Cat Training

[MystOpal]

I dont know what I did to make this appear as a reply sorry

That's so adorable! That certainly lends a new meaning to dog software on a cat. I'm sorry for your loss .
Do you have any tips for teaching things like fetch, no, and wrestling without clawing? I feel like those are pretty difficult to teach since they are more complex motions than sitting or something like that. Thanks for joining the discussion, by the way

 

[Rillowen]

No was always accompanied by a scruff shake, then scaled down to face slap, then pat, then motion, until only the word was needed. For wrestling with no blood, everytime he wanted to play I would oblige, but if he drew blood then the game was over, I would rub his nose in the blood and give a scruff shake, and deliberately turn my back and not notice him for a few minutes until he appologizee (usually by sheepishly nuzzling me, or gently licking the spot) he actually learned that one first!
Fetch was actually just adapted from the normal fluff on a stick game, I started there and every time he caught it I would hold out my hand and say bring it, if he brought it to me he got a small treat and praise and I would play again, if he didn't the game was over and I would eat the tuna in front of him. He pretty quickly decided he wanted more games and treats vs to play by himself. After that we moved to rolled up socks, and i would say fetch and bring it, that took a minute, but after he understood the connection he could be asked to bring something (which adapted into attack) or fetch. The key was mostly in consistency, and showing as much interest as he did. If I was too eager and pushy he lost interest, but if he had to do it to get my attention that was accepted.

 

[Happy Novogens]

Hello there everyone. I jumped on here to ask you cat-trainers about a cat behavioral issue I'm dealing with. Hoping one of you may have some insight since my experience with cats is limited.

We have a lone 10 year old female calico cat. We've had her for 5 years (rescue). She's always been impeccable with her litter habits until several weeks ago. She pooped on the couch which is beside her litter box. Then about a week or more later, she did it again (different area on couch).

I put clear clear plastic vinyl on the couch thinking she wouldn't even want to stand on that. It didn't stop her. She's been going poo on there more often... a couple times per week, to now almost every day. Once she peed on there too.

No changes in litter, food, household, house, routines. It seems out of the blue.

On the chance she was having tummy issues, I started giving her a pro-biotic (Forti-Flora) for the past 10 days to no effect.

I'm at a loss understanding why. Any ideas??

 

[MystOpal]

Hello there everyone. I jumped on here to ask you cat-trainers about a cat behavioral issue I'm dealing with. Hoping one of you may have some insight since my experience with cats is limited.

We have a lone 10 year old female calico cat. We've had her for 5 years (rescue). She's always been impeccable with her litter habits until several weeks ago. She pooped on the couch which is beside her litter box. Then about a week or more later, she did it again (different area on couch).

I put clear clear plastic vinyl on the couch thinking she wouldn't even want to stand on that. It didn't stop her. She's been going poo on there more often... a couple times per week, to now almost every day. Once she peed on there too.

No changes in litter, food, household, house, routines. It seems out of the blue.

On the chance she was having tummy issues, I started giving her a pro-biotic (Forti-Flora) for the past 10 days to no effect.

I'm at a loss understanding why. Any ideas??

Someone else might have a better idea, but could there be an issue with her getting to her litter box?

Now this might make it even worse so disregard it if you'd like, but maybe either switch something up like the litter type, litter box, litter location (maybe add another litter box near the couch for a bit) and see if that helps?

Also if there are any other symptoms, make sure she isn't sick

What is your litterbox setup?

 

[MystOpal]

No was always accompanied by a scruff shake, then scaled down to face slap, then pat, then motion, until only the word was needed. For wrestling with no blood, everytime he wanted to play I would oblige, but if he drew blood then the game was over, I would rub his nose in the blood and give a scruff shake, and deliberately turn my back and not notice him for a few minutes until he appologizee (usually by sheepishly nuzzling me, or gently licking the spot) he actually learned that one first!
Fetch was actually just adapted from the normal fluff on a stick game, I started there and every time he caught it I would hold out my hand and say bring it, if he brought it to me he got a small treat and praise and I would play again, if he didn't the game was over and I would eat the tuna in front of him. He pretty quickly decided he wanted more games and treats vs to play by himself. After that we moved to rolled up socks, and i would say fetch and bring it, that took a minute, but after he understood the connection he could be asked to bring something (which adapted into attack) or fetch. The key was mostly in consistency, and showing as much interest as he did. If I was too eager and pushy he lost interest, but if he had to do it to get my attention that was accepted.

He seems like a pretty smart cat! I like that last bit of your advice, I've never heard that before, but now that you say it, it makes sense. I'm definitely going to try the thing with drawing blood, as my cat generally doesn't fight with people (my younger brother will pick her up and take her around the house and she does nothing but lay there even if she's annoyed) but she does with me since I play with her the most and doesn't seem to realize that claws aren't nice

 

[Happy Novogens]

Someone else might have a better idea, but could there be an issue with her getting to her litter box?

Now this might make it even worse so disregard it if you'd like, but maybe either switch something up like the litter type, litter box, litter location (maybe add another litter box near the couch for a bit) and see if that helps?

Also if there are any other symptoms, make sure she isn't sick

What is your litterbox setup?

Thank you for replying. She is agile and hops into her cat tree with ease, so I don't think she has any difficulty getting into her litterbox.

Here's a pic of "her" room, showing couch and litterbox. Of course she has free rein in the rest of the house as well but sleeps in her room.

 

[Rillowen]

He seems like a pretty smart cat! I like that last bit of your advice, I've never heard that before, but now that you say it, it makes sense. I'm definitely going to try the thing with drawing blood, as my cat generally doesn't fight with people (my younger brother will pick her up and take her around the house and she does nothing but lay there even if she's annoyed) but she does with me since I play with her the most and doesn't seem to realize that claws aren't nice

I have done the drawing blood one with several cats, before and after, it is very successful for me. He was an exceptional cat, i am not sure the average cat could or would learn as much. However, I have trained other cats similarly with the simple things like "no" and no blood. I find cats very firmly separate discipline vs learning, not like a dog who generally lumps it all together. Discipline must be immediately and consistently, and they will learn to respect you simply as the boss, but learning a new thing must be you teaching, not you forcing. Shrug

 

[MystOpal]

Thank you for replying. She is agile and hops into her cat tree with ease, so I don't think she has any difficulty getting into her litterbox.

Here's a pic of "her" room, showing couch and litterbox. Of course she has free rein in the rest of the house as well but sleeps in her room.

Thanks for the photo! Since you already have the litter box close to the couch, I'm just going to throw out some more ideas (feel free to disregard them, and I'm sure there are other people who have better ideas)

The food and water is pretty close to the litter box, which I don't think should cause any problems but some people say that if they are close they think the water is contaminated.

Maybe she got upset with the type of litter? Or otherwise protesting against something that is happening?

If changing the litter or maybe even moving the it away from the couch (maybe the couch gets too much traffic from people and she doesn't like that?) doesn't work, you could also try giving her a treat whenever you see her poop in her box, to retrain her.

I didn't make it a reply so reposted it as one.

 

[Rillowen]

Hello there everyone. I jumped on here to ask you cat-trainers about a cat behavioral issue I'm dealing with. Hoping one of you may have some insight since my experience with cats is limited.

We have a lone 10 year old female calico cat. We've had her for 5 years (rescue). She's always been impeccable with her litter habits until several weeks ago. She pooped on the couch which is beside her litter box. Then about a week or more later, she did it again (different area on couch).

I put clear clear plastic vinyl on the couch thinking she wouldn't even want to stand on that. It didn't stop her. She's been going poo on there more often... a couple times per week, to now almost every day. Once she peed on there too.

No changes in litter, food, household, house, routines. It seems out of the blue.

On the chance she was having tummy issues, I started giving her a pro-biotic (Forti-Flora) for the past 10 days to no effect.

I'm at a loss understanding why. Any ideas??

Once a place smells like pee or poop they assume it must be the place to go, it could be as simple as someone farted there right before she had to go the first time. She maybe had an accident, but now since she can still smell it she thinks thats the place now. Vinegar can help with the smell (literally breaks down the scent molecules we cant even catch), after the soak and thorough air dry some baking soda rubbed in or Fabreeze might help.
That said there are many old age cat sickness that can cause incontinence or even spacial confusion. She may actually think she is IN the litter box. I hope not for your sake, because those are usually pretty bad. If the smell fix doesn't help she probably needs a vet check.
You could try discipline, in taking her to the mess by the scruff. Touching her nose to it and light shaking, then scooping it (still scruffing her) and taking her to the litterbox to show her it goes in there. This is the standard in hard to potty train kittens, but given her age and the fact that she didn't have problems before it seems doubtful its something to be trained out.
Hope it is OK!

 

[Happy Novogens]

Once a place smells like pee or poop they assume it must be the place to go, it could be as simple as someone farted there right before she had to go the first time. She maybe had an accident, but now since she can still smell it she thinks thats the place now. Vinegar can help with the smell (literally breaks down the scent molecules we cant even catch), after the soak and thorough air dry some baking soda rubbed in or Fabreeze might help.
That said there are many old age cat sickness that can cause incontinence or even spacial confusion. She may actually think she is IN the litter box. I hope not for your sake, because those are usually pretty bad. If the smell fix doesn't help she probably needs a vet check.
You could try discipline, in taking her to the mess by the scruff. Touching her nose to it and light shaking, then scooping it (still scruffing her) and taking her to the litterbox to show her it goes in there. This is the standard in hard to potty train kittens, but given her age and the fact that she didn't have problems before it seems doubtful its something to be trained out.
Hope it is OK!

Thank you. I thought I cleaned it up well and even sprayed Nature's Miracle on it, but I'll try some vinegar too to see if that might make a difference. Her behavior is bewildering for sure.