Ever since I have had Spice in my life I swear there is never a dull moment. From sleeping together, to chasing her around the house in a game of tag, to strange cuddle sessions on the toilet. Yes the toilet. I have tried so hard to have my own privacy around her but it is impossible. My room is connected to a bathroom and the way to get into my bathroom is through a sliding door. The sliding door is probably one of my favorite things about my room. It’s easy to use and at one time it was a very nice door (now it has scratches and needs a new coat of paint).
The one thing I have definitely learned is that locking Spice out is like leaving her at a fire station. When I am in the bathroom she wants in with me and she wants to be around me while I am doing any kind of business. Sometimes I accidently leave the door slightly cracked open and when that happens she is frantically trying to slide the door open and is trying to dig through the carpet on the other side. She wines and meows like crazy letting me know how upset she is by this.
On days when I leave it open enough for her to get in the bathroom she comes in and goes straight to rubbing on my legs and then goes into my bathtub where she loves going to the drain and fishing into the darkness. I don’t know what she is always trying to eat or what she loves about the tub but I just let her do what she wants. Of course that’s a normal day, other days she literally wants to crawl on my lap and lay there while I am going to the bathroom. I swear to god there is never a dull moment. Like why? Why is that a perfect time to cuddle? It never makes any sense at all and yet to her she thinks it’s a perfect moment. She purrs and looks at me with that cute face of hers. Like I got to get up eventually, I don’t just stay on the toilet forever.
Cats are so weird but I have never been so entertained.
There are a few lessons I have learned so far when it comes to Cat Training. I thought I’d give you some insight on how that is going and where we are on progress.
Lesson 1: Be patient: See one of the things that most people don’t realize is that to train a cat it takes a lot more patience then it does with a dog. Cats are hunters and domestic cats are no exception. I had to start small and introduce a harness that I bought from Walmart. At first I thought it may be easy breezy and she would adapt quickly to the idea of going outside. So of course I bought the harness and went straight to the big picture. What was that picture? To put her outside without any good influence. I didn’t bring treats, food, nothing. Just me and Spice. She flipped out and wanted to back inside almost immediately. So I gave up for a while. I honestly didn’t thin it through and I had no idea how to go about making it a good experience to her. Not too long after I decided to try again but start smaller. So I got a bag of treats, my watch and the harness. I started by letting her sniff the harness and then introduced her to it being on her body. I set the timer and continuously fed her treats every time she went to bite the harness. I even played with her and quickly all that idea on biting the harness and trying to make it come off went away. She was more into playing and the treats. Before she knew it the harness was off and she was free. AS time went on I increased the time she had the harness on and I kept up with positive experiences. If she could get it in her head that the harness wasn’t bad and that I was going to be with her then it was going to be ok. After a while she got used to the idea of it being on her, sure it was uncomfortable but she knew that if she did good then she would get treats and lots of rubs.
Lesson 2: Be Consistent: At first I wasn’t doing the training every day or every other day. I did it every couple of weeks and made sure to keep going up on the time she had it on and made sure to keep the happiness factor up at large. Soon I started to realize that if I wasn’t consistent that we would take a step back from what I wanted to do. So I decided to keep the bag of treats at my desk with the harness and whenever she would come say hello in the morning I made sure to give her lots of love and from there I would continue to pamper her throughout the day. When it came to training I figured out that the best idea was to keep with the consistency of letting her sniff the harness first, then feed treats and while she was eating the pile I put in front of her I then put on the harness. By the time she would be done with the treats it would be on and there would be no growling or protests. I let her sit in the harness and walk around in it for half an hour and from there I started introducing the outdoors. With this consistency she sees it as a good thing and now wants to go outside. She’s tried several times to go outside without the harness but we denied that to her and she’s learning that to go outside she has to have the harness on. Consistency is key to training and for her its becoming something she looks forward to.
For us both this is the right step in the right direction. I want her to go places with me and for that she had to be safe and she has to know that to go places she has to be in the harness itself. I feel really proud as a pet parent to bring her this far and for her to want more and to start seeing that she will be outside more often and with me is so awesome. I didn’t know if it would work but it has and if anyone has given up on cat training, don’t. It’s all about introducing the idea to them early and being positive for your cat. Positive experiences means that your cat will eventually start to love it.
Be patient and keep going, you may see something amazing.
A few months ago I decided what I wanted to do when I turned 21. I decided I wanted to travel the U.S and see the world but there is an issue with the fact that I had a cat. I have talked about her in a few posts on this blog and I thought I’d give you some insight on training a cat. Yes, you did read that correctly. I am training my cat to become an adventure cat. She will travel with me wherever I go and so far training her for that new life has been an insight on how she reacts to new things. She’s only three years old so I am a little late in the game for training. Usually cats are training for being on the road and hiking with their owners at a young age and the younger the better.
For the first few days I was anxious on how she would feel about being in a harness. So in order to find out I bought a simple one from Walmart. It’s not that comfortable but it will work until you get the training to a comfortable spot to want to spend money on a better harness. For me the Walmart one would have to do. So when I bought the harness and put it on her for the first time I learned a quick lesson on trying to train a cat. That lesson was all about the obvious. Treats. If you have treats then you can make the harness a positive experience. For Spice it was uncomfortable and she tried to chew it off instantly. She acted like it was restraining and she had difficulty adjusting. So we continued to get her used to it and encouraged her with treats. After a few weeks she adjusted and didn’t find it as terrible as the first few days.
I honestly didn’t know if it was possible to turn her around. I was worried that nothing could be done and that it was too late to get her comfortable with a harness and a leash. The thought of trying to travel with a cat who isn’t harness trained and has a positive experience with being in a car or in a harness for long hours seems to be terrifying. For me my cat is my pal, my heart, my baby and I want her to be safe and with me. I am responsible for making sure she is ready for a new life and I want her with me. I don’t want to leave her behind. She will see the world with me but, I want her comfortable and safe.
We aren’t traveling the U.S Yet but it is on the list and it is in the works. I can’t wait to start this new adventure with Cinnamon Spice. Its a bright future ahead for us both.
There are people who like cats and There are those who don't like cats. Everytime I run into someone that doesn't like a cat or thinks that cats aren't loving creatures well then I would say you are wrong. I think those that don't like cats are those people who have never chosen a cat that has chosen them. Cats all have different personalities and yea they aren't AS cuddly as dogs but they do have their moments of affection. If you don't pick a cat that fits to your personality then that cat will do everything it can to make your life a living hell. For my family cats are pretty good companions that don't require very much at all for the lifestyle we live. My father and I are gone a lot of the time and having an animal that can be left at the house for a week with food/water and a litter box is quite the seller to us. Honestly i'm not sure what life would be like anymore without our cats.
Ive talked about my cats a little bit on this blog and it seems to be overdone but I honestly didn't have a strong opinion on it until Cinnamon came into my life. My grandmother has always had cats and each one was very different and unique. They used to have this one cat in particular who knew when it was time to play based on when my grandfather put on these specific gloves. He had nasty claws so they took a precaution. That cat then learned that play time was when the gloves came out. Then he could really get down to business. There was another cat that loved the bite your toes at night just because he could.
In the present time we have two cats that are two very separate beings. Cinnamon Spice was raised by me from the time she was a kitten so some of the things she does it from my influence. She loves human food and is always stealing it if you aren't paying attention to it. She will eat almost anything and everything. Midnight is a very picky eater that won't eat most processed foods. Spice loves to lay on my chest and give me head butts all night long. Midnight hates being picked up and the closest he gets to you at night is usually right up against your side. Spice only meows when I am separated from her. Midnight meows when he's hungry/there's another cat outside/ or just because. Honestly he seems to be the big talker in our family.
My point is, every cat is different and I honestly think people misunderstand cats. They all are different and if you don't like them because of one bad experience with a cat then you really are missing out. You just have to get to know them first. That's all. Judging a book by its cover can really make you ignorant to how things are. You just have to give these animals a chance.
