Just curious. Can they be trained to bring stuff back like a retriever?
My cat had four kittens, 2 males and 2 females. The 2 females loved to chase down and retrieve a ball of paper from a very young age. They could keep it up for hours. The males couldn’t have cared less. I never taught them to fetch though, they did it naturally.
As long as water doesn’t enter into the equation, sure. I’ve done it. Or maybe my cat trained me; it’s uncertain.
And seen other examples of cat & animal training at zoo/parks. Why would cats be an exception? Birds do it, dunno about bees, even educated fleas do it…
I would argue rather seriously that they are smart enough not to be trained to fetch.
One of our former cats used to love to fetch little foil balls. She was quite indefatigable in that regard – she’d play fetch as long as you’d keep throwing it out there for her to get.
None of my current cats play thay way. They expect to be able to eat whatever you throw at them.
They can’t be trained to fetch. They can’t be trained to do anything. If fact it you tell them that’s called “fetch” they probably wouldn’t do it. But when they think it’s in their best interest, they’ll bring the little ball or the fuzzy aritficial mouse back to you. If they think your thowing it might entertain them.
Sounds like intelligence to me.
They are definitely smart enough, but they won’t do it unless they want to. Toss a stick for a cat to fetch and they’ll wander off. But if you have a stick bird toy (you know…one of them sticks with a clump of feathers dangling from a string) the cat will hunt it down and follow you around the house with it.
So can they locate an object and identify a useful thing to bring it to (you) which = fun! But will they fetch your slippers for you or continue to retreive? Nope. Not unless they love you very, very much. We can paly about with “why” this is evolutionarily, but when training a cat the foremost principle to keep in mind is: make the cat see how he benefits from the action.
Yes, they can be trained to fetch - I never thought to train my old cat to fetch, but I trained him to come when I whistled and to jump up when I clicked my fingers.
There is a book called “You can train you cat!” - can’t remember author - talks about how to train them using the usual methods of food rewards. Cats you see in TV ads have been trained.
This was going to be my answer too.
I believe that cats are smart enough to train you to throw something that would amuse them by retrieving it.
Yeah. I’ve seen my cat do plenty of things that convince me he’s actually pretty clever, but getting him to do almost anything when the mood doesn’t strike him is pretty much impossible without physical coersion. He comes when I call. Or not. He answers to “Treat!”. Or not. He jumps up into my lap when I pat it. Or not. He knows damn well he’s not supposed to go in the guest room, but I’ve caught him creeping in furtively when I’ve left the door open many times. I don’t even have to yell anymore. He sees me, I point my finger “out!”, and off he runs. He’s well aware of what’s going on, the little shit. There’s clearly a brain in there, and it’s scheming away quite intelligently…on his terms, of course.
Don’t get me wrong, I like dogs. They’re cute and loyal pets.
But everytime a dog lover starts telling me how smart their dog is because he fetches, I drop or toss something, at their feet and ask if they’d get it for me. Thanks, I say then I toss it again and ask them to bring it back. Some of them do this for me 3-4 times.
Then I ask them just how smart they feel, bringing me something back just because I threw it and had them retrieve it for me.
This thread was funnier when I misread the title… 
I just gave a speech like that to my new immediate supervisor the other day. Substitute cats for “people you want to use the new computer system instead of go on with pen and paper”…
My lilac Siamese would fetch crumpled up cigarette packs and a little plastic hole filled ball. The minute I started screaming at something, there would be Puppy-Cat, pack or ball in mouth, ready to play a game of fetch to cheer me up.
My cat plays fetch with those little plastic jingle balls, the little cage-like balls with a bell inside. He’ll even play it himself on the basement steps.
It’s not uncommon to hear the ball go rolling down the steps, hitting each one, and then hear him scampering down after it.
He can carry the ball in his mouth, and loves for me to throw it for him. He can keep it up for a long time.
Me too. What with the ‘Screech’ thread, I accidently read an ‘L’ somewhere. :smack:
My boy cat Bullitt (Steve McQueen spelling) will fetch. He gets his toy mouse or one of my girlfriend’s hair scrunchies in his mouth, drops it at your feet, and sits there looking at you until you throw it. When you throw it he takes off in a sprint chasing it, picks it up carefully, and brings it back and drops it at your feet again. If you hold your hand out sometimes he’ll drop it right in your hand. It’s pretty hilarious. He’s the smartest cat I’ve ever had.
An old boyfriend of my sister’s trained her cat to fetch the litlle tapered plastic screw tops you find on things like eye drops. Not only did he get her to fetch it, he got her to bring it to and drop it into a little white plastic mug we had hanging around.
Once, someone left the same style mug in a different color out, full of milk. She was very upset when she dropped her little lid in, and couldn’t see it anymore.
My dog fetches things by name. We didn’t train him to do that, either. Right now, he can tell the difference between about eight toys by description.
Freaks people out. He also fetches people. “Where’s Mommy? Go get mommy.” Great herding instinct for a standard poodle.
Sounds like my struggles trying to teach my cat to speak on command. He’s very nonvocal, but has recently started being more talky now that I’ve hit on a cat treat he really likes (Pounce Meaty Morsels). He talks when I go to the table with the cat treats on it. He talks as I take a treat out. But when I say “what do you say?” Nothing. I swear it is on purpose. “How dare you try to use a command phrase on me! I’ll not bow to such condescension.”
One thing that I heard about cat training is that you always have to reward with food. Dogs will keep on doing tricks even if they never get a physical reward because they love you so much; cats are more cagey. That’s maybe why I like them so much, they’re so much more like people.