Cats Can Learn New Tricks
You can make your cat less anxious by introducing harness and leash training indoors, building a “catio” in your back yard if you have the space, or teaching them to do tricks or activities and it only takes a few minutes a day.
Many pet owners prefer cats because they seem less demanding than dogs. It is much easier to get a pet sitter for a cat than for a dog because cats are less labor intensive. Cats are easy to train to use a litter box and thus can be left inside easily.
Cats are easier to care for when you go away on trips needing only one or two drop in visits per day from a pet sitter like me.
Dogs have to be walked two to 4 times a day and if you are a good dog parent they need to be socialized during the critical puppy months and taken puppy training so they can survive in the unnatural human environment we force them to live in.
It’s true that cats are different from dogs and seem a little more wild, less domesticated. But cats can learn if motivated! All animals are different but with the right treats and motivation cats can learn to do amazing things.
Starting with simple commands like sit, stay, and progressing to walking on a harness outdoors to doing crazy amazing circus tricks cats can learn a lot! Cats are smart, they just have to want to learn.
Indoor cats have perils of their own
Indoor cats are often bored and listless and tend to get fat and get the same lifestyle diseases humans get from being sedentary. I know that many people live in cities where it isn’t safe to let your cat outside
In rural neighborhoods people feel that it is safe to let cats roam freely during the day. I have mixed feelings about letting cats roam. It depends on the area. Even if live in a rural area coyotes and other predators like to eat tasty kitties for breakfast. So many cats are forced to be indoors all the time no matter what area they live in.
There are electric cat collars to keep your cat in the area, but these have problems too. Electric shock to your animal can be problematic to say the least, and of course predators can cross the barrier and attack your cat.
Traffic is always a danger, and we have had a lot of coyote sightings in my area since covid 19 and with more human developments being built all the time, sending wild animals into human areas.
If there are too many cats roaming outdoors there is the danger of cat fights and injuries. And it is a lot easier for cats to pick up diseases or be accidentally poisoned outdoors than when they are kept inside.
It is true that cars tend to live shorter lives if you let them roam freely outdoors. But with human supervision after indoor training cats can enjoy being on a leash.
Picture your home from your cat’s point of view
When you look around your home think of it from your pet’s point of view. It is a maze of meaningless lifeless shapes and forms that might be used for scratching, running along or jumping on and off of. but are mostly human homes are full of unstimulating dead objects. The indoors is nothing like the outdoors with movement of wind on plants and the millions of rodents, bugs and birds to hunt, and larger predatory animals to avoid.
All day long your cat is left to itself mostly, to lie there feeling bored and listless. Sure, you come home and play with your cat and pet your cat. But for most of the hours of the day your cat has a meaningless life.
Is your cat capable of existential suffering?
Luckily animals don’t seem to have a sense of time the way humans do so, maybe they are not quite as frustrated as a human would be in the same situation. They probably don’t question existence or wonder why they are being kept in this strange human prison. Your cat is probably not wondering what they have done to deserve this cruel treatment. After all, most cats have nothing else to compare their life with, mercifully.
Training makes your cat’s life more fun and stimulating
Learning to use puzzle toys, and doing little tricks like sitting, jumping through a hoop or running on a cat treadmill might make life more interesting for your cat.
Harness training could make life more exciting for your cat if you go so slowly and don’t expect them to go out and obediently walk like a dog on a leash. And cats can easily slip out of a harness. So indoor training before you go outside is key.
Your cat might like going out on the front porch to watch the neighbors or they might enjoy venturing out into the backyard on a leash once they get used to walking around inside the house on a leash. A kitty back pack to retreat into can be an added safety measure.
If your cat is food motivated, and you can avoid free feeding by limiting food to meal times it makes training much easier. When your cat is really hungry for a favorite treat they will be motivated to do a little training every day.
To harness train first just put the harness on their back without attaching. Then let them wander around with the harness on. Then finally start doing little walks around the house with the leash connected using treats as rewards.
Eventually your cat will be ready to go outside in the back yard and then maybe the front yard. If you’re worried about dogs. Bring a cat backpack they can hid in if anything scary comes along and start taking your cat out for walks.
Do you have space for a cat patio or “catio”
If you have the space you could set up a catio, a cat patio where your cat can be in an outdoor cage for part of the day and see and smell things in the back yard.
This will be so much more stimulating than staying inside all the time while still keeping your cat safe. They may not walk far like a dog. They will meander and lie down or crawl into the bushes to sniff something out. But that’s ok. Just giving them new smells and sites within a block of home is enough to keep them happier and less anxious.