Is this silly or what?

[gini]

Today, Rascal jumped on my desk for his daily combing. While he was sitting there I had this idea. I wondered if I could teach him a trick. He is such a clever cat.
I touched his paw and said give me your paw.
He lifted his paw and I immediately praised him.

I tried this about four times and each time he looked at me suspiciously but lifted his paw. (I tapped his paw).

The final time he gave me a gentle swat. So we stopped our training for the day. Has anyone ever taught their cat tricks?

[Troy]

Both my cats will jump from the ground up to my shoulder when I click my fingers. I have to make sure I catch them because they are so trusting these days that they just "launch" themselves upwards expecting me to catch them - if I don't they'll hook onto anything within their grasp as they fall...ouch!

Unfortunately most of the time my cats just look at me as if to say "why?" when I try and teach them tricks...which is of course a very good question.

...besides, cats seem better at teaching us to do things

[Ben E Gas]

I haven't been able to teach zezu much. He goes up to my shoulders all the time. I tried playing fetch with him. He only brings it back sometimes, so the game ends. The only thing he'll do on que, is come to me when his name is called, which I think every cat does. He also drinks out of my hand when I'm using the sink. He comes running, when I go into the bathroom, for his daily drink.

[wolflady]

Our tuxedo cat, Scooter plays fetch. One of my friends had a cat that did that, and the first time I saw it I was amazed. I mean, some dogs don't even do that! LOL So, when my husband got Scooter, I told him about it and said we should start early and see if he can learn to play fetch. We started out using tinfoil balls, and he learned fast! It's so funny to see a cat with a ball in his mouth coming to you. I always get a chuckle. I'm teaching my Marius and Scooter to "sit pretty", which they are slowly getting the hang of. My cats are very treat motivated, so I dangle a treat a little above their nose and say "sit pretty" and they're supposed to sit up on their back legs. Marius does that part ok, but a lot of times he'll be batting his paws with nails extended. No no! So, when he does it right, I reward him with the treat. Scooter is a little calmer about it and usually does it right. It's kinda fun to see what kinds of tricks you can teach a cat. Next...jump through a hoop??...

[thelmalu99]

No, the few times I have tried to teach Charlie some tricks, he just gave me a look that said, "if that's what you wanted, you should have gotten a dog".
The only thing he'll do is stand on his hind legs when he sees me with his favorite treats. I don't think that counts, as I didn't teach him to do that.

[Ben E Gas]

Yeah, I tried dangling the treats too. Zezu, just walks back and forth, rubbing against my legs until he gets the treat. If I pull it away he paws at it to try and stop me. He always paws at his water bowl too, when I try and take it to fill it. Sometimes he gets me to spill it.

[annibale16]

Maddie doesn't do any tricks but she is real smart and will put her paw on my arm to get my attention. She also comes when I call her name and will meow on cue. I guess thats all, but I haven't had her too long. My outside cat, Jazzie, who is going to have babies, knows her name very well and always comes to me when I call her.

[2catsmom]

Noisette was my first cat ever and I was raised with dogs, so when we got her, I told my husband that I would teach her to sit and do tricks... well, he comes from a cat family and he just tought that was the funniest thing he'd ever heard... the only thing he told me was "Good luck!!" Well about an hour of intense training, and with lots of cat treats and praising I tought her to sit. I must of repeated "sit" over a thousand times, but always with a soft voice and same tone. And now when I give her a treat or when we leave (she's an indoor cat, and of course very curious of the outside world) I tell her to sit and we can let the door as open as we want and I just have to look at her and say sit and she obeys.

I beleive it is possible to teach a cat to do tricks but with lots of love and patience and without ever raising your voice.

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Happiness is only a purrr away...

[aly]

Shiloh can sit, stay, come, beg, and fetch on command. It wasn't really hard to teach her any of it for some reason. I think she's a dog at heart. Any other cat I try training looks at me like I'm insane.