How to train a cat?

Ever see Pet Semetary? Just kidding... My advice would be to get
yourself one of those shock collars. The ones that work off implants
that you bury in your yard. The 'invisible fence' thing. My brother
had good luck with these on his pigs. He said it really cut down on
his use of his electric cattle prod. Pigs are smarter than cats I
hear-tell, but I wouldn't be surprised if your kitty gets the 'feel'
of it in a hurry! Good luck, Mike.

IBen Getine



I think those things are horrid. Especially on a cat. Foolishly we bought
the whole system when we had a puppy. Trained that little girl, put that
collar on and threw the switch. We have this huge cedar tree in our back
yard, and the pup's *enclosure* was all around it, it was huge. When DH
threw the switch I was with puppy and she screeched, and backed into the
tree and whined. She was three times the *safe* distance from ANY part of
the fence, and the unit was on the lowest possible setting.

She did not even wanna go out back for days (we took off her collar btw) and
when she finally did trust us again, she really didn't *trust* us for a long
time. She cowered near the tree, for probably a couple weeks of coaxing and
promising and telling her we were sorry.

it was VERY sad and I think those things are very cruel Just my opinion.

Hailey

It depends on the cat and the relationship that you have with them,
but it's not necessarily impossible to train the cat not to cross the
road. My two currently have a teritory of our yard and 4-5 contingent
ones on the same side of the street and that's it and they do stay
within those confines.

What you have to do is stay outside with the cat - reward it for
staying within range and take it immediately inside when it tries to
cross the street. If there is anything in particular that exists on
the other side of the street, try replicating it as much as possible
on your side. Eventually, the cat will associate the potential loss of
freedom with street crossing. This does take alot of time and a cat
who is very bonded with you.

But it's worth a try. It will drive you a bit crazy, but we're talking
about life and death and I'd give it a shot.

It depends on the cat and the relationship that you have with them,
but it's not necessarily impossible to train the cat not to cross the
road. My two currently have a teritory of our yard and 4-5 contingent
ones on the same side of the street and that's it and they do stay
within those confines.

What you have to do is stay outside with the cat - reward it for
staying within range and take it immediately inside when it tries to
cross the street. If there is anything in particular that exists on
the other side of the street, try replicating it as much as possible
on your side. Eventually, the cat will associate the potential loss of
freedom with street crossing. This does take alot of time and a cat
who is very bonded with you.

But it's worth a try. It will drive you a bit crazy, but we're talking
about life and death and I'd give it a shot.

On Mon Mar 01, Mike Ballard disturbed my nap when he said:

I live in a residential area and have a 1 year old female cat. She's
pretty agressive as far as not having much fear of the unknown (she'll sit
looking at the vacuum cleaner when I turn it on). This is a bit of a
problem because she won't stay away from the street (and I've seen her
crossing it a couple times). I don't know how to teach her to stay
in/near our yard. I put coins in a coke can to shake at the older cat and
he seems to have learned to stay away from the street (that also seemed to
work with an earlier cat we had many years ago). Any hope (and how) to
train the younger cat to stay away from the street? (The only street near
the house is in the front. It's a bit of a ways to a street behind the
house; up a hillside).



I guess I should've known better than to post a sincere question on
Usenet. Thanks honestly to the two with helpful suggestions - I'll look
into them. The other moronic replies are a waste of space and time
reading but the ignorance and smug selfishness are so damn infuriating
because I pity their pets!

A couple of you idiots had the gall to suggest I "convert" my cat (to an
indoor cat). _CONVERT_ my cat??? How would you like somebody to convert
you? Hello?!? This is an A.N.I.M.A.L. It's INHUMANE to deny its animal
traits and characteristics by imprisoning it.

All because I imagine you're so self-centered and selfish you force a poor
animal to serve YOUR desires by denying it its time outside in the fresh
air and sunlight; prowling through the grass; practicing its hunting
technique on rodents; roaming the territory it demands by instinct;
denying its very essence.

Unlike the couple of incredibly selfish nutcase posters that wasted my
time with their self-righteous crap, I love my cats so much I allow them
to be what they are. How can your cat experience its nature when you deny
it by IMPRISONING it? Clearly you don't give a ****! Go back to your
PETA rallies or wherever you whack jobs come from...

Mike
--

mikeballard--at--verizon.net

"Roses are red, violets are blue,
I'm schizophrenic and so am I"

On Mon Mar 01, Mike Ballard disturbed my nap when he said:

I live in a residential area and have a 1 year old female cat. She's
pretty agressive as far as not having much fear of the unknown (she'll sit
looking at the vacuum cleaner when I turn it on). This is a bit of a
problem because she won't stay away from the street (and I've seen her
crossing it a couple times). I don't know how to teach her to stay
in/near our yard. I put coins in a coke can to shake at the older cat and
he seems to have learned to stay away from the street (that also seemed to
work with an earlier cat we had many years ago). Any hope (and how) to
train the younger cat to stay away from the street? (The only street near
the house is in the front. It's a bit of a ways to a street behind the
house; up a hillside).



I guess I should've known better than to post a sincere question on
Usenet. Thanks honestly to the two with helpful suggestions - I'll look
into them. The other moronic replies are a waste of space and time
reading but the ignorance and smug selfishness are so damn infuriating
because I pity their pets!

A couple of you idiots had the gall to suggest I "convert" my cat (to an
indoor cat). _CONVERT_ my cat??? How would you like somebody to convert
you? Hello?!? This is an A.N.I.M.A.L. It's INHUMANE to deny its animal
traits and characteristics by imprisoning it.

All because I imagine you're so self-centered and selfish you force a poor
animal to serve YOUR desires by denying it its time outside in the fresh
air and sunlight; prowling through the grass; practicing its hunting
technique on rodents; roaming the territory it demands by instinct;
denying its very essence.

Unlike the couple of incredibly selfish nutcase posters that wasted my
time with their self-righteous crap, I love my cats so much I allow them
to be what they are. How can your cat experience its nature when you deny
it by IMPRISONING it? Clearly you don't give a ****! Go back to your
PETA rallies or wherever you whack jobs come from...

Mike
--

mikeballard--at--verizon.net

"Roses are red, violets are blue,
I'm schizophrenic and so am I"

"Hailey" wrote in message ...
Ever see Pet Semetary? Just kidding... My advice would be to get
yourself one of those shock collars. The ones that work off implants
that you bury in your yard. The 'invisible fence' thing. My brother
had good luck with these on his pigs. He said it really cut down on
his use of his electric cattle prod. Pigs are smarter than cats I
hear-tell, but I wouldn't be surprised if your kitty gets the 'feel'
of it in a hurry! Good luck, Mike.

IBen Getine



I think those things are horrid. Especially on a cat. Foolishly we bought
the whole system when we had a puppy. Trained that little girl, put that
collar on and threw the switch. We have this huge cedar tree in our back
yard, and the pup's *enclosure* was all around it, it was huge. When DH
threw the switch I was with puppy and she screeched, and backed into the
tree and whined. She was three times the *safe* distance from ANY part of
the fence, and the unit was on the lowest possible setting.

She did not even wanna go out back for days (we took off her collar btw) and
when she finally did trust us again, she really didn't *trust* us for a long
time. She cowered near the tree, for probably a couple weeks of coaxing and
promising and telling her we were sorry.

it was VERY sad and I think those things are very cruel Just my opinion.

Hailey

Sorry, but my brother didn't have this experience. Are you sure you
were using 110 and not 220?



IBen Getiner

"Hailey" wrote in message ...
Ever see Pet Semetary? Just kidding... My advice would be to get
yourself one of those shock collars. The ones that work off implants
that you bury in your yard. The 'invisible fence' thing. My brother
had good luck with these on his pigs. He said it really cut down on
his use of his electric cattle prod. Pigs are smarter than cats I
hear-tell, but I wouldn't be surprised if your kitty gets the 'feel'
of it in a hurry! Good luck, Mike.

IBen Getine



I think those things are horrid. Especially on a cat. Foolishly we bought
the whole system when we had a puppy. Trained that little girl, put that
collar on and threw the switch. We have this huge cedar tree in our back
yard, and the pup's *enclosure* was all around it, it was huge. When DH
threw the switch I was with puppy and she screeched, and backed into the
tree and whined. She was three times the *safe* distance from ANY part of
the fence, and the unit was on the lowest possible setting.

She did not even wanna go out back for days (we took off her collar btw) and
when she finally did trust us again, she really didn't *trust* us for a long
time. She cowered near the tree, for probably a couple weeks of coaxing and
promising and telling her we were sorry.

it was VERY sad and I think those things are very cruel Just my opinion.

Hailey

Sorry, but my brother didn't have this experience. Are you sure you
were using 110 and not 220?



IBen Getiner

Willows wrote in message ...
The thing is if she's crossing the road and she's a young cat your
gambling everytime she does it that she'll make it to the other side.
To have any hope of training her to stay in the back yard you'll need to
be with her whenever you do let her out. Take her out on a harness with
you maybe, or just keep her in. It's only a matter of time if it goes
on like it is before she gets knocked over.

I still say the invisible fence thing is your best bet. If you
cordoned off your yard at it's outskirts, that should be enough to
keep your cat from having any unwanted effects.



IBen Getiner

Willows wrote in message ...
The thing is if she's crossing the road and she's a young cat your
gambling everytime she does it that she'll make it to the other side.
To have any hope of training her to stay in the back yard you'll need to
be with her whenever you do let her out. Take her out on a harness with
you maybe, or just keep her in. It's only a matter of time if it goes
on like it is before she gets knocked over.

I still say the invisible fence thing is your best bet. If you
cordoned off your yard at it's outskirts, that should be enough to
keep your cat from having any unwanted effects.



IBen Getiner

I also let my cat out and agree with *some* of what you say about the
attitude of people on this newsgroup towards inside/outside cats.

What you have to understand (and this is something I have learnt from my
previous posts) is that a lot of the contributers to this site are from the
U.S. where it is more the "norm" for cats to be inside only and, just as you
believe strongly that cats should be allowed to go outside(as do I), they
hold the opposite opinion and (some) will post repeatedly in an attempt to
convince you that they are right and you are wrong and they are good and you
are evil and somehow abusing your pet.

It's all crap obviously, and some of the self righteous / "listen to me I
know best" comments do nearly make you sick sometimes, but that aside, there
are some people who will help if they can and I have definately learnt quite
a few things from reading posts here.

With regard to your question, I honestly don't know of anyway to stop an
outside cat going anywhere it wants. The suggestion about staying outside
with your cat and constantly picking it up and taking it inside when it goes
near the street might work, but it would take time and a big commitment from
you. Really, the only suggestion that I can make is to somehow fence in the
front of the property so the cat can't get on the road. I have a hedge with
chicken type wire in the middle which my cat can't get through and can't
climb up either. That might be an option as it seems to have worked in my
case.

Jeannie

Jeannie



"Mike Ballard" wrote in message
...

On Mon Mar 01, Mike Ballard disturbed my nap when he said:

I live in a residential area and have a 1 year old female cat. She's
pretty agressive as far as not having much fear of the unknown (she'll
sit
looking at the vacuum cleaner when I turn it on). This is a bit of a
problem because she won't stay away from the street (and I've seen her
crossing it a couple times). I don't know how to teach her to stay
in/near our yard. I put coins in a coke can to shake at the older cat
and
he seems to have learned to stay away from the street (that also seemed
to
work with an earlier cat we had many years ago). Any hope (and how) to
train the younger cat to stay away from the street? (The only street
near
the house is in the front. It's a bit of a ways to a street behind the
house; up a hillside).



I guess I should've known better than to post a sincere question on
Usenet. Thanks honestly to the two with helpful suggestions - I'll look
into them. The other moronic replies are a waste of space and time
reading but the ignorance and smug selfishness are so damn infuriating
because I pity their pets!

A couple of you idiots had the gall to suggest I "convert" my cat (to an
indoor cat). _CONVERT_ my cat??? How would you like somebody to convert
you? Hello?!? This is an A.N.I.M.A.L. It's INHUMANE to deny its animal
traits and characteristics by imprisoning it.

All because I imagine you're so self-centered and selfish you force a poor
animal to serve YOUR desires by denying it its time outside in the fresh
air and sunlight; prowling through the grass; practicing its hunting
technique on rodents; roaming the territory it demands by instinct;
denying its very essence.

Unlike the couple of incredibly selfish nutcase posters that wasted my
time with their self-righteous crap, I love my cats so much I allow them
to be what they are. How can your cat experience its nature when you deny
it by IMPRISONING it? Clearly you don't give a ****! Go back to your
PETA rallies or wherever you whack jobs come from...

Mike
--

mikeballard--at--verizon.net

"Roses are red, violets are blue,
I'm schizophrenic and so am I"