I had a kitten who fetched bottle caps, and brought them back. I didn’t train her to do this.
And I once had a cat who would jump up to the ceiling, leaving paw prints up there.
And one of my current cats does a “happy dance” to greet people. He lies in his back, then rolls from one side to the other, watching you the entire time.
I don’t know whether constantly knocking over the water bowl and flooding the kitchen is considered a “trick.”
Oh, and all my cats have known how to spell. I yell “E. A. T.” and they run into the kitchen and wait to be fed.
Not any of our current cats, but our first cat, Babu could.
He was able to:
*Shake hands
*Fetch
*Stand up
*Play dead
But he was very treat oriented and like all cats, did everything with a raging case of bitchface. And heaven help you if you didn’t have smoked turkey on hand to reward him when he went through his little parlour tricks. If you weren’t bitten, he wouldn’t do them again for a couple of days, just to show us who’s boss.
Buddy does that for me and for a couple of neighbouring German shepherds whom he hangs with, but not for strangers, so I figure it is a way of communicating.
Not only have I had cats who do tricks but I own a number of pond fish who will come when I call them and also allow me to “pet” them. I holler, “Hey you Guuuuuys!” because “Here fishy, fishy, fishy” is too difficult to say.
I believe that a key to teaching a cat tricks is to note certain mannerisms which the cat already has and then reinforcing them.
My Emily cat, when she was a kitten, used to come into the bathroom in the morning and fall over on her side to be petted while I, um, sat. Playing off of her funny and playful flop over on her side, I began to anticipate when she was going to do it and to say, “Fall down, Em.” Plop! “Good kitty, good kitty.”
Eventually I could get her to do it at other times, though she seemed to persist in expecting me to sit down first. Hah.
Now that she is older I get a dirty look from her when I give the command and sometimes she chooses to ignore me. Imagine it’s because she has farther to fall than she used to.
But if she’s inclined she will still do the side flop and crack me up. (I think she resents me for this.) Ever notice how much cats seem to dislike being laughed at?
I’ve had cats which shake hands, give kisses and sit on command. All of them were prone to deciding for themselves when and where - and around whom - they were willing to perform.
I’ve taught my cat “sit”, “turn” (walk in a circle), and “come” (from a short distance). At first, I would say the command and make a gesture with a treat in my hand. As soon as he did the trick, he got the treat immediately. Now that he’s learned, I can just do the appropriate gesture, even without a treat in hand. Sometimes, I can just say the command, but that’s rare. I can also get him to do several tricks in a row (multiple “turns” are funny). But more than three or four tricks with no treat, and he goes on strike until he gets paid again.
He also generally comes from anywhere in the house when we call him by name or whistle, but he developed that on his own.
I love hearing other people’s pet’s names. Merlin, Morrigan, Mehitabel and Buddy. One of these things is not like the others. So, why’d you go off theme?
As a kitten, he was abandoned at the end of a road in the bush, where he lived with a mother fox and her kits. The person feeding the foxes and him named him Buddy, so since he knew his own name, I didn’t re-name him when he moved in with me.
‘‘Oh, my cat is so empathic that he comforts me whenever he senses I’m in a bad mood.’’
‘‘Oh, my cat tries to protect me from the garbage truck.’’
‘‘Oh, my cat can do tricks.’’
My cat flees in terror if I so much as sneeze, is completely oblivious to my suffering (as evidenced by his delight in walking all over my boobs/crotch with his tiny sharp paws), and the greatest trick he can do is get the hell off the kitchen table when I give him a stern look.
I love my cat, Og knows I do, but I think my model is broken.
Aww, I have a Merlin. Note the look in his eyes. My husband calls it malevolence, but I know total apathy when I see it.
Aversion does work. But I wonder which is aversive - the water or the hissing sound the bottle makes when you spray?
I’ve had cats who don’t mind getting wet. One used to get into the tub with me and sit on my chest with her tail swishing around in the water. And the ones I have now had a barn cat daddy and go out in the rain and the snow without blinking an eye.
I suppose there are cats who don’t like getting wet but many I’ve had don’t seem to mind it.
Then there’s also that dealie about them going ahead and doing as they please when the no one’s watching. . .
Are those critters really always plotting to outfox us?
Oh, ditto to the signature whistle to tell them to come home. I didn’t think that qualified as a trick, though. Don’t most indoor/outdoor cats have a whistle they’re taught means “come home now?” When Babu was still alive, our next door neighbours had a cat named Leo who was B’s best friend. At the same time we would be whistling for Babu, they’d be standing outside whistling for Leo. The two of them would usually come trotting home together. Also, Leo used to “call” in the morning on the deck.
The running joke in our house is us speaking for our cats, saying things like, “I’ll kill you later - after you feed me.” I don’t ascribe outfoxing us to cats so much as sheer malevolence.
Oh yeah, my cat loves to jump into the empty laundry basket and get swung around - it’s like a kitty amusement park ride for her. I don’t know if that qualifies for a trick, but it is outside of normal behaviour for a cat.
I know this is kind of a cliche, but looking back (I owned cats for like 20 years, but I haven’t had a cat since ~2006) I think I could re-interpret their behavior as incredible stupidity rather than actual intelligence. I had fish as smart as my cats.
Imho, people think they’re smart because of their expressive faces, but their behavior is barely more than brain stem reactions.
I had a totally blind cat who when called would run across the golf course, run across the yard, run across the patio, and then, if you were not there to block and catch him, would slam head-first into the doorstep. The little guy even managed to catch the occasional bird.
Scout discovered the foundation of the garage. She used it as a Roman Gladiator Arena. She would capture chipmunks, and then chase them around the foundation.
I had a cat in jr high, who would meet my brother and I at the bus stop and walk us home, like she was our mom.
On weekends if we went to the library, she would walk us to the library, wait on the steps and walk us home.
I was riding my bike, and Scout was in the neighbor’s myrtle. She saw me…got excited meowed, and ran over to our dirt driveway, so she could roll around in the dirt.
