Training cats... like training horses?

[mvp]

Do you COTHers find that your HorSkills translate well into CaTraining?

I think I have discovered one similarity: Loading the 4-leggeds into a horrible box for transport. As I’m sure you have discovered, someone will get hurt if you try to stuff the animal into the carrier or trailer. They can be quite effective at staying NO to that.

However, it turns out that you can load cats and horses the same way. I line up the horse or cat with the carrier and make it really simple: Any forward movement earns a release of pressure, any backward movement makes life worse and, also important, I have all day, plus I tell the animal that.

Now you can’t put a stud chain or a rope halter on a cat. But you can hold the cat behind his elbows-- that ribcage section God made for the purpose of holding a cat and pointing him/his weapons away from you. Then you line Kitteh up with the mouth of the carrier and tell him (you must say it out loud): “I have all day, Cat.”

He’ll try to look away. He’ll sull up. He might do more to suggest that he won’t load. But if you have all day and a grip on the rib cage, you can wait. At some point, scooting forward into the cave will seem preferable to remaining in that purgatory of a position-- you holding him staring into it.

See what I mean? Just like a horse.

What else have you brought from your experience with one species to the other? I suppose you dog-types could weigh in on this question, too.

[Countrywood]

I just lift cat up and put him in…don’t think I could do that with a horse!

[suz]

Hmm, I intend to teach my next cats to use the toilet bowl fixture so I can live without litter boxes—that would be like teaching a horse to poo in the wheelbarrow I guess.
Clicker training might work.

[paintjumper63]

This post made me laugh. I often tell my high school boys soccer team that training them is like herding cats.

[thatmoody]

I once had a horse who peed in the wheelbarrow. He pooped in there too - he would ALWAYS do both while I was cleaning his stall, so I started just pushing the wheelbarrow under the appropriate area. He never stepped on it and it was VERY handy :P.

Cats, I would LOVE to have mine trained to go in the toilet, but they just aren’t interested.

[Paks]

I think it depends on the cat. Most really hate force and will not give in. There’s a saying never try to out stubborn a cat. For cats it’s feliway and treats to get in the carrier or anything else I want.

[suz]

I posted this yesterday—i’m guessing this lady knows how to train cats.

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best...188443833.html

[Paks]

For real cat training try this guy. https://www.youtube.com/user/CatTrainerToo He even has tutorial’s posted.

[RPM]

The problem I have found with holding cats by the ribcage facing away from me is that the claws on their hind feet can still reach my wrists! And there are veins in my wrists! :eek:

For me the best method if I absolutely have to restrain a cat yet give it the ability to move (no, that is not a contradiction in terms!) is to hold it by the scruff of its neck. Works for mama cats, works for me. I never use this method unless it is absolutely necessary since I realize that holding an adult cat this way, with my hand, is not like a mama cat holding a kitten this way, with her teeth. But trying to get a towel-swaddled cat into a carrier would be impossible, I think (I never never tried it).

When I absolutely have to put my kitties into their carriers I do the underarm full-body tuck (the one where you hold the cat as you would a football), stroke them, speak lovingly and softly to them, put their front ends into the carrier and gently push their hindquarters in afterwards. Works for us.

[Montanas_Girl]

I have a top-loading cat carrier. It makes the whole process so much simpler:

1. Locate kitty.
2. Lock kitty in small room with no furniture to hide under and bring crate to said room ONLY AFTER kitty has been secured.
3. Track kitty around the room until she can be caught.
4. Scruff kitty and support hind end while lifting.
5. Insert into crate as unceremoniously as possible - do not release kitty’s scruff until top door is almost completely shut!
6. Secure door. Be sure not to open until you have reached your final destination.

My cat is a bit of a witch, so this process is probably even easier with a less evil creature. But trust me on the whole “don’t let the cat see the crate until she’s locked up somewhere secure” step! :lol:

[aurora171989]

Another idea is to leave the carrier out at all times, then the cat gets used to it. And once the cat is used to it, practice putting him/her into the carrier once a day, or every few days etc. Soon enough your cat won’t care about the carrier or being put into it. (key is don’t lock or block him/her in, just quick in and out)

Works with all our cats, and when it’s time for the vet it’s the same as any other day only your cat won’t know it until he/she is locked in.

Now if you have multiple cats, make sure they are all trapped in a room where they are easily caught… if they are the type to run away if they think the jig is up.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=Paks;8334086]
Most really hate force and will not give in. There’s a saying never try to out stubborn a cat. For cats it’s feliway and treats to get in the carrier or anything else I want.[/QUOTE]

Ah yes, but it’s not force so much as Intractable, Impersonal Physical Law…

Like time moving in only one direction = Cat, also, moves only in one direction… into the maw of the carrier.

And the other interesting thing about “out-stubborning a cat” (or a horse who won’t load, for that matter) is that it’s not out-stubborning if you divest yourself of all emotion about it. IMO, the first one who cares about making the impasse stop, loses.

So you really must say out loud, “Cat, I have All Day” and make yourself believe it/act it in your body. Make the getting into the carrier solidly the cat’s problem.

Out-waiting a cat and getting the level of emotional detachment needed to do that is quite Buddhist… (in a coercive to animals kind of way).

[aurora171989]

Another idea is to leave the carrier out at all times, then the cat gets used to it. And once the cat is used to it, practice putting him/her into the carrier once a day, or every few days etc. Soon enough your cat won’t care about the carrier or being put into it. (key is don’t lock or block him/her in, just quick in and out)

Works with all our cats, and when it’s time for the vet it’s the same as any other day only your cat won’t know it until he/she is locked in.

Now if you have multiple cats, make sure they are all trapped in a room where they are easily caught… if they are the type to run away if they think the jig is up.

[Curly_Feather]

I don’t have cats, and I’ve never had to place a cat into a carrier of any kind. But this is a really good thread. Mvp, your last post resulted in coffee on my desk

Reminds me of instructions I found for getting a parrot to wear a harness. It went something like:

1. Lay harness open on a flat surface
2. Place parrot on top of harness, making sure there is a foot in each foot hole

At which point I stopped reading. Because my parrot will shred me if I try to “place” her feet anywhere…

[Chall]

“Sull up”: the act of sucking in, in sullen resistance. Synonym: sulky.

Source: MVP Cat dictionary, limited edition, abridged.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=aurora171989;8337954]
Another idea is to leave the carrier out at all times, then the cat gets used to it. And once the cat is used to it, practice putting him/her into the carrier once a day, or every few days etc. Soon enough your cat won’t care about the carrier or being put into it. (key is don’t lock or block him/her in, just quick in and out)

Works with all our cats, and when it’s time for the vet it’s the same as any other day only your cat won’t know it until he/she is locked in.

Now if you have multiple cats, make sure they are all trapped in a room where they are easily caught… if they are the type to run away if they think the jig is up.[/QUOTE]

Definitely much better. The problem is that you have to leave the truck hooked up to the carrier in the room, yanno, for safety’s sake. And you could (read: do) scare a cat with carrier that moves around too much, as when just set up on blocks.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=Chall;8338115]
“Sull up”: the act of sucking in, in sullen resistance. Synonym: sulky.

Source: MVP Cat dictionary, limited edition, abridged.[/QUOTE]

I think cats actually invented the Sull Up technique and then sold horses the franchise. No one can get all impervious-loaf-shaped-on-the-ground and sull up like a cat… at least among the domesticateds. It seems like a total armadillo move.

[eventerchick517]

I leave the cat crate out 24/7. It lives on the dining room table so that the kitten has a dog free place to eat her meals. Tempting her into the carrier is pretty easy these days!

[Paks]

this is one way to do it

https://www.facebook.com/simonscat/posts/10153953321109523

[thatmoody]

[QUOTE=mvp;8338190]
I think cats actually invented the Sull Up technique and then sold horses the franchise. No one can get all impervious-loaf-shaped-on-the-ground and sull up like a cat… at least among the domesticateds. It seems like a total armadillo move.[/QUOTE]

There’s a reason all those barn cats hang out by our horse’s stalls, don’tcha know…