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Every Month is Senior Cat Month

November 13, 2011 By 3 Comments

Maulee helping me write

I love senior cats. OK, I love all cats, but there is something special about senior cats. Maybe it’s their grey-around-the-whiskers-look or their fragility, maybe it’s the purr. I don’t know, there is just something very special about elderly cats.

Maulee is my special senior cat. She is overseeing today’s blog entry about senior cats. This isn’t unusual, because she loves to keep herself warm, napping on the hot modem next to my monitor when I write. Maulee is an 18.5 year old Bengal Cat who is in relatively good health. Although she still loves to play, napping next to me is probably her second favorite activity—eating is her first. She is a food hound.

We share a special bond. Although I am bonded with all of my cats, the bonds Maulee and I have are different. She is constantly at my side, on my lap or napping next to my monitor. She prefers purring, chortling and talking to me over wandering the house and interacting with her younger cat companions.

Like many senior cats, Maulee occasionally has cognitive challenges. Sometimes, late at night she finds herself lost and confused in the house. I know, because she will start howling and screaming for me to help her. I will follow the calls and find her sitting, facing a corner yowling. Other times she’s standing in the middle of a room. Her calls of distress, although heart wrenching, quickly change to purrs and nose kisses when I sweep down, pick her up and carry her into the bedroom.

Maulee’s cognitive challenges have dramatically decreased since I made a few changes. The first two involve changes to the environment, the third increases mental stimulation. I am limiting the areas she and her cat buddies can go at night. Hall doors are closed—keeping the cats in the back of the house. The area they can roam is still large, but now all of the cats are more inclined to sleep in my bedroom. I have also increased the number of night lights around the house. Although, these two simple environmental changes have helped Maulee, I found that using clicker training to mentally stimulate her has vastly improved her cognitive state.

Yes! You can teach an old cat new tricks

At twelve years of age, Maulee was no spring chicken when her clicker training career started. She quickly caught on to the concept and became my clicker star. When Animal Planet’s Cats 101 filmed her for their Bengal and clicker training segment she was 17.5 years of age. Before the show she had never jumped through hoops. It took her only five minutes to learn the new trick. Just because a cat is a senior, doesn’t mean the cat can’t learn new things. Maulee is proof.

Clicker training is more than teaching tricks. Since increasing the frequency of Maulee’s clicker training sessions, I’ve noticed a decrease in cognitive challenges. She hasn’t gotten lost in a corner in many months and our nights haven’t been interrupted by her howls of distress.  I have also observed that Maulee is more alert, interacts and plays a little more with the younger cats. Clicker training is mentally stimulating. Maulee is thinking through problems. She is highly food motivated and likes to figure out what she needs to do in order for me to click that clicker and toss her a coveted treat. Clicker training is one of her favorite activities. I know because she purrs and chortles throughout the sessions. Clicker training is helping to keep her young in mind and spirit.

November is Senior Cat Month. Every month is senior cat month—every day senior cat day. If you are looking for a new cat companion, I urge you to adopt a senior cat. Just because they are old, doesn’t mean they don’t have many fulfilling years ahead of them. Look at my Maulee—18.5 years young.

Maulee sometimes enjoys napping on her back

Filed Under: Cat Behavior, Clicker Training, Senior cats, Training Cats Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Uniquely Human

November 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Marc Bekoff recently wrote a blog post for Psychology Today titled What Makes Us Uniquely Human? It’s a really good read. I am a Bekoff fan. He has made a big impact on my life and is one of the main influencers for my becoming a cat behaviorist. I grew up hearing how humans are elevated above other animals because animals couldn’t reason/think or have emotions or use tools like humans do. I never bought into this thinking. Based on the relationships with the animals in my life and on my observations these commonly held beliefs didn’t make sense to me. As a child I watched a crow take a twig and stick it in a hole. Supposedly, animals didn’t use tools—tool making was an activity reserved for humans… I had heated discussions about it, but had no proof or facts, other than my own observations, to back up what I was saying. Dr. Bekoff’s research contains the facts. I was elated and felt in some ways vindicated for my own observations and beliefs when I first read Dr. Bekoff’s papers and heard him talk.

I hope that Dr. Bekoff’s research is changing people’s perceptions of animals. I hope more people read his work and look at the animals around them with new eyes and a fresh understanding. I hope that his books, articles and talks about his work result in people treating animals as thinking, feeling beings. Maybe people will think twice before euthanizing an animal with fixable problems or abusing a cat or dog… I can only hope…

Filed Under: Animal behavior, Cat Behavior Tagged With: , , , ,

One Month + of Cat Behavior Bits and Still Byting

October 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I am giving myself a virtual pat on the back for continuing to write my semi-new feature, Cat Bits & Bytes, on my home page every Tuesday. I have imposed my own rules for my Cat Bytes. My rules have made my Cat Bytes both fun to write and at times turns them into a challenging game. Rule number one is obvious. Cat Bits & Bytes have to contain information that focuses mainly on cats. No surprises there. The second rule is that they are understandable, as well as informative. Rule number three is more challenging—Cat Bits & Bytes can’t be more than four lines long. I broke rule number three in this week’s Halloween Fryte Byte. Its five lines long though the last line is only one word. Rule number three can be a challenge since I can be a bit expansive in my descriptions. Rule number three forces me to simplify. Some of the bytes take lots of rewrites, until they are the obligatory length, informative and hopefully understandable. Rule number four takes the Bytes to a different game level—word and letter play. Whenever possible I play with words in the title. Halloween Fryte Byte, my Byte for this week is a good example of word and letter play. I had fun with that one. You can read it on my home page. All of the Cat Bytes, to date, can be read on the Cat Behavior Bits & Bytes page.

Filed Under: Cat Behavior Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Making Sense of Scent

October 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Scent exchange

Maulee checking out a sock that has another cat's scent on it

Cats have an acute sense of smell. Scent is one of the ways that they relate and understand their environment. Scents can make or break new relationships. I preach scent exchanges when introducing cats to each other. Scent exchanges can either encourage friendships, or if forced upon cats can lead to violence and stress.

There are some sources on the internet that counsel forced scent exchanges by applying the scent of one cat directly on another when introducing a new cat to the resident cat or when working with inter-cat aggression.  I highly recommend not exchanging scents in this fashion. Doing so can stress the cat wearing the other’s scent and result in their hating or fearing each other—they cannot retreat away from the other’s scent. There is a more peaceful way of conducting scent exchanges. Instead of forced scent exchanges, gently pet each cat’s cheek with a different sock or soft towel and then put the scented towels or socks in the other’s confinement area, while the cats remain separated from each other. That way the cats have the choice of checking it out on their own schedule. If the cats don’t feel secure to venture near the scent-laced objects, then they don’t have to. They can wait until the smell dissipates in strength and then investigate it. It’s about choice. And it’s about reducing stress.

Not only does this pertain to cat scents, but also to calming collars and scents that well-meaning people sometimes put on their cats. Cats often find the scents and calming collars annoying or threatening but have no way of escaping them since they are wearing them.

Filed Under: Cat Behavior Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Soon Back in the Racks–Naughty No More!

October 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Naughty No More!

Naughty No More! by Marilyn Krieger, CCBC

My book Naughty No More! has not disappeared. My publisher sold about 1/3 of the inventory to Pet Smart last August and then ordered a second reprinting. The book is scheduled to be back in the warehouse around October 20th. I have no idea how that equates in Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble time. Meantime it has been kind of fun as well as somewhat disturbing to see someone trying to sell a used copy of Naughty No More! on Amazon for $900… that’s just weird. The good news is that soon, it will be back on Amazon for a reasonable price. Thankfully, it is available in all flavors of e-book. After my book is back up on Amazon, I wonder if that used, dog-eared copy will still be offered for $900.

Filed Under: Cat Behavior, Cat Case, Training Cats Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Being Green is Good… but

September 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This blog entry is not for the faint of heart… if you are sensitive to issues pertaining to cat excrement, you might want to not read this.

I support the green movement whenever possible. I’m glad to see people are concerned about what they are throwing away and how it impacts the environment. Having said that, sometimes the implications of being green has some disturbing consequences. Recently I’ve noticed a trend that is causing many cats to avoid using their litter boxes.

Most people understand the importance of scooping litter boxes on a daily basis. Cats do not like soiled litter boxes because the smell can theoretically attract predators and scare away potential prey. This means boxes need to be scooped daily. When cleaning cat boxes, the excrement is typically scooped into plastic bags and then thrown away. Before people started living green, the bags were removed immediately after each scooping. Times they are a-changing…

Some people, in their efforts to preserve the environment and not drown it in plastic bags are collecting the excrement in containers, dumping only after the containers have filled up. Typically, the containers are placed either next to the cat boxes, for convenience, or in the same room as the boxes. Some of the containers are open waste baskets lined with plastic bags—others are semi-closed boxes or bags. The containers are dumped when they are full—sometimes once a week, others once a month. One client was dumping every three months. The cat boxes are immaculately clean, but the rooms smell terrible.

From the cat’s perspective, there is no difference between a dirty cat box and a cleaned cat box that has an open container of excrement sitting next to it or nearby. They both smell and they both have the same consequences—cats choosing to not use their litter boxes.

And yes, there is a solution that will make both cats and people happy. There are environmentally friendly bags available from pet stores, specifically manufactured for this purpose. They can be thrown away every day. Litter lockers can also work, but only if they have good seals on them that prevent odors from escaping. So people, please think through what it means to be green. How is it impacting your cat?

Filed Under: Cat Behavior Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Cat Bits & Bytes

September 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I have started a weekly feature on the home page of my Cat Coach site. It is called Cat Bits & Bytes. In theory, I will be posting a cat behavior tip every week on the home page. The older cat tips will be moved to a separate page, so they won’t be lost forever when they are replaced each week with a new tip.

So far I’ve posted one tip. With a little bit of luck I will post a new one every week…. I should be able to do this…  Blogging about my new Cat Bits & Bytes tips will hopefully give me the incentive. In theory, I shouldn’t have a problem writing a tip every week since like clockwork, I’ve written one column a week since 2007 for www.catchannel.com. The difference between my new Cat Bits & Bytes tips and my catchannel.com columns is one I’m paid for the other I’m not.

Check it out! The first tip is focusing on a popular subject: Litter Box Maintenance.

Filed Under: Cat Behavior, Events

Animals Repeat Behaviors…

July 10, 2011 By 2 Comments

There is a short video posted on my site of sweet, little Olivia, one of my Bengals, closing the door. This behavior has earned her a little publicity. Animal Planet’s Cats 101 filmed her shutting the door for the Bengal segment that aired for the first time last fall. People are curious about how I trained her to do this behavior. Although clicker training was used to capture and shape shutting the door, it originated as a natural behavior.

Years ago Olivia did a less refined version of the behavior before meal times. It started with a simple headbutt on the door of the bathroom where she and two of her siblings enjoy their meals. Her headbutt always moved the door a couple of inches. Because she always headbutted the door right before being fed, I consistently reinforced the behavior by feeding her immediately after. When I realized this was a step toward learning other fun behaviors, I decided to use clicker training to capture, shape and build this into a cued behavior.

It was easy. Olivia was already being reinforced for the abridged version of the behavior, and she was also fluent in “Clicker Speak”. I stocked my bathroom with her favorite dehydrated chicken treats and a couple of clickers. I was ready. With the aid of the clicker, I captured the natural headbutting movement and then gradually  changed it (called shaping in Clicker Speak)  to the desired behavior of standing on her back legs and pushing the door closed with her front paws. Every step was marked with a click and reinforced with a treat. After she performed the behavior correctly a number of times upon request, I added the verbal cue “door” as I gave her a visual cue.

Sessions were short as it had to be fun for Olivia. If it wasn’t fun for her; it wasn’t fun for me. She started adding her own special touches. One of my favorites is a chirp. She always chirps when she closes the door. Her chirps are always reinforced. I love her chirps; her chirps reinforce me.

As a Bengal, Olivia is highly motivated by attention. She is what I call in my book Naughty No More! an “Attention Seeker”. She will do just about anything for praise and attention. Since I take advantage of bragging rights, I show my cats and their neat behaviors off whenever the opportunity presents itself. My cats love an audience and will happily repeat behaviors for a little praise and attention. Olivia thrives on admiration. People come over to visit Olivia. They call me on the phone and ask if Olivia is in the mood for visitors. Then they come over just to see her close the bathroom door.

Olivia is trying out new variations of the behavior. She rushes into the bathroom when she sees anyone entering and closes the door behind them. Yesterday she followed me into the kitchen. When I opened the refrigerator, she stood on her back legs, chirped at me and closed the door. Of course Olivia is always reinforced for her new, creative approaches to her old standard door behavior.

Filed Under: Bengal Cat Rescue, Cat Behavior, Training Cats Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Sunny Seat Assembly

March 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I forgot to mention one more product tester… me. I need to factor my experience into the review, since I will be assembling and attaching the seat to a window in my sun room. I thought it best to keep Product Testers 2 & 3 in another area of the house while I was assembling the Sunny Seat since those two little product testers are convinced that anything with pieces needs to be taken and stashed in secret places.

My first introduction to the Sunny Seat was the box. Not much to talk about, a standard unmarked, cardboard box.  The box contained the perch, 4 suction cups and a small piece of paper with the instructions. The perch itself isn’t very visually appealing, but that’s easy to fix by covering it in an eye-catching fabric. The instructions didn’t actually tell me how to put it together, but it does have useful information, including stuff about cleaning the suction cups and washing the windows before installing it. Who washes windows? This was a first for me, but I did as instructed. Putting the seat together, although straight forward and not difficult, could have been a little more intuitive. That again is easily fixed by adding one picture of the assembled product. Sudan and I, between us figured it out. I timed it. It took us approximately 6 minutes and 33 seconds to put the pieces together and that included Sudan checking out all of the components, the box and the instructions.

Sudan: Product Tester #1 helping

Sudan, Product Tester #1 is checking out the instructions

Filed Under: Cat Behavior, Product Testing Tagged With: , ,

Sunny Seat Review

March 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s been one year… since I’ve blogged. It’s about time I wrote an entry or two…

I was asked to review a product and then blog about it. I haven’t reviewed many cat products, but thought this could be fun to do. After all, I am living with the perfect product testers.

The product is the Sunny Seat. It’s a cat shelf that attaches to a window with suction cups. The product is advertised through a TV Infomercial.

Since I am always looking for vertical territory solutions for my cat behavior consultation clients, I thought that this could be an interesting product to review. If it is a product that withstands the maulings and use from my product testers, then it is a product that would be listed on the product pages I give my clients. I was very honest with the Sunny Seat people. What I find, I will post. Also, since years ago I worked as a Human Factors Engineer for a large networking company, I am no stranger to product testing and testing for usability.

First, meet the product testers:

Product Tester 1: Sudan. Sudan is a 23 pound Savannah male cat. He’s very active and enjoys jumping and exploring, was once observed jumping up to a shelf 7 feet above the floor.

Product Tester 2: Jinniyha. Jinniyha is an acrobatic 13 pound melanistic Bengal. She is flexible and agile, loves performing acrobatic feats. The higher up the better. I swear I once saw her hang upside down by her tail from the top of an 8’ high shelf.

Product Tester 3: Maulee. Maulee is an 18 year young Bengal who loves actively climbing and then napping.

My 3 Product Testers are ready for the challenge…
Product Testers 1 & 2

Product Tester#1: Sudan Krieger Product Tester #2: Jinniyha Krieger

Product Tester #3

Product Tester #3: Maulee Krieger

Filed Under: Product Testing Tagged With: , , , , ,
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