her paws in any way leads to batting and scratching. She's a truly fantastic cat, but she had a rough few years before we got her and appropriate interaction is still a work in progress.

Nail trimming is a TOUGH one, so you’re in good company. 

First you need to repair the cat’s relationship with the nail trimmer. Just take the trimmer out so the cat can see it, give her a treat if she interacts with it (whatever she likes eating). These need to be done in baby steps so she understands that she gets rewarded for not attacking or swatting during nail-trim time. 

Over time (a couple sessions of just letting her see/smell/observe the trimmers), try to touch her paw with the trimmer, and ONLY reward her if there is no swat-response. She’ll get it pretty quickly that she gets her treat only if she doesn’t attack it. 

The same goes for interacting with her feet. Try gently touching one paw, and rewarding her for no reaction. Eventually try holding her paw for a few moments, and giving her a treat, slowly extending the amount of time you can hold her paw until it’s long enough to reasonably cut the nails. Then you can work on introducing her to manipulating her paw like you would when you trim her claws. 

Once you’re able to do that, with her remaining calm, try trimming a single claw at a time, giving her a treat when she lets you do it. I know this seems slow, but it’s the best way to get her to a point where she’ll let you do it all in one go. Eventually you’ll be able to do two or three claws before she gets fed up. Then eventually a whole paw. You’ll notice you can trim a whole paw before needing to give her a treat, too. And after a while you’ll be able to do all of her claws and only treating her at the very end.

Good luck, and keep up the good work!

[happyhealthycats]

Hi! My cat bites me in my sleep. They’re light bites on my hands - but it’s still a little painful and jarring. I’m assuming it’s because she wants breakfast or attention. She has plenty of toys, another cat in the house, and I play with her when I’m awake - just not when I’m asleep! It’s hard to ignore bites and hard to redirect when I’m still 95% asleep. I usually just tell her “no” and retreat under the blankets - making an effort to pet her once she stops biting. Any advice?

I’d say first, if you can help it, try removing that “no” from your response. As I’ve said, any verbal response is going to encourage the cat to do it more. Rolling over and ignoring her while bringing your hands out of reach is your best bet.

If she’s hungry, consider a timed feeder. Sometimes cats will stop at nothing to wake you if they’re hungry, and obviously you can’t always be around to tend to them. Timed feeders are lifesavers for these cats. They learn pretty quickly that the food bowl dispenses food, regardless of your interaction with it. It was how we were finally able to get peaceful sleep with our food obsessed cat.

[happyhealthycats]

...Wait. So the fact that I tell my cat that certain behaviors are "illegal" while disengaging still acts as encouragement? Because that would explain things.

Unfortunately it is. Cats can and will regard any and all noise response as positive reinforcement. What else does prey do when you’re trying to kill it than make noise? (Gruesome, yes, but it’s how they see it). “No” or “hey knock it off” come off the same way as “oh good kitty!”. It’s a similar situation to when cats knock things off counters for attention. Yelling at the cat is, believe it or not, giving them the attention they want (aside from being mean, it’s also just not effective). 

[happyhealthycats]

So I recently was looking at some cat stuff and a couple articles came up that scruffing a cat was bad? (NOT like, carrying them by the scruff or stuff, I know that can be painful, but scruffing to say, clip their nails or similar, where their weight is still on the ground.) Do you know anything about this? Is it bad? And if so, what are the best alternatives?

So I haven’t seen the articles you’re talking about, but I’ve discussed it plenty in classes. Honestly scruffing should ALWAYS be a last-resort. However, there are situations where the safety of both the cat and the human have to be weighed. If a cat will otherwise bite or claw you in an emergency situation, obviously there’s going to be problems, and for your own safety, and to keep the cat from possibly hurting themselves, scruffing MAY be required.

But for daily, common things like nail trimming, your best long-term option is to train the cat to tolerate the motion and the behavior. It may take a little while, and depending on the cat, it may be difficult and slow going, but at the end of the day, that option is preferable. Even training a cat to go into a carrier is better in the long run.

Scruffing comes from the idea that since mother cats will carry their kittens around by the “scruff” of their neck, it’s safe and soothing for adults. And for kittens, they have an instinct to go limp to keep safe while their mother is transporting them. But they’ll lose this instinct as they grow older, as they decide they’d rather be in charge of their own safety, as it were. There have even been studies done on kittens that have shown that while they’re scruffed, they don’t have any memory of being carried, hence it’s a rather stress-free action. However, like I said, once a cat is out of that very young kitten phase, it’s no longer stress-free, and can be rather detrimental. 

[happyhealthycats]

Hello and welcome!

I’ve picked up a handful of new followers, and I feel like reposting this every so often is beneficial. 

I am a certified feline trainer and behaviorist! I am not a vet. I will not answer health questions! But if you ask a question that’s related to health I’ll point it out just so you’re aware :)

I am also a professional feline trainer and behaviorist, meaning I make money from helping clients with behavioral issues with their cats. The questions I answer must be vague enough to be able to answer succinctly, unless I decide to go on my own tangent, but will not be specific to your cat. I’ll try, but at the end of the day, that is what my professional behavioral consultations are for. I AM available for hire if you are interested, or if you have a truly difficult case and you need assistance to work on it. You can PM me and we can discuss pricing and possibilities, because I CAN work with a facetime function of any sort of program you may use (I prefer some sort of webcam so I can see the cat’s environment to better assess the situation). My only stipulation is that English is the only language I can speak. If you can’t do facetime due to a language barrier, technology barrier, or any other reason, I can absolutely do email communication, I will just probably ask to be provided some pictures of the cat’s environment, and possibly a video so I can view the behavioral issue in question. I really am trying to be as approachable as possible. I’ll try everything I can to work with you.

If you just want to ask a simple, basic question, I’m all for it! But I DO have a ko-fi account, and I super mega ULTRA appreciate any tips you can give. I don’t charge you to ask questions obviously, but if you’re in a position where you CAN tip if I answer your question I would be extra thankful (seriously I basically just use this to get my cats extra treats and stuff).

ko-fi.com/happyhealthycats

That being said I still absolutely appreciate everyone who reads, comments, asks, or PMs me. I love answering questions and sharing what I’ve learned and discovered. Honestly I got into this because I just LOVED learning about cats so much that I wanted to really obsess about it out loud.

So thanks for following and helping to support me. You are the best, and I’m so happy that I can help, or educate, or just let you share stories about your cats. I NEVER thought I’d ever make it to the precipice of 1,000 followers. So I’m totally blown away. I’m also going to try to be better about posting pics about my OWN cats. I figured you all may like that!