Curious as to whether or not YOUR favorite feline can be taught to lie down on cue?

According to pet trainers, it’s, paws down, one of the easiest behaviors a cat can learn. As a matter of fact, the more relaxed YOU are, the more relaxed your kitty will be, thereby affording you the optimum opportunity to positively reinforce this behavior.

Choose a location where your cat’s already comfortable curling up or sprawling out, whether it’s a couch, your bed or her own preferred perch. To make the spot even more appealing, cover it with an especially soft rug or fleecy blanket. Each training session should be brief – from one to five minutes – and to hold her attention and keep her engaged, always offer her ample rewards throughout.

Begin by marking and rewarding her instinctive tendency to lie down. As soon as she starts moving into a resting position, say “down” and mark it either with a word, such as “good”, or with the click of a training clicker, followed promptly by a reward, i.e. a high-value treat. Not only does the marker help your kitty learn what the desired behavior is, the reward teaches her to associate good things with that behavior.

If she seems confused by receiving a reward for a behavior that’s natural to her, don’t be discouraged. The key is repetition and consistency, building on her ability to learn the connection between the desired behavior and the resulting reward. By coupling the word “down” with the action of lying down, you’re teaching her to associate one with the other, followed, of course, by that all-important treat. The more you repeat this sequence, the sooner your kitty will learn that lying down in response to the word “down” is more than worth her while!

Up for a greater challenge? Use a “lure” as a way of teaching your kitty to lie down. Whether it’s a treat held in your closed hand, a tiny ball or a small crinkle toy, hold it in front of and slightly below her when she’s perched higher up on a chair or a cat tree, for example. As she moves to investigate, say “down” and mark it either with a word, such as “good” or with the click of a training clicker, and reward her with a treat whether she only bends slightly or actually lowers her chest to the surface of the cat tree or chair. Repeat the process until she’s fully resting in the desired down position.

Once she’s mastered this, switch from holding the “lure” where she can see it to holding it in your closed palm. This will teach her to follow your hand and not the “lure.” Continue rewarding her with a treat each time she successfully lies down, but remember to give her the treat with your other hand!

Your ultimate goal is to use only the hand signal preceded a second or two earlier by the word “down.” Remember the old axiom: practice makes perfect or, in this case, purr-fect? With ongoing practice – and paw-lenty of patience on your part -- your kitty should soon start anticipating the verbal cue “down” and move into the down position as soon as she hears it.

Whichever training strategy you choose, increase the time your cat remains in the down position by intermittently rewarding her with a treat. Then, at the end of each session, use a release word such as “free” as a signal to her that she is literally being freed from lying down.

by Nomi Berger
 
There’s no better time to show your favorite feline how important she is than by putting on the proverbial “Ritz” for her birthday. Why not consider “wrapping” these suggestions in festive ribbons of love and making her big day one to remember?
 
1. Purchase a cat-safe cake. What’s a birthday without a birthday cake? As close as your nearest pet store, these cakes are certain to please the palette of even the most finicky feline. And they’re all created from imaginative combinations of such lip smacking, cat-compatible ingredients as chicken, salmon, tuna and shrimp, peanut butter, bananas, pumpkin puree and applesauce, eggs, milk, cheese and plain yogurt – to name but a few.
 
2. Buy new cat treats. Famously fond of treats, your cat will never turn down her paws at having more. Select the most tempting ones you can find – including her favorites – at your local pet store, “hide” them throughout your home and then encourage her to “seek” them out.
 
3. Get her a new toy. While some cats have one particular toy that they treasure above all others, some are more easily bored and tend to lose interest in a toy – any toy -- almost immediately. Whether your kitty falls into the former category or the latter, a new toy is always welcome, especially if it’s unexpected. But before you buy that new toy, always remember to make it an age-inappropriate one.
 
4. Celebrate in style. If your kitty is an outgoing and easygoing social butterfly, undaunted by the challenge of dressing to the nines, ensure, nonetheless, that the costume you choose is “feline friendly” – loose enough to be comfortable. For the less adventurous but still game kitty, forego the costume altogether and opt for a festive bow tie or bandana instead. It may be a whisper of an outfit, but a whiskered face never looked cuter than when highlighted by a bow tie or bandana
 
5. Have a professional photo taken. Locate a pet photographer near you and book an appointment well ahead of her birthday for a special portrait session. Choose the most feline-flattering photo and let your imagination run wild. Have it embossed on anything from note cards and note pads to ceramic mugs and cotton T-shirts, then “gift” yourself and those you love as a permanent reminder of this special day.
 
6. Please and pamper her. What warmer, more obvious way to observe kitty’s birthday than by paying more attention to her than usual? If your kitty adores affection, indulge her by extending her regular petting sessions. If her preference is playing, play with her for much longer than you normally would. If she’s addicted to adventure and isn’t allowed access to certain rooms or areas of your home, let her accompany you into one of them for awhile and sweeten the experience with a high-value treat.
 
7. Donate to TCMR in kitty’s name. Since birthdays are best when shared, why not share her “lucky” day with an animal not quite as lucky? Consider making a tax-deductible contribution to us in your kitty’s name to help us rescue and care for more kittens and cats in need. We also have an AMAZON WISH LIST and a CHEWY WISH LIST (both Amazon and Chewy will ship your orders directly to us). You can also use the free resource CapitalOneShopping.com to find the best prices on these items.

by Nomi Berger
 
Did you know?
 
The color of a cat’s eyes originates with the iris -- the colored area encircling the pupil. Comprised of two layers, the stroma and the epithelium, both layers contain pigment-producing cells called melanocytes. Whereas in the stroma, these melanocytes are loosely arranged, in the epithelium, they’re more tightly packed.
 
The pigment produced by melanocytes is called melanin. The more melanocytes found in your purr-ticular cat’s irises, the darker their color. Unlike people, however, who have either brown or black eyes, the darkest color for a cat’s eyes is infinitely more interesting -- a deep, rich copper.
 
When the melanin-producing cells are highly active, they make a cat’s eye color much more intense. A cat, then, with a medium amount of these highly active melanocytes will have bright, golden-yellow eyes, while a cat with a medium amount of LESS active melanocytes will, in all likelihood, have pale, lemon-yellow eyes.
 
Because purebred cats must meet a specific breed standard (this often includes eye color), breeders will mate cats with either more intense colors or particular colors. Two examples: the breed standard for Bombay cats requires them to have copper-colored eyes and the breed standard for Tonkinese cats requires them to have aqua-colored eyes.
 
Blue-eyed cats have no melanin (pigment cells) in their irises, but because their eyes are naturally rounded, light refracts through those domed surfaces, thereby producing that distinctive blue hue. It’s similar to your gazing through a pane of glass that appears tinged with blue or green around the edges -- an illusion caused by the refraction of light through the glass’s clear surface.
 
Kittens are born with blue eyes simply because their melanocytes haven’t yet begun to function. As the kittens grow and mature, their melanocytes start working -- at between four and six weeks of age – and by the time they’re four months old, their true “adult” eye colors are clearly apparent.
 
Since different genes control a cat’s eye and fur colors, the melanocytes in her fur may be either more or less active than the melanocytes in her eyes. Example: a black cat may have pale hazel eyes while a purebred orange Persian may have dark, copper-colored eyes. The sole exception to this: white cats. Because the epistatic white gene is dominant, thereby masking every other color, white cats are statistically more likely to have blue eyes than random-bred cats with other coat colors.

by Nomi Berger
 
While fetch is a game most commonly associated with dogs, cats have also been known to enjoy playing fetch with their owners. The Siamese, for example, are felines famous for their love of fetch, but any kitty has the capacity to learn how to retrieve provided her owner is committed to teaching her the ABC’s of the game.
 
Whereas dogs may awaken from a deep sleep the second they hear their owners utter the magic word “play”, the same can’t be said for their more mellow meow-mates. To them, naptime is strictly that, naptime, thereby making it essential for committed coaches to catch their cats when they’re fully alert and feeling naturally energetic.
 
To capture and hold your own cat’s attention, choose a toy that she enjoys playing with, but isn’t always available. Test how catch-able it is by sliding it across the floor or tossing it down a hallway before you begin. Why? Because some toys are extremely light and aren’t fit for fetching.
 
Once you’ve chosen the ideal toy and your cat’s “all ears”, put some high-value treats in your hand and position yourself in such a way that you can toss the toy and she’ll have plenty of room to run after it. Then, show her the toy and toss it. While she may chase after it, she probably won’t return it to you on the first or even the second attempt.
 
Call her back by “flashing” her the treats as an incentive. If she drops the toy and comes running or if she has the toy in her mouth but won’t bring it back, you’ll have to, slowly and patiently, show her precisely what you want her to do. Walk over to the toy and pick it up from the floor or gently remove it from her mouth and return to your starting position.
 
Show her that you have the toy and call her to come to you. If she doesn’t respond, go over to her, lift her up and bring her back with you to the starting point. Then, once you, your cat, and the toy are all in the same place, toss the toy again. Repeat these steps again. And again. And again.
 
It may require several sessions before your cat puts the entire game together. Always use the same starting point and always toss the toy in the same direction. As with any new action or behavior, repetition and consistency are key. The first time she successfully fetches the toy, reward her with affection, praise, and some of those high-value treats. The idea is to have her associate her action with a reward she finds especially satisfying.
 
Cats are extremely intelligent, but they’re also extremely independent. Some of them may learn to play fetch in one session, others may learn over a period of several days, while still others may simply refuse to participate. Take training one step at a time, one day at a time, and if your kitty still turns paws down at playing what’s primarily a dog’s game, choose one that truly tickles her fickle feline fancy instead.