Can you train a cat? Can cats train you?

[Breadcat24]

Following on from the lovely dancing Louie in another thread and my challenge to Shell to teach Gizmo to dance - have you managed to training your cat to do anything?
Breadcat now comes when I call her- running up it is so sweet to see.
But she has trained me to get up at 5am to give her head ruffles and an early breakfast

Who is training who in your house?
Cat tax

When we put our bins out on a Friday night both our cats go for a walk with us. We walk round our street to the roundabout, cross from one side of the road to the other and walk back. They then lie on the drive and wait for their dreamies to arrive.

Waiting for dreamies to arrive

We have been well trained by the cat. DH is required to have a Saturday afternoon nap around 3pm (it’ll be starting soon). My bedtime is 10.30pm. Cue lots of howling, pacing and death stares for any deviation.

Some years ago I managed to train my cat to ignore me. The technique I used was to call him, rattle a bag of food, make kissing sounds and whistling.
He was very good and rarely flinched, just occasionally he would look round and then remember that he was supposed to ignore me.
Actually, now I think about it, it may have been his mother who taught him rather than me. 🤔

Cats are so clever - they are trainable my sister had a cat a few years ago lovely boy - she trained him he could touch, come and some other stuff - she’s trained rats and chickens too, some of her rats were on outlander. She is dog trainer so gets these animals to do all sorts my cat is feral though so the clever gene missed her

I defy even Dr. Doolittle to train Gizmo.

I've trained my cat to understand that wait means please sit nicely while I'm putting your food down and don't get overexcited and try to headbutt it out of my hands.

I'm quite proud to have trained my cat to let me brush him and for him to enjoy it, if that counts. I worked with endless praise and treats and it took a whole year. He hated it and would run away previously but now I just have to show him the brush and he knows where to come and what's going to happen.

He's trained me in many ways, but he has adjusted to my sleeping and waking schedule mostly so i feel it goes both ways. The only difference is he can negotiate with me but I totally respect he doesn't appreciate any negotiation from my part haha!

Gizmo self trained in bitey scratchy hissy behaviour - he is a true master of his art.

I have (kind of) taught Sybil to roll over. When I arrive home and she's on the doorstep I call 'Sybil, roll over', and she usually does.

OK, I suspect she'd roll over anyway and I'm in my own fantasy world thinking she's doing it on demand

I think part of the charm of cats is their refusal to be trained to do anything. I admire their attitude. I sometimes think cats attract people who don’t need/ want to be “in control” and quite like being the one to put in all the effort! The endless search to find the favourite food, toy, sleeping place and generally provide a cat nirvana is very much a pleasure for me.
My girl has also trained me to perform various routines, all involving food and treats for her.

i trained my old boy to not run when he heard the bin men outside. He would eventually just sit next to me and look up for reassurance. Such a clever boy.

I don't think we could claim to have trained ours, but we do sort of come to an understanding on certain matters. For example Izzy used to think that pouncing on feet was very funny, but after a while worked out that I wasn't appreciative so stopped doing it (touch wood she won't start again now I've unwisely typed it!). On the other hand she has certain games she likes to play, and has somehow explained them to DS so he will play with her just right. I'm not so smart at following the cues; I'll throw her ball up the stairs, for example, but if I don't throw it in the prescribed manner she looks at me with deep disappointment.

Thrifty asks for anything she wants by dint of sitting nearby and staring at us REALLY hard. She communicates by telepathy or something, so we mysteriously find we know what she wants or can work it out easily enough (nearly always involves food, failing which, the smell from the litter tray generally provides an additional clue).

I am currently failing to teach either of them not to walk across my keyboard.

I have successfully taught Tobias to take treat like chicken oh ham very delicately, rather than snatching them out of my fingers like a starving leopard occasionally catching a finger or two in the process.

I have successfully taught Girlcat - Nothing. Well she HAS learned that I'm a pushover!

On the other hand, they have taught me that food times are sacrosanct - more than 1 minute late and they both STARE at me, with the occasional faint cry from Girlcat that you can barely hear.

Girlcat has also taught me that I am not permitted to go to bed until she's had the requisite amount of belly rub time. This needs to be done by me standing and bending over as she writhes around on the floor at my feet no matter how bad my back is feeling.

One of my cats will come for late night dog walk but it's not like I trained him to do that. They both come when called (because it means food). I haven't tried to train them to do anything else, though I had a godmother who trained hers to use her loo.
I've solved the early morning alarm by shutting them downstairs overnight - they have access to food and cat flap and are well used to it now.

I have trained my cat to give her paw for dreamies. And if she starts trying to swipe them out of my hand I say 'nice oaw' and she goes back to giving me her paw gently

I trained our previous cat to sit on command. Dancing Louie has been trained to come for brushing, but mainly because he loves it. I sadly did not train him to dance, but here he is, dancing.

Mine will come when I call about 90% of the time (unless she is watching birds or some other prior engagement). She will also offer her cheek to me if I say 'Kiss'.

Learning not to wake me up at 5am has been more hit and miss. Her patience only runs so far.

Can you train cats?

Absolutely. But only if they want to be.

Do cats train you?

Absolutely. Whether you want to be trained or not.

My 14 yr old cat will wait at the bottom of the stairs and when I say “hup” he bounds up the steps, then sits and waits on the landing where there is a shorter set of stairs until I say “hup” again, and then he bounds up the last few steps. I honestly can’t remember specifically training him to do this, but it’s quite cute. He also knows “kisses” so gives me a kiss when I ask nicely (obviously not every time, he is a cat after all… 😁)

cat tax…

All cute but picture 5 is particularly adorable!

My friend taught two of her cats (mother and son) to 'fetch' paper balls (usually screwed up bus tickets); they loved chasing them and catching them but she wouldn't throw them again unless they brought them back to her hand..... though her oldest (3rd) cat would rather bite you than....well, anything!
I got Pud to talk (okay, squawk) to me over the years, had lots of little chats..he got me to do anything he wanted....
Edited to clarify number of cats

Thistle will come to the bell for food. When it's convenient, naturally.

Cat tax

I thought your cat had chubby cheeks till I looked more closely and realised he was holding his paw against his little face!😸

I trained my cat to lie down, sit, shake paws and he also rings a bell for treats. But he is extremely food motivated and we have now had to confiscate his bell, because he was driving us mad dinging away at it.

That's his little pose.. he is a bit chubby of cheek and belly though...