Some cats will take their stress of a changing environment out on the other cat. One frequently asked question is how aggression looks different from play. The biggest difference is that play will be quiet. Their claws will be retracted and both cats will go back to continue playing. Aggression is loud, involves low vocalization and higher yowls. Their claws will be out, their ears back and their backs arched with fur standing up.
Read MoreWhat if I told you that you would never have to clean the litter box again if you toilet trained your cat? Toilet training your cat in and of itself is not particularly hard, it is a bit time consuming but so is cleaning the litter box every day. It sounds like a pretty sweet deal. Yet if you were to walk into a room full of cat owners and ask them their opinion on toilet training you would get many impassioned answers from “yes, it's fantastic and I will never go back to litter boxes!” to “it is unethical and I would never toilet train my cat!” to “I tried to but my cat scratched up my toilet!”.
Read MoreYou and I are standing in a room. You start walking towards me. I tell you no. You stop moving. I tell you no. You move to the right. Again, I tell you no. You are now frustrated because I’ve given you no other information or feedback other than saying no. In my head, I think what I want from you is simple. I wanted you to back up. But to you, all you heard was no. This is the same thing that we do to our animals.
Read MoreCats that avoid the litter box are much more likely to be relinquished to shelters or dumped on the street. Many of these cats are abandoned as the first option because cat guardians don’t realize how simple it can be to solve these issues. If a cat is avoiding their litter box, it’s not spite, it’s stress.
Read MoreScrolling through Facebook, it doesn’t take long before you stumble upon a video featuring someone holding their cat up and having them “dance” to music, where someone is trying to get a reaction out of their cat if they poke them or say something in a different voice, scaring pets intentionally, or even all the videos of cucumbers behind cats.
Read MoreI'm not sure why Peach started to go up on our counters this week, but each time she was up there, her actions were reinforced, either by the reward of licking the dirty dishes, or the enrichment of playing with the miscellaneous objects on our counters. As the week progressed, the counter surfing became more and more frequent. We'd been busy this week and didn't have much time for training, but at the first opportunity we had, we brainstormed what we could do to stop this. One thing kept coming to the top of my mind…
Read MoreIt is considered normal, if not required to train a new puppy or dog. Obedience classes, private sessions, dog sports, and help with behavioral problems are all common services for dogs. A quick google search will reveal plenty of results of dog trainers in your area.
So, why isn’t this the case with cats?
Read More
