Is toilet-training your cat a good thing?
For many cat owners, toilet-training your cat may seem like the answer to your prayers. No more smelly litter boxes, no more litter tracked everywhere, no more needing to buy litter, no more scooping and changing. But, is toilet-training really a good thing?
To toilet-train your cat, you have to get the cat used to using the litter box in the bathroom. Once he’s used to that, it’s recommended to gradually raise the height of the litter box using phone books or boxes, until the box is eventually at the same height as the toilet. This will help your cat get used to jumping up on the toilet when it needs to go. The next step is to get a litter box that inserts into the toilet bowl. These are available at many pet stores. Once your cat is used to using the toilet, you can remove the litter box insert. Toilet-training kits are also available at pet stores.
There are problems associated with cats using the toilet however. Kittens, small cats and older cats may not be able to balance themselves over a toilet. You will also need to remember to always leave the toilet seat up so that the cat has access to the toilet. If your cat falls in, while he may be able to get out on his own, you’ll have a very wet, and very angry, cat running around your house. Falling in may cause your cat stress, and he’ll view the toilet as an evil device. Toilet-training also takes away a cat’s natural instinct to dig and to cover their feces and urine.
And, even though Jack Byrnes in Meet The Parents taught Mr. Jinx to use the toilet AND flush, cats will not be able to actually flush the toilet. There can still be an odor from the solid waste until you’re able to flush it away.
Photo credit: kudomomo via flickr
August 31st, 2009 by Beth VanHoose | Posted in Cat Behavior | Comments (0)
Buddy in his carrier, moving across country
A little over a year ago, my husband and I moved from the Midwest to the Southwest. We, of course, took our cats with us. Which meant that we had to move them more than 1500 miles to a new home. I spent days – ok, more like weeks – worrying about how to move them. I mean, they hated the short car rides to the vet, how were they going to handle a ride across country?
The first thing I did was get them used to a harness. They are indoor cats, and they don’t normally wear collars. Even though they were going to be in carriers, I wanted them on leashes too, just in case. So, I went out and bought two harnesses and two leashes. I wish I had thought to have taken pictures of them the first time I got the harnesses on them, but I was laughing too hard.
Buddy was first, because if he saw me ‘torture’ Max first, no way would he have come near me. I got the harness on him with relative ease, and set him on the floor. You would have thought I’d set him in a puddle of glue. He laid down and would not move, even when I tugged on the leash. Max, being curious, had to see what I’d done to Buddy. So, I got the harness on Max and set him down. He did walk – or slink anyway – across the floor, but I don’t think there was any light between his belly and the floor. After I’d taken the harnesses off them that first time, they spent hours licking themselves and each other, getting rid of the cat version of hat hair (harness hair?) So much for the first harness-training session.
I put the harnesses on them every day, increasing the time every day, until they’d pretty much gotten used to them, or could at least tolerate them. They still weren’t walking well with the leashes, but they weren’t going to be doing much walking anyway. I just wanted a way to keep them under control when they were out of their cages.
Since they were going to have to ride in the cab of the moving truck with my husband and me, I needed some sort of cage or kennel that would fit on the seat between us. I couldn’t find anything suitable that they could be in together, so I got two soft-side, collapsible carriers that look like tents. These fit side by side on the seat, and had screens on the side so they got plenty of air, and they could look out and enjoy the scenery.
I also bought a collapsible dog kennel, and small, disposable litter boxes. When we stopped at night, we took the bigger kennel into the motel rooms, fixed up a litter box and put it at the back of the kennel. We gave them food and water, and let them use the litter box. Then we clipped their leashes to their harnesses, and let them “explore” and stretch their legs, before putting them both in the kennel until morning.
It took us four days to drive to our new home, and the cats traveled very well. Most of the motels we stopped at were Motel 6, and had no problem with the cats. The last night, we stopped in Williams, AZ, at a little motel that advertised they were pet-friendly. Just to be sure, we mentioned when we were checking in that we had cats. They told us they didn’t allow cats, only dogs. Sorry, but that’s not very pet-friendly. So, we left and went down the street to the Motel 6.
My worries over moving the cats were unfounded, as they did extremely well. I was impressed.
Photo credit: Beth VanHoose
August 3rd, 2009 by Beth VanHoose | Posted in Cat Behavior, Cat Stories | Comments (0)
I’ve often heard the quote “Dogs have owners, cats have staff”. A recent study shows that this may not just be a humorous observation on the behavior of cats.
Karen McComb, who studies vocal communication in mammals at the University of Sussex, recently completed research on a type of meow exhibited by house cats. The meow is a mix between a purr and a cry, which comes out as a high-pitched noise that drives some humans crazy.
In the study, 10 cats were recorded making this noise and other sounds. The tapes were played back for 50 humans, many who were not cat owners. The majority of the humans, cat owners and non-cat owners, felt that the cats were asking for food when they made this sound.
This purr-cry is a manipulative purr, I think because the cat knows it’s annoying, and their human will give them a treat or feed them just to get them to stop making that noise. Both of my cats make this sound. And they do make it mostly when they are hungry, or think it’s feeding time.
This sound is one of four types of meows common in cats. If you listen closely, you’ll be able to recognize the different meows your cat makes. They each have their own special tones and nuances. There’s the high-pitched purr/cry for when they are hungry, a meow for when they want attention, one that means they want to go out, and a distress meow.
The ‘feed me’ purr/cry is the only meow that sounds the same from both of my cats. For the others, they each have their own brand of meows. Max, for example, has a squeaky meow when he wants attention, while Buddy has a loud, sharp meow that sounds strangely like ‘NOW”.
While the study makes some good points, I’ve always known that cats control the humans. There’s another quote by an unknown author that states “It’s the cat’s house. We just pay the mortgage.” So true.
July 17th, 2009 by Beth VanHoose | Posted in Cat Behavior | Comments (1)
In the magnificent story, Life of Pi, author Yann Martel tells of a boy shipwrecked in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He’s not alone, however - a 450-pound Bengal tiger is shipwrecked with him.
Immediately you can tell that this story is no ordinary story - what circumstances would allow a boy and a tiger to survive on a lifeboat in the ocean for 225 days, together? A question that doesn’t even scratch the surface of the deep blue sea of thought this story encompasses. I’m ready to pick the book up and start reading it all over again - and I just finished it hours ago.
Yet on that surface, it’s full of remarkably detailed and distinctly specific information about cat behavior - what I like to call “cat-ness.” I petted my two tiger cats repeatedly while reading … as they slept beside me, purring (tigers, by the way only purr while breathing out, not breathing in, like domestic kitties do), meowing, snarling, crying for food…
…making eye contact with me, laying with their bellies on the cool floor, panting, puking, hunting bugs in the windows, marking their territory, constantly reminding themwho’s Number One (that’s me, of course - but you’d never know it with my two tigers).
All in all, Life of Pi is a very good read - for all the cool tidbits of tiger cat-ness as well as for the meaning the presence of a tiger in the story represents.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
July 16th, 2009 by Janet Muniz | Posted in Cat Behavior, Cat Stories | Comments (0)
Many cats seem to have a symbiotic relationship with shoes.
Some pee in their people’s pumps. None of my kitties has ever done this. Mostly, they stick their entire faces in, snout first, and sigh - like a female human slipping her feett into a fabulous pair of Manolo Blahniks.
It doesn’t matter what kind of shoe it is, really - flip flop, sneaker, dress shoe … male, female, child … leather, plastic - I think my kitties would be thrilled with Dorothy’s red slippers, if they were available. Although the red slippers are Dorothy’s, not mine.
That’s the key - the shoes must belong to me. My Sofie and Sam do not “love up” my husband’s shoes. They both prefer my footwear, especially the leather ones.
All this shoe fetish behavior usually occurs when my actual feet aren’t around, either.
If they are in mood for people feet, you can find them under the office desk, draped over my husband’s.
If his feet are in his shoes.
Photo Credit: by RBerteig
July 14th, 2009 by Janet Muniz | Posted in Cat Behavior, Cat Stories | Comments (0)
My girl-cat Sofie whines. She worries me.
Why cats whine and what to do about it can baffle any cat lover. With my Sofie, I not only check her water and food bowls, I also check to see of her litter box is clean. Sofie is very particular about her litter box. She won’t go elsewhere, but she won’t go in the litter box until it meets her clean standards.
How do I know this? Experience. Plus, Sofie whines about it, stands there in front of it until I give it - and her - the proper attention.
Which is another thing. Attention. Certain times of the day, I can hear the Sofie whine. She visits me in my home office, after I call her while she’s whining, for a little head rub.
She acts like she doesn’t want to be picked up and cuddled, yet after she whines about it for a moment (!), she’s in all her cat glory, soaking up the attention.
She cries at night, too, if she’s left alone in a room after we’ve gone to bed. I don’t know why she doesn’t just follow us to bed. We end up calling her and she sleeps on the bed with us nearly every night.
My husband consults a psychic every now and again. During a recent reading, she mentioned that Sofie is not feeling good. A day after the reading, Sofie had a vomiting incident, so she indeed wasn’t feeling well.
But I think she’s yearning for love.
Photo Credit: pg ~
July 3rd, 2009 by Janet Muniz | Posted in Cat Behavior | Comments (0)
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