Catios

[talon]

I have resided with cats for most of my 60+ years of life.

Back in the 50's and clear up to the late 80's, allowing cats to roam the neighborhood was the normal thing to do. I suppose, in small towns with light traffic, it's still normal.

But in the mid-80's, traffic and human population seemed to explode. We lost cats to traffic accidents and poisonings by neighbors. Not all the poisonings were deliberate, most were accidental- anti-freeze, for example, or the cats caught poisoned mice and suffered from that.

It seemed only logical at that point to train our cats to stay in our yard and to teach them proper crating behavior, and to leash train them, and to keep them predominantly indoors.

Lots and lots of people have told me, often angrily, that "cats can't be trained", and I sincerely beg to differ.

Cats can indeed be trained.

The motivators and rewards for training cats is different than from dogs, but they are there. Even older cats can be trained.

I had a cat once, named Catmatyx Catastrophyx the Curious called Calumph ("Cat" for short), a black and white tuxedo kitty I acquired in trade for a bag of homegrown tomatoes. He was trained to stay on our side of the street and to stray no farther than one house to either side of us. He was trained not to claw the furniture. He was trained not to scratch or bite the babies and toddlers. He was trained come when called. He was trained to walk on a leash. He was trained to stay off the tables and cabinets, but allowed on the bookshelves and window ledges. He was trained to wait at the door until told he could go through. He was trained to put away his toys and to sleep in his crate. I'm sure we could have trained him to do more, if we'd wanted to. He died of old age.

Every cat I've had since I've trained in at least the basics of manners - to stay off tables and counters, to walk on a leash, to wait to go through doorways, to enter their crates on command, to come when called. The last 4 kitties were (and are, the two that still live) entirely indoor kitties, so yard training them wasn't an issue, but it's possible to teach a cat to stay in one's own yard and not wander.

The people who cry "cats can't be trained" do so simply because they don't want to have a well-behaved, trained kitty.