pets

How to Train a Cat

bill fryman, , , 2 Comments

This is a work of fiction, with maybe a little humor thrown in. Any mention of people, places, or things other than my cats and me is purely coincidental and means nothing. It is based on personal experiences and has not been veterinarian approved. As far as I know, it hasn’t even been seen by a vet (Oh, wait. I’m a vet, just not an animal doctor.). Feel free to share, with credit given.

Our friends, household cats, are descendants of great beasts. Beasts like the guy above who is sticking out his tongue and telling you he is called the king for a reason.  Predators by nature. But they have many other traits, both in common and different. Their day-to-day life can really be divided into a few simple things. They eat (“I can see the bottom of my food bowl. I’m starving!”). They sleep (“What do you mean. I need at least sixteen hours of sleep a day!”). They visit the litter box (“It hasn’t been cleaned in the last two hours. Clean it!). They stare out the window (“The world is beautiful. I want to be out there!”). They zoom (“Just try to catch me. I’m faster than a speeding bullet!”). And they are mischievous (“It’s three AM. Let’s see what we can do now!”).

Most of these things come naturally and require no training so let’s concentrate on the last. Mischief is good. We’ve all heard the term, “Curiosity kills …”. We really don’t wan that to happen. So maybe we can do something to control it, or at least control when it happens. Let’s talk about a typical night and what we need to do. It is 2:00 AM. We hear a crashing noise. Who was it? Where was it? What was it? The spouse is still in bed with us, so it must be the cat (first question answered). To answer the others:

  1. Uncover ourselves and sit up (can’t answer the other questions from the bed).
  2. Turn on the lamp (flashlights just don’t work for this.).
  3. Try to find the source of the noise (by the bed, in another room, etc.)
  4. Is anything broken? (No=Good; Yes=Bad, especially if glass. Must be cleaned up now – before the spouse steps on something and gets mad at me)
  5. Is the floor or furniture wet? (No=Good; Yes=Bad. Must dry things immediately. Paper towels, mop, towel – any or all. Just get things dried and fast.
  6. Find what made the noise (put it back where it belongs or in a safe place).
  7. Now, find and catch the culprit (the cat thinks hide-and-seek is the game for now).
  8. Put the culprit in his kennel (both cats if they were both guilty).
  9. Turn off the lamp (the light woke up the spouse).
  10. (Optional) Have a glass of wine (or maybe something stronger) and put the glass away.
  11. Get back into bed.
  12. (Optional) Go back to sleep.
  13. IMPORTANT If the cats are in the kennel remember to get them out the next morning.

After all of this is complete, you may have trained a cat (or maybe you are the one who has been trained) and it won’t happen again (at least until the next night).

So, from my spouse, our cats – both past and present, and me, “Have a great day and try to see how you can train a cat!”

Can You Train a Cat?

bill fryman, , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

As I sit here on this New Year’s Eve morning watching our cats play with their Christmas toys, I couldn’t help wondering it you can ever really train a cat. While training a dog seems relatively easy, our cats no matter their age seem much more independent. It seems rather than allowing us to train them, they are far more likely to train us to meet their needs and fit their personalities.

When I visit other sites across the web, I often see links to humorous pages. They often say in a joking manner that this is the cat’s home where they allow us to stay and others to visit. This, at first, draws a laugh but when you really think it may be true.

A dog may learn its name and come when called. A cat, on the other hand, may learn its name as well but will respond when it wants and more often at not simply ignore us or turn away. A dog can be taught to sleep in its bed, yet a cat may more often give us a few inches in our bed or even use us as a bed. If given a new toy a cat may play with it for a few minutes and then hide it for later but just like a human forget where it was hidden. Our cats decide when we should sleep and when we should arise, even at 4:00 AM although we would sleep until seven if given the choice.

It seems that no matter how hard I try to teach otherwise, my cats seem to think that my keyboard is a good resting place. And a small spinning screen icon while a program tries to load is to be stared at and swatted and blocked from view.

So maybe our cats are probably smarter than me. They almost have me trained now but there is still much to be learned. I need to understand if they can see even a small part of the bottom of their bowl then the bowl is empty. And their litter box must be emptied every time that they go. And I only get a small space on the bed trapped between them and the floor.

But even with all this, we love our cats and would be sad if they were not here. So, no matter who trains who, our cats are an important part of our lives. We hope that we make them content to be with us and never want to leave.

And I still wonder, “Can you train a cat?”.

On this New Year’s Eve, I hope that everyone has a wonderful evening. If you are driving, stay safe. And starting tomorrow have a very happy 2025.

“My Three Dogs, Love will find a way home” By W. Bruce Cameron (A Book Review)

bill fryman, , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

If you are an animal lover, no matter what type, this is a book that will find a way into your heart. It is extremely difficult to assign a genre – it could be an adventure, a pet story, a love story, or any of several other types. It could even be reclassified from a novel to a non-fiction book with a few minor changes and a disclaimer or two. After much thought, I think it best falls into the realm of a love story or, actually, several love stories in one.

There are many types of love included, sometimes only briefly while others throughout the book. There is brotherly love. There is also the more common love between a man and a woman. We see love between people and animals. And we see love between the animal members of the pack as well as the human members. There is also love from Teme at the animal shelter, Georgia, a police officer, and Ron, a man who seems to love and feed homeless dogs on the street. Each of type of love is faced with challenges. Can love survive or will the challenges be too great?

The story focuses on the dog pack of Riggs, Luna, and the newest member, Archie along with their human pack members, Liam and Sabrina. While Liam and Sabrina seem to be in love, their relationship is challenged because Liam seems to sometimes forget to include Sabrina in life changing decisions. As a result, Sabrina decides to take a break, move in with her sister and decide if their relationship can continue. When she moves, she must leave the dogs with Liam because her sister is a “cat person”.

Liam is unhappy but struggles to keep going and take care of the dogs. This works well until an unfortunate accident makes it impossible for Liam to continue. Brad, Liam’s brother, steps in to help which he has done since they were both teens and lost their parents. Since Brad does not like Sabrina, his only solution is to take the dogs to an animal shelter, not a no-kill shelter. The ideal solution would be for all to have a new home together, but this does not happen.

The book follows the adoption of all three dogs and the efforts of Riggs to bring the pack, both animal and human, back together. Along the way Riggs and the other dogs meet new friends, and enemies.

Read the book to find the answers. But be prepared to shed a few tears along the way and question whether we, the two-legged members of many packs, have done the best we can for our non-human family members. Have we earned the unconditional love that they give us and do we do all we can to protect them, especially if something unexpected happens?

The Holiday Season – Adopting a New Family Member

bill fryman, , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The Holiday Season is here, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, or some other holiday, this is often a time for adopting a new family member, one with four legs. This always seems like a fun thing to do. A way to share our love. Possibly a way to teach other family members responsibility. But before we share our love, it is a time to think about whether we are ready for the new family member and what this involves.

The most common new family members are dogs and cats. Before we welcome them into our lives, we need to think carefully about what this means. Along with all the good things like unconditional love, someone to greet us at the door, someone new for companionship and play, there are also new responsibilities and new costs. Who will be responsibility for walks, both morning and evening, and possibly the associated training? Who will clean up if accidents occur? Who will take care of food and drink for the new family member? Many of the same questions we would need to ask if we were welcoming a new human family member.

This new four-legged family member may soon conclude that he or she now owns the home and we, with only two legs, are there because they welcome us. Can we accept that? Where will the new family member live and what rules will be in place? And who will enforce the rules and how? Violence and abuse are not acceptable answers. If we already have other pets, will there be peace at the arrival of the new stranger or will there be war, or at least minor battles? We should ask, and honestly answer, these questions and many others before the adoption occurs.

Why? Because, unfortunately, many of these adoptions result in the returning the new family member, often the day after their arrival, or, even worse, their abandonment or death,

Later today, or possibly tomorrow, I will be writing a review of a book I recently read, W. Bruce Cameron’s “My Three Dogs”. While the book is fiction, it could as easily have been true with only a few changes including the common disclaimer, “Names have been changed to protect the innocent (or guilty).” If you or anyone you know is considering an adoption over the holidays, I would strongly recommend that you read this book first.

If you have asked yourself these questions, and still believe that you can accept a new member to your family I welcome you to the world of pet-owned people. I hope you have a wonderful life with your new “boss” and enjoy all the time you have together with him or her.

Happy Holidays!

Another Day in the Lives of Cats

bill fryman, , , , , Leave a comment

Here I sit, a snowy morning two days after Thanksgiving. The elections are over, there was no need to cancel Thanksgiving as some had suggested. The world, and hopefully most families survived. The holiday season has begun. As we look forward to Christmas, or other holidays that you may celebrate, I thought I would take a look at the past few months and the lives of our cats since my last post about them.

In the earlier post, I reflected on a day in the lives of Joe and Leo, our two cats. At that time they were just over one year old and had lived with us for about a year. Today, they are nearing their second birthday, but otherwise much is the same.

The added year of their lives is not readily apparent although they each continue to develop distinct personalities. As littermates one might expect them to be quite similar but instead each is unique. Leo is the explorer and very rambunctious. Seeming to have little fear, he is ready to jump to or from great heights. One of his favorite “games” is to run out of our bedroom any time I open the door, then lay on the floor, expecting me to rub his tummy, pick him up, and return him to our room. He will zoom about the room with his brother or alone if no one wants to run with him. Joe is the more cautious of the two. While he enjoys many of the same things as his brother, he contemplates them before joining in. He loves to watch television, especially shows with other cats or dogs. We often wonder if he actually sees the shows or is simply responding to the sounds or the changing light. Joe is also a bit skeptical, often shying away when one tries to pet or cuddle him. Joe is, however, the most curious. He wants to explore and, often, toss to the floor things on our nightstands.

Oddly, neither of the two is highly loveable. They will often share our bed, but that does not include petting in the evening. They pick their space and we must adapt to that, otherwise they will leave. Yet they will return later, hoping to be unbothered by their humans.

As they continue to grow it will be interesting to see how they will change or stay the same. According to some charts they are now in the equivalent of a human teenager. In many respects this can be seen in their personalities – loveable yet sometimes disobedient; daring but cautious; sleepy but always ready to get up and zoom. Such are days in the lives of our cats.

A Day in the Life of Our Family Cats (An Edited Repost From Facebook)

bill fryman, , , , Leave a comment

When I originally posted this in July 2024, it was after several more serious posts and was written to reduce stress, both mine and that of my readers, as something a bit off the wall, and something with a bit of humor.

I’m usually up somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30 each morning to do my daily chores. To our cats, the most important of these chores is feeding them and refilling their water bowl. Next in line is cleaning their litter box. I don’t need an alarm to wake me up in the mornings because the cats ensure that I know it is time to get out of bed. If I am not awake, they sit on the dresser and stare at me. If that doesn’t work they resort to racing from one side of our bedroom to the other, at full speed, often jumping on or over the bed with their favorite landing point being my legs or back.

Once I arise, they follow me step-by-step to ensure that I take their food bowls into the kitchen for filling. While I am filling their bowls, they again stare at me so that I don’t waste time or perform any unnecessary tasks like starting the coffee machine. After their bowls are filled, they follow me to make sure the bowls are returned to their proper place for eating. I dare not do anything prior to this.

Our day then proceeds in one of two ways. Most common is for them to eat, find a hiding place, curl up, and go back to sleep. The second is for one or both to jump on my desk and watch me use the computer to type posts like this or to work. There really isn’t enough space for both cats and the computer on the desk so they arrange themselves in whatever manner they prefer and often assist me by putting paws on the keyboard or moving the mouse so that it is not where I want it to be.

After deciding that they cannot both be on the desk simultaneously, either one or both leave the desk and move to a nearby window to look outside. Of course, this necessitates walking across the computer keyboard and adding their personal comments to anything being typed. Throughout the day, they alternate which, if either of them, sits or sleeps on the desk.

If their food bowls become empty (which means the bottom of the bowl can be seen in any way) they will let me know by again starting the racing game along with a loud “meooow” or two.

At the end of the day, they both disappear, back to their favorite hiding places for more sleep so that the races can begin again about the time we are ready for sleep, or more likely around midnight. After zooming around the room, they normally settle down and sleep so that the entire process can begin again the next morning.

Yesterday the cats were very confused. When I left for work my wife moved over to my side of the bed and went back to sleep. She rarely sleeps there. She said when she awakened one of the cats was simply staring at her. Then, he would move close to get petted and then back away and look at the place where she normally sleeps, as if to say, “Why aren’t you here, where you belong?” After a short time the cycle would repeat. Later in the morning, the second cat reacted about the same way. Seems that they don’t like change unless they approve ahead of time – LOL. By the way, two cats, brothers from the same litter, two totally different personalities, very independent, a little over a year old and full of energy.