Marcos, who suffers from high blood pressure that affects his vision, has his blood pressure checked by the veterinarian while still in his carrier, which he loves because he uses it as a comfy bed at home.
Carlo Siracusa
Lisa Radosta, DVM, DACVB
Sugar, a snow-white, doll-faced Persian cat, has lived with Leslie since she was three months old. Before Leslie moved to her current home, she and Sugar lived with Leslie’s mother and sister. The most memorable encounters Sugar had with men before moving there were with Leslie’s loud, boisterous uncle and a visiting handyman, all ending with Sugar hiding under the bed for the entire day. When Leslie started dating Joe, now her fiancé, Sugar disappeared under the bed every time he visited the house and came out only after he left.
Over the course of the year that Leslie and Joe have been dating, there has been some improvement in Sugar’s behavior, but she still won’t get within five feet of Joe. Leslie is torn between her kitty and her fiancé. Joe, a cat lover, is hurt by Sugar’s behavior. How could she not love him? From his perspective, it seems like Sugar is acting out of spite or jealousy so that she can have Leslie all to herself.
Sugar is afraid of Joe because she learned through her earlier experiences that men are loud and scary. Sugar could have inherited from her parents the likelihood that she would become a scaredy-cat, since the tendency to be fearful is known to be passed on from parents to their offspring. However, exposure and training early in life can either reduce that tendency or reinforce it. In Sugar’s case, the learning that occurred when she was a kitten confirmed her suspicions that men were scary. When Joe came along, Sugar couldn’t accept him because her fear was too overwhelming.
Like many cat owners, Leslie considered Sugar’s behavior around men to be “normal cat behavior,” and it never occurred to her that she should intervene. Don’t all cats hide under the bed? The answer is, sometimes, but not for long periods, and some never hide when company comes.
As you will see in this chapter, the learning associated with fear overshadows virtually all other types of learning. But even if a cat has a genetic predilection toward fear, early and proper conditioning and training, before the fear becomes too intense, may help prevent problems like the one Sugar has with Joe. Hope for Sugar is not lost, however; training can still help forge a loving relationship between her and Joe.
Surely you have heard, or possibly said yourself, that cats can’t be trained. The truth is that cats are highly intelligent and can be trained with relative ease, if you know how they learn and how to motivate them. With effort and time, your cat can become more relaxed and better able to cope with stress, and the two of you will be closer than ever.
In this chapter, I’ll discuss:
How your cat learns
Why you must train him
How to motivate him to work with you
How to train him effectively
How to determine his specific training needs
The difficult truth is that while cats are treasured members of our families, the environments we have created for them can be stressful or unfulfilling. Life changes as owners get married, have children, add pets, move to a new home, or switch jobs. And let’s not forget about the scariest experience of all: veterinary visits.
To add insult to injury, cats have little or no control over what happens to them. Imagine if you got out of the house only when you went to the doctor’s office—and someone else made all of your decisions for you, including adding feline roommates who will share your food, water, loved ones, and even your toilet. You would be stressed, too!
Without training, cats are ill-equipped to deal with these situations, and they may lead to aggression, depression, fear, or compulsive behaviors. Training is a constant that will enable your cat to cope with life and its challenges with more resilience. Who wouldn’t want to give these gifts to their kitty?
Training will also help your cat understand simple but useful tasks, like coming when you call his name or make a specific sound. With the tools in this chapter and a little time and effort, you’ll be surprised how readily your cat learn to lead a less stressful life.
Even if your cat seems pretty happy, training can help him be happier.
Problem: Your cat hides under the bed when you have visitors.
Solution: Teach him to lie on top of his cat tree, out of reach of visitors, helping him to cope with his fear. (Teach your visitors not to touch him when he’s there, and he may even start to relax.)
Problem: Your cat sometimes bites you when you go to pet him.
Solution: Teach him a signal, such as touching your hand with his nose, so that he can tell you when he wants to be petted.
Problem: Your cat chases your other cats.
Solution: Teach him to come on cue so that you can interrupt the chase.
Problem: Your cat hates the veterinarian. (What cat doesn’t?)
Solution: Teach him to go into his carrier, ride in the car happily, and allow an examination without fuss.
Marcos, who suffers from high blood pressure that affects his vision, has his blood pressure checked by the veterinarian while still in his carrier, which he loves because he uses it as a comfy bed at home.
Carlo Siracusa
Many people believe that their cats can’t be trained, so they don’t try. Whether your cat is scared, mischievous, or predatory, understanding what influences his learning will give you a head start on changing his behavior. Every problem has a solution. Once you understand the foundational concepts of how cats learn, the possibilities are endless!
From the outside, learning looks simple. But inside the brain, learning causes developmental changes, changes in electrical impulses, and the release of neurochemicals. Behavior scientists define learning as the process by which experiences change the neurons and neurochemicals in the brain and body, in turn causing an outward change in behavior. Powerful!
Just like his wild brothers and sisters, your cat has learned many things by paying attention to events in his environment. As long as he is awake, he is learning by associating events with consequences (“I do this, and that thing happens”). These associations enable him to predict what will happen in his environment, adjust his behavior to stay safe, and get the things he needs to be happy.
What is going on in your cat’s brain neurochemically will affect his ability to learn at any given moment. In particular, the neurochemistry associated with fear, anxiety, and stress (what we call the stress response) will block your cat’s ability to reason properly—such as when he scratches you as you try to get him into the carrier to take him to the veterinarian’s office. To make things worse, this stress response promotes vivid sensory memories of the environment, people, animals, and inanimate objects involved in certain situations. Memories created when a cat is scared are easily retrieved when he is in that situation again, facilitating very powerful learning.
Now you can understand why it only takes one visit to the veterinarian for your cat to never forget the horror of that place, but ten tries to get him to stay off the kitchen table! If your kitty is fearful, anxious, or stressed, he will have a difficult time learning what you are trying to teach him.
The scientific principles of learning apply in the same ways to every animal, from honeybees to humans. But each species also has its own predispositions and inclinations. Let’s look at some of the things that make cats unique.
Compared with your brain, your cat’s brain has more real estate devoted to sensory processing and less to deep thinking. Sensory processing describes the way your cat’s nervous system receives input from his senses and turns that input into behavioral responses.
To go along with a brain that is highly skilled at sensory processing, his body is well developed to collect information about what he hears, sees, and smells, then quickly feed it to the brain. For example, your cat can move his ears independently in several directions, enabling him to home in on sounds that we can’t even hope to hear. The ridges inside his ears alter a sound so that he can locate the distance and height at which the sound originates to an amazing level of precision. His enhanced hearing enables him to hear subtle cues given in training sessions and notice sounds in the environment that predict scary events. That’s why he may be more distracted during training sessions if the room is noisy.
Cats have excellent vision that is adapted to predation. Your cat is somewhat farsighted and has better night vision than you, so be sure to give your training signals at least six inches away from his nose so that he can see them clearly.
As with most predators, cats have a highly developed sense of smell—about a thousand times more sensitive than yours. Because of this, smells that you are completely unaware of are apparent to your cat. He can associate these smells with past situations that trigger specific behaviors, or he can create a new association that he will then store in his brain. For example, did you ever notice that one of your cats is suddenly repelled by another when he returns from the veterinarian’s office? That is partly due to the change in the cat’s scent.
Stimulus: Anything in the environment (object, person, animal, event) and any sensory factors (sight, smell, taste) associated with that object or event that cause a sensory (such as pupil dilation) or a behavioral (such as hiding) response.
Habituation: A type of learning where a cat learns to ignore repeated stimuli in his environment that are not frightening or stressful.
Sensitization: A type of learning where a cat becomes more likely to react to something in the environment.
Conditioning: Another word for learning; used to indicate the change in behavior that results from the association of two stimuli or events.
Desensitization: The process of exposing a cat to a stimulus that he is afraid of, in a manner that is the least threatening possible and incites no or a minimal fear response (such as playing recordings of fireworks or storms at very low volume). This process works well when paired with classical counterconditioning.
Classical conditioning: A kind of learning that occurs when a word, a sound, a smell, or the sight of something that was previously without meaning comes to predict a particular outcome. This association causes an involuntary emotional response and reflex behavior in a particular cat; the cat does not control the response. Also called Pavlovian conditioning. Emotional responses might include fear or happiness, and reflex behaviors might be physiological changes such as increased heart rate or respiratory rate.
Classical counterconditioning: The process of changing a cat’s fearful emotional state by pairing a stimulus that triggers fear with something that naturally triggers a positive emotional response, such as food or play with toys.
Operant conditioning: A kind of learning that takes place when a cat makes a conscious choice to perform a behavior, resulting in a consequence for him. The cat can control the result of his actions by changing his behavior.
Punishment: Something that is applied (positive) or removed (negative) from a situation to decrease the frequency of a behavior. Also called a punisher.
Reinforcement: Something that is applied (positive) or removed (negative) from a situation to increase the frequency of a behavior. Also called a reward.
Continuous reinforcement: Reinforcement for every correct attempt at a behavior.
Intermittent reinforcement: Reinforcement for some but not all correct attempts at a behavior.
Conditioned reinforcer: A neutral stimulus (something that has no meaning for the cat) that is paired with a reward until the conditioned reinforcer comes to predict the reward. Conditioned reinforcers such as clickers are especially helpful for training cats. The cat hears a click and knows that a reward is coming.
Certain types of learning do not require much obvious effort from you or your cat. Habituation and sensitization are two such types. When a cat habituates to something, he adjusts to it and learns to ignore it. The result is a decreased response to that stimulus, because he has not learned a positive or negative association with it.
For example, your cat may have habituated to the family dog because the dog has been very calm and quiet around him. You did not make a particular effort to help them get along. Nonetheless, they have adjusted to each other. If the cat is very afraid of the dog, he may not habituate (fear overrides all other types of learning), but instead he may become sensitized.
Sensitization is the opposite of habituation. When it occurs, a cat’s reaction to something becomes more pronounced. In the example with the dog, if your cat is afraid of the dog and does not show some improvement in about a week, he might be sensitized. A different behavior of the dog—for example, barking instead of being very quiet—may have caused a different outcome. Over time, if nothing is done to change this association, the cat will become more fearful and stressed. If you think your cat is becoming sensitized to a stimulus in your home, act immediately to prevent long-term harm.
Whether individual cats habituate or sensitize to a stimulus depends not only on their experience with that object or event but also on their personality. More fearful animals are more likely to become sensitized to a specific stimulus.
Isabella was very timely in her daily feeding routine for Chewie, a supersize shorthaired black cat with big amber eyes. Each time she was ready to put down his food-dispensing toy, she also called his name. Over time, Chewie learned that whenever Isabella called his name, she would give him food. So now he comes running, with a cute meow of excitement, 100 percent of the time when Isabella calls him, no matter where he is in the house.
Is this a testament to Isabella’s incredible training skills? Not really. It’s a result of Chewie’s ability to associate events with outcomes and to learn even when Isabella wasn’t consciously training him.
Two types of learning occurred here, resulting in a reliable behavior. The first type is called classical conditioning (“conditioning” is another word for “learning”). The second is operant conditioning, discussed in the next section.
When he was adopted, Chewie had no idea what the word “Chewie” meant. It was just a sound his new owner made. But every time Isabella made that sound, she put food inside his dispensing toy. In Chewie’s brain, the following association was made:
“Chewie” = food
You can probably think of a time when you have been classically conditioned to feel a certain way. Maybe there is a particular scent or song that triggers a happy feeling for you. Classical conditioning caused Chewie to feel happy when he heard his name—as happy as he was when he actually received a yummy treat. Now his name alone, without any food, evokes a happy feeling.
“Chewie” = food
food = happiness
“Chewie” = happiness
Classical conditioning can be positive or negative, and therefore can either enhance or diminish your cat’s well-being. You can condition your cat to be stressed, fearful, and upset just as easily, if not more easily, than you can condition him to be happy. In Chewie’s case, he has also been classically conditioned to be afraid of the cat carrier, because it means he will be going to the veterinarian’s office. When he sees the carrier, he panics and runs away. Classical conditioning is extremely powerful and is difficult to change once it has occurred.
What if your cat has been classically conditioned to be fearful of his carrier or the veterinary clinic? Fortunately, classical conditioning works both ways, and you can change, or “counter,” a negative emotional response through classical counterconditioning. For example, if you associate the stimulus (the carrier or clinic) with a food your cat particularly likes, with repetition you can change his negative response to a positive one, and he will begin to feel good about getting in the carrier or going to see the veterinarian.
What if your cat won’t enter his carrier to eat the special food you’re offering him? In that case, you may need to incorporate desensitization into the counterconditioning process. This means that you must start at a level that will not trigger any fearful response. Remove the top of the carrier and place the food on the bottom. Once your cat is comfortable eating there, place the top over just a portion of the bottom. As he gets more comfortable with this arrangement, gradually move the top of the carrier over more of the bottom until eventually the top is in place without the door. When your cat is willing to enter the carrier and eat in a calm, relaxed state, add the door and then gradually close it. The process is complete.
Offering cheese during a veterinary visit helps classically condition a positive emotional response to the veterinarian’s exam.
Lisa White/Courtesy of Karen Pryor Academy’s Better Veterinary Visits Course
Operant conditioning takes place when the cat makes a conscious choice to do something that results in a consequence for him. In this case, Chewie (now feeling quite happy due to classical conditioning) chooses to run to Isabella when he hears his name. The consequence of this choice is that he gets food. In fact, he can control whether he gets food by choosing to either run to her or to stay in his comfy bed. This is the association that has formed in Chewie’s brain due to operant conditioning.
“Chewie” + running = food
With operant conditioning, there are four possible consequences of an action, and each consequence causes either a decrease or an increase in the behavior to which it is applied. The four possibilities are:
Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Positive punishment
Negative punishment
Understanding these concepts, and which one makes a behavior more likely or less likely to be repeated, will enable you to effectively teach your cat almost anything.
Let’s start with reinforcement. If you want your cat to continue performing a behavior, no matter what the behavior is, it has to be rewarded. Behavioral scientists call the act of rewarding something “reinforcement”; rewards are called “reinforcers.” Reinforcement increases the strength of a particular behavior, much like the beams on a building reinforce its strength. It makes the behavior more likely to occur in the future.
Punishment, on the other hand, decreases the likelihood of a behavior occurring. See the chart “Four Consequences in Operant Conditioning” below for details on what reinforcement and punishment do.
|
The Cat’s Point of View |
What Happens to the Behavior |
Example |
What the Cat Does Next Time in That Situation |
Positive Reinforcement |
Something good happens |
Increases |
Your cat meows, and you pet him |
Meows more |
Negative Reinforcement |
Something bad is taken away |
Increases |
Your cat meows, and you take him out of his cat carrier |
Meows more |
Positive Punishment |
Something bad happens |
Decreases |
Your cat meows, and you squirt him with water |
Meows less |
Negative Punishment |
Something good is taken away |
Decreases |
Your cat meows, and you stop petting him |
Meows less |
For Chewie, what is reinforcing the behavior of coming when called? Food! If Isabella stopped giving Chewie food when she called him, eventually he would stop coming to her. To keep this behavior strong, Isabella will have to continue to reinforce the act of him coming to her when she calls.
How often you reinforce a behavior is called a reinforcement schedule. There are several schedules you can use to reinforce your kitty for his fantastic behavior. Chewie is on a continuous reinforcement schedule—every time he responds to his name by running to Isabella, he gets food.
When a cat is first learning a new skill, a continuous reinforcement schedule is the most effective. But once Chewie is well trained, meaning he responds nine times out of ten the first time Isabella calls him to come (90 percent accuracy), she can start reinforcing him on an intermittent reinforcement schedule. That means Chewie’s behavior will be rewarded some of the time, but not all of the time.
Once a skill is learned, an intermittent reinforcement schedule is actually more powerful than a continuous reinforcement schedule, creating strong behavioral responses that are difficult to change. This is the same reinforcement schedule that causes otherwise cautious people to sit at a slot machine for hours, hoping for a payout. The gambler can’t predict which coin will produce a big payout, so he or she spends the entire day feeding money into the machine.
If you want to create a strong, reliable response to a training cue, teach first with a continuous reinforcement schedule, then switch to an intermittent reinforcement schedule when your cat is about 90 percent accurate.
That being said, negative emotions like fear and anxiety can make learning more difficult and decrease the accuracy of the cat’s response. That’s why fearful and anxious cats may need to stay on a continuous reinforcement schedule for longer to obtain good training results.
Keep in mind that behaviors that are not reinforced will eventually be extinguished (they will disappear). If Chewie never gets rewarded or is not rewarded frequently enough, he will stop coming to Isabella when she calls his name.
On the other hand, sometimes we want our cats to stop performing a certain behavior. In this case, removing all reinforcement is an excellent, permanent option. One word of caution, though: behaviors that were previously rewarded, even with only your attention, and then are ignored will increase before they decrease. In other words, expect your cat to be very, very persistent for three to five days before the behavior starts to disappear.
So far, we have talked about reinforcing your cat for desirable behavior. You may be wondering what you should do when your cat does something you don’t like. It’s about time we talked about punishment. If we punish a behavior, it will stop, right? Problem solved! Not so fast, because it rarely works that way.
Punishment, simply defined, means a consequence that, when applied correctly, causes a behavior to decrease or stop. Punishment can take many forms, from removing attention or a toy to a stern “No!” to squirting with water or hitting. Most important, the animal receiving it must think of it as a punishment. Remember, to be successful, it must be motivating enough to cause a behavior to decrease.
Milo, a long, lanky orange tabby cat, loves being on the kitchen counter. He likes to lie with his long tail and back feet precariously hanging off the edge as he sleeps. He also enjoys walking across the counter to the stove to visit Judy, his owner, when she is cooking dinner. Judy, however, does not want him on the counter where she prepares food, considering that his feet have been in the litter box. There is family conflict: Milo wants to be on the counter, and Judy doesn’t want him there.
Judy’s first reaction was to sternly tell him “No!” and place him on the floor. Milo, confused about Judy’s behavior, jumped back onto the counter and sidled over to her again to see what was on the stove. This process repeated itself every day before dinner until one of them gave up. When Judy was too frustrated and tired to put him on the floor again, Milo took up his usual spot on the counter. Sometimes she would have the perseverance to continue putting him down, and Milo would give up. In other words, sometimes Milo would be rewarded (allowed to be on the counter) for his behavior (jumping up there), and sometimes he would not.
Take a moment to test yourself. What type of reinforcement schedule was Milo on? What do you think happened with the jumping behavior?
Judy noticed that Milo became even more persistent over the next few months. It took more and more tries to get him to stay off the counter. She was losing the battle.
What was happening? Judy was using positive punishment. Behavioral scientists use the word “positive” here to mean adding something to the situation. Positive punishment means you’re adding something your cat doesn’t like with the goal of decreasing his behavior. Judy added a stern “No!” to decrease the likelihood of Milo jumping on the counter. When you add things like yelling, hitting, or squirting with water, you are using positive punishment.
However, Judy soon discovered that things were not going as planned. She had not considered Milo’s point of view. Maybe Milo’s motivation to be on the counter was stronger than her loud “No!” Plus, she was inconsistent in applying the training: When Judy’s back was turned, Milo would jump right back on the counter, and sometimes Judy would just give up and let him stay. She was trying to teach:
Jump on counter + yelling “No!” = less jumping on counter
But Milo actually learned that sometimes he could not only get on the counter but also stay there. If punishment isn’t delivered within about one second of the behavior, every time the cat performs the behavior, the cat is being intermittently reinforced. In other words, sometimes the behavior works, and sometimes it doesn’t. As we just learned, intermittent reinforcement makes a behavior stronger. So Milo actually learned:
Jump on counter + sometimes reinforced, sometimes not = more jumping on counter
Let’s see what happened next. Judy did what a lot of people who use positive punishment do: she escalated. Judy decided that Milo had to receive a more uncomfortable punishment. The next night at dinner, she had her squirt bottle ready. When Milo jumped up on the counter, she said in her sternest voice, “Milo!” and squirted him with water. Milo jumped off the counter immediately.
But because Judy had always been inconsistent in delivering punishment, causing Milo to be intermittently reinforced for jumping on the counter, he jumped on the counter again—although it was a good ten minutes before he made the attempt. As his feet touched the counter, the interaction was repeated: “Milo!” then squirt. This continued for several nights, until all Judy had to do was leave the squirt bottle out when she was in the kitchen, and Milo wouldn’t jump on the counter.
Problem solved? Nope. And, unfortunately, now there was a bigger problem. Judy noticed a change in Milo’s behavior. He no longer responded to his name when she called him. He used to happily run to her whenever she called his name, greeting her at the door when she came home. But that behavior had stopped. Milo had learned that Judy calling his name was followed by a squirt of water. Why would he come for that?
To make matters worse, when Judy was at work and checked in on Milo by watching her webcam, she could see him resting comfortably on the counter with the squirt bottle nearby. The problem wasn’t solved.
Mistakes like the one Judy made, or simply poor timing, end up punishing the wrong behavior. Judy ended up teaching Milo to associate his name with punishment. Unfortunately, positive punishment can quickly—after only one or two instances—cause powerful classical conditioning of fear of the owner. In some cats, this fear can lead to swatting and biting. Sometimes the biting is directed at the owner, but sometimes it is directed at someone nearby, like a cat, dog, or child.
Remember that classical conditioning is a powerful kind of learning. Milo didn’t want to be around Judy because he had been classically conditioned to feel differently about her. He was no longer running to her with happiness. How sad for her and Milo!
Now, in Milo’s mind, the following associations had been made:
“Milo!” = squirt of water
squirt of water = fear
“Milo!” = fear
Positive punishment also causes a decrease in a cat’s willingness to interact and offer spontaneous behaviors, making it more difficult to train him. In Milo’s case, Judy is no longer able to use his name to get him to come, because now he is fearful when he hears his name. What previously was a useful tool to start training sessions is lost. In addition, the fear of being punished makes Milo reluctant to try new things during training sessions. Better to stick with what he knows or walk away than to be squirted with water.
Positive punishment also causes confusion, because it doesn’t teach the cat what he should do, but only what he shouldn’t do. In Milo’s case, if Judy had just set up a cat tree near the kitchen counter and taught Milo to go there, he would have been able to be high up and near her (which is what he wanted) and also get rewarded for it.
When there’s confusion, the behavior we don’t want may decrease. But because the motivation for the behavior is still there, cats often exhibit a different behavior that we want even less. In Milo’s case, he still wanted to be close to Judy, but he didn’t know how to get her attention. He may have started rubbing in between her legs and meowing as she tried to move in the kitchen, creating an annoying and dangerous situation.
Let’s review the pitfalls of positive punishment.
It’s difficult to use consistently and becomes reinforcement when delivered inconsistently.
It must be delivered within about one second of the behavior.
Classical conditioning results in fear of or aggression toward the owner.
It reduces the cat’s willingness to offer spontaneous behaviors.
It teaches the cat what he shouldn’t do, not what he should do.
In short, try to avoid positive punishment, in particular when it is associated with you. Sometimes you can use positive punishment in a way that it won’t be associated with the people or other animals in your household. If you want to consider this option—only with cats who are not fearful or aggressive—we strongly encourage you to discuss it with a certified animal behavior consultant or veterinary behaviorist.
Positive punishment often results in learning: think of touching a hot stove and learning not to do that again. But teaching a new behavior that is incompatible with the undesirable behavior—for example, teaching Milo to go to a cat tree—is the best way to go.
At this point, you are probably wondering how you can tell your cat that he has done something wrong. Isn’t it important for him to know when he is not right? Yes, it is. But when cats are not right, they need clear, consistent feedback. This type of feedback can be helpful in the learning process. This is the place for negative punishment.
Remember, with negative punishment, something the cat likes is removed in order to decrease a behavior. Take the example of Ted, a cat who meows to get his owner, Scott, to pet him. Even when Scott is petting Ted, he keeps meowing, as if to say Don’t stop.
Scott loves Ted dearly, but he is tired after work and would rather have some peace and quiet while he’s petting Ted. So, when Scott is petting Ted and Ted meows, Scott withdraws his hand. He removes the petting that Ted likes in order to decrease the meowing. This type of negative punishment is highly effective.
However, if you remove something a cat enjoys without redirecting him to another activity, frustration can build, causing negative behaviors such as biting and swatting. If your kitty is easily frustrated, make sure to immediately follow a negative punishment with a new activity that is enjoyable or relaxing for your cat.
Do use positive reinforcement and, when appropriate, negative punishment.
Don’t use positive punishment or negative reinforcement.
Are cats jealous and spiteful? Let’s go back for a minute to the example of Leslie, Sugar, and Joe. Joe believed Sugar was acting out of spite or jealousy. Do cats really do that?
The cerebral cortex, the part of the brain involved in conscious thought, occupies a larger portion of your brain than it does your cat’s. Because of this, behavioral scientists believe that cats spend little time pondering the mysteries of existence and instead spend most of their time watching their environment and forming associations based on sensory input.
In other words, cats can’t plot to take revenge on you for dating the wrong person or changing your work schedule. They can’t understand the concept of money or that your comforter cost $300. If your cat urinated on your bed, most likely he was responding to a dirty litter box, intimidation by another pet in the family, or a major stressor in his life. No, your cat is not filled with vengeful thoughts about you. He simply had to urinate, and that was the most convenient, safe, and comforting spot at the time. He is very intelligent, but he isn’t conniving or spiteful.
Another thing we know about cats is that they live in the moment. That means they also learn in the moment. That’s not to say cats can’t remember what happens to them from day to day. Of course they can! If your cat didn’t form long-term memories, he wouldn’t remember that sleeping on your head is comfy or that going to the veterinarian is scary.
The cat’s predisposition to live and learn in the here and now means we have to be careful to deliver rewards and consequences within seconds after desired or undesired behaviors. In the example of the cat urinating on your bed, he will remember how pleasurable it was to relieve his bladder on such a soft, clean surface. That will cause him to return to that spot in the future if nothing else in the environment changes.
If you enter the room later in the day and yell at him, he will remember that as well. Unfortunately, he will not associate urinating on the bed with your reaction, because too much time has passed. Instead, he will associate you and the bedroom with your anger. This could cause several unintended learned responses, such as avoiding you when you are in the bedroom.
We are not suggesting that because cats’ brains are different from ours, they lack emotions. Most cat owners have seen fear, pleasure, grief, and joy in their cats. Cats display body language that shows us how they feel in most situations. They have emotions just as we do. They may not spend hours deep in thought about those emotions, but they are real, and they shape how cats learn.
Are you ready to start training your cat? Before you begin, you need to have a very clear idea of what you want to accomplish. Think about the following:
What is the new behavior you want to train or the exact behavior you want to change?
What will the new behavior look like?
If you want to change an existing behavior, what is your cat’s motivation for that behavior? What in the environment, the social situation (with people or other cats), or unmet needs is creating his motivation to engage in the behavior? Remember, behaviors are maintained by their consequences. Therefore, you need to figure out what is happening with the cat that encourages him to continue the behavior.
Take a moment to think about what motivates your cat. Does he like food, being brushed, playing, or petting? Write down in detail all the things he enjoys, then rank them from the most desirable to the least desirable. These will be your positive reinforcers.
Commit to using only positive reinforcement and, if necessary, negative punishment. Get in the right frame of mind by thinking positively. If you are in a cranky mood, skip training until your mood improves.
Consider your cat’s overall health before you start training. Can he have treats? If so, what kind? Is he overweight? If he’s an older cat, are there pain issues that might limit his ability to perform certain tasks? These are all important considerations.
Consider your cat’s personality. Is he a wild child or a couch potato? His personality will influence how you train him. Try to train around mealtimes so your cat is hungry—but beware of a hungry kitty! Some cats become frustrated when they are hungry. This will interfere with learning and may cause them to be more physical about getting their food exactly when they want it, perhaps swatting your hand as you hold the treat. For cats like that, train an hour or two after a meal.
Most cats will need a conditioned reinforcer for the most effective training. A conditioned reinforcer is a sound or word signaling to the cat that the behavior he just performed was correct. It’s a very efficient way to train a cat, because it’s a clear signal and is delivered immediately—faster than you could give him a treat or another reward. A clicker with a soft “click” sound would certainly do the trick, but you can also use a specific phrase, like “Good job!” Just remember to just be consistent about using the exact same sound or words every time you train, or they will not become conditioned reinforcers.
A clicker can be an effective conditioned reinforcer that tells your cat his action was correct and a treat is coming. This clicker comes with a loop so you can slip it on your wrist. Some cats may be startled by loud clicks, so make sure to choose a clicker with a soft tone.
Carlo Siracusa
Pull together a tool kit with all the things you’ll need for a training session. Put the kit away when you aren’t using it so your cat understands when the training session has ended.
THINGS TO PUT IN YOUR TRAINING TOOL KIT:
Conditioned reinforcer (a clicker, but you can also use a word or short phrase)
Training diary, to track your cat’s progress
List of training goals
Treats
Toys
Mat for teaching the cat to go to his spot and settle
Bowl for holding food rewards or so you can deliver a food reward at a distance
List of behaviors to be taught
List of your cat’s body language when he is upset or disengaging
Save your cat’s favorite treats and toys for your training sessions. Cats are attracted to novelty, so keep at least three different types of treats handy each time you train. Make sure the treats you use are about the size of a pea (break them up if you have to). In addition to your training tool kit, keep some treats and another conditioned reinforcer around the house so you can reward your cat throughout the day for desirable behaviors, such as lying on the cat tree instead of the countertop.
Keep sessions short, about five to ten minutes at the most, and always end on a high note when your cat is having a good time and is successful. When he loses interest, the training session is over. Consider even a one-minute training session a success. If your cat works with you for only a minute, make it your goal to work with him twice a day when he is most hungry for attention.
Before training a specific behavior, take a couple of days to practice your own training skills. You will need your conditioned reinforcer and small treats. Whenever you see your cat doing something you like, click the clicker or say your conditioned reinforcer word and hand him a treat. This exercise will put you in a positive frame of mind and hone your observation skills. You will notice that your cat will take more notice of you as well. He may start to pay attention as you walk through the room, as if to ask Do you like what I am doing now? Practicing your skills before you start training will help your cat learn more quickly.
Observe your cat throughout the day and make a list of the body language he exhibits when he disengages from you or is upset. Maybe he thumps his tail or puts his ears back. He may turn his head away or start grooming to avoid you. If he exhibits body language of this sort while you are training him, go back to the point where he was easily successful and increase the reinforcement by rewarding him more frequently or with a higher-value reward.
There are two primary ways you can teach your cat new behaviors: luring and shaping.
Luring means holding a reward and using a physical gesture to get your cat into position so that you can reinforce him. For example, if you want your cat to sit, you might hold the treat up in the air just above his nose and then move it back slightly, so that as he follows it with his nose, he has to sit. If your kitty swats at the treat or doesn’t move to sit, you may need to just wait until he sits. When he does, click and reward with the treat.
This example shows how to use operant conditioning to teach your cat a behavior on cue. It uses luring to get him into position.
Choose a comfy spot for your cat that is also convenient for you. A cat tree usually works well.
Stand one foot from the spot.
Get your cat’s attention by calling his name or shaking the treat bag.
When he comes to you, click the clicker and hand him a small (pea-size) food reward.
Immediately toss a food reward onto the cat tree. When he steps onto the tree, click and place another food reward on the tree.
Call your cat off the tree and repeat step five twice more—or until he gets the idea.
When your cat is reliably going to the tree before you toss the food onto it, add the cue “go to your spot.” Always click and reinforce when he gets to the tree.
When nine times out of ten he goes to his tree on cue the very first time you give it, increase the distance between you and the tree.
As he gets better and better at responding to the cue, gradually increase the distance. Eventually, you will be able to send him there from anywhere in the house.
Shaping entails rewarding successive approximations of the final behavior. If you were teaching your cat to get on a cat tree using shaping, you would reward him for getting near the cat tree, then getting on the lowest platform, then getting on a higher resting place. This is where a conditioned reinforcer such as a clicker can help with your timing, because you have to reinforce your cat at the exact moment he does what you want.
Another cool way to use a conditioned reinforcer is to capture behaviors. This works very well with cats. Think of capturing a behavior as similar to taking a photo. You associate a verbal cue with a behavior that your cat offers spontaneously, and then you ask your cat to do the behavior using the cue. To capture a behavior, when you see your cat doing what you like, click the clicker and give him a reward. If you are teaching him to sit, whenever you see him sitting, just click and reward. Soon he will be offering to sit whenever he sees you.
Cats naturally use a gentle nose touch as a greeting behavior. If you want to promote this positive behavior as an appropriate way to seek attention, as opposed to biting your hand or climbing on your leg, you can capture the nose touch and put it on cue.
When your cat is approaching you with a relaxed and friendly body posture (tail up, ears straight forward, relaxed gait, meowing), gently extend your hand toward him. If he seems intimidated by you extending your hand, try using a single finger.
The cat will likely smell and touch your hand. Use your conditioner reinforcer, then give him a good treat.
If the cat repeats this behavior, use your conditioned reinforcer and reward him again. However, if you anticipate that he may start to become overexcited and bite your hand, toss a few treats away from you before he gets too excited.
Repeat this association—touch, then treat—every time your cat approaches you to interact.
When he gets the idea and starts to approach you and touch your hand to get a treat, you can say the word “touch” a few seconds before he touches your hand.
Quickly, he will associate the word with the interaction, and you will be able to say “touch” to trigger the behavior.
Primo offers a nose touch on cue.
Meghan E. Herron
Remember Judy and Milo? Let’s see what Judy decided to do next to keep Milo off the counter.
Judy knew her plan so far hadn’t worked. Milo was on the counter when she wasn’t home, and he was distancing himself from her at other times. She loved Milo, but she just didn’t want him on the counter! A friend suggested that she put one of those shock mats on the counter, but Judy didn’t want to hurt Milo, and she knew that more positive punishment wasn’t the answer. She had already seen the difference in him when she used the squirt bottle. It was time to go in a new direction.
Instead of focusing on what Milo was doing wrong, she focused on what was motivating him to get on the counter in the first place and how she could satisfy that need. She took some time to observe him and noticed that he hung out in lots of high spots, like the back of the sofa and her dresser. She figured Milo wanted to be on the counter to be close to her and also to be up high.
Judy invested in a cat tree and put it in the dining area near the counter. Each day before dinner, she put catnip and a couple of treats on the cat tree. Sure enough, he ran to the top of the tree, ate the treats, rolled in the catnip, and fell asleep. Judy continued to do this each night before she started making dinner.
Then, on the weekends when she had time to work with Milo, she used a clicker and treats to teach him to run to the top of the cat tree on her verbal cue (“go to your spot”). Within a couple of weeks, she was able to send him to the cat tree before she started cooking dinner and rewarded him intermittently while she was cooking. She had taught Milo to stay off the counter and also taught an alternative behavior that worked for both him and her. He was getting the interaction with her that he craved, and she was enjoying Milo and a clean counter!
Providing cats with lots of elevated comfortable spots where they can be near us helps prevent conflict and gives them alternatives they can be rewarded for.
Craig Zeichner
Here’s your chance to test what you’ve learned as you’ve read this chapter. What associations were made in Milo’s brain?
Judy = treats and catnip
Judy = happiness
Cat tree = treats and catnip
Cat tree = happiness
“Go to your spot” + going to the top of the cat tree = treats from Judy
What types of conditioning did Judy use to help Milo learn these associations?
Classical and operant conditioning
While we love our cats for their individuality, sometimes it can make training that much more difficult. Let’s look at some examples of how you can overcome training challenges with your cat.
If your cat is over age ten, he is considered a senior cat. Cats are notoriously good at hiding their pain and discomfort. In one study done at North Carolina State University, Dr. Elizabeth Hardie and her colleagues looked at one hundred cats over twelve years old whose owners reported the cats had no pain; they found 90 percent had arthritis. If your cat is older, it’s likely he has some discomfort, so take things slow when training him. You may want to start with a stationary exercise, such as “watch me,” where your kitty learns to make eye contact with you on cue.
If your cat has a little extra meat on his bones and you are concerned about weight gain, reduce the amount of food you give him in his bowl by about a tablespoon, and consider feeding him using a food-dispensing toy. Make sure to ask your veterinarian, of course, before you make any changes to his diet. When training him, keep the food rewards to about the size of a pea. You can use his kibble for training, but take it out of his daily ration.
Cats who are full of energy and prone to frustration may swat at you when they don’t get rewarded quickly enough during training. If your kitty is a wild child, he may respond better to reinforcement that is remotely delivered from a treat-dispensing device or placed in a bowl off to the side of where you are working. Alternatively, you can use a clean, squeezable travel shampoo bottle filled with thinned canned food and let him take a taste from the nozzle. That way, you can deliver the food without having it come from your hand.
If you are going to place the treat in a bowl or use a remote dispenser, be sure to use a conditioned reinforcer, whether that be a word or a clicker. That way, you will instantly reward the correct behavior—even if the food is a little slow in coming. If your kitty is a couch potato, make sure to use very high-value food such as canned cat food or tuna or chicken, and train before mealtimes.
Keep in mind that cats eat more slowly than dogs. Your cat’s naturally suspicious mind may cause him to investigate new foods at first. Don’t take this as a lack of interest. Be patient and let your cat explore. It may take a couple of attempts to get him to feel comfortable eating a treat. Try out new treats before you start training so you know what he likes.
Try training with toys, grooming, petting, or a chance to rub against a knobby brush as rewards. Not every cat is motivated by food. If your cat is on a prescription diet, you will have to use that diet or veterinarian-approved treats to train him. If the diet comes in a canned version, stick with that for training purposes (dole out a little on a spoon or from a squeeze bottle). You can also try training before meals, when he will be motivated to eat.
If your cat is showing you disengagement signals and walking away from training, he may be tired, frustrated, or just done training. Keep your training sessions very short, maybe as short as a minute, always end on a good note leaving your cat wanting more, and use the very highest-value treats. Keep the best treats, grooming tools, and toys for training so that they maintain their special value.
Cats are highly intelligent and trainable. They are also unique in the ways they perceive the world, process information, and make the associations that are so important for learning.
Cats have a strong self-protection mechanism, which can quickly result in classically conditioned fear responses. Fear will override your hard work when training your cat, so do your best to avoid fearful situations or try to lessen how scary they are for him.
Cats feel emotions just as we do, but they aren’t spiteful or vengeful.
To change unwanted behaviors, find what motivates your cat and try to satisfy that need in a way that is acceptable to you both.
Use only positive reinforcement and, if necessary, negative punishment when training your cat.
Practice using conditioned reinforcers for more effective training.
What are you waiting for? Get out there and train your cat!