Do you know that feeling when one thing goes wrong, then another right after it, and things start rolling like a snowball effect, so that you end up sitting on the couch at home with your mouth open wondering what just happened? This happened to us a couple of years ago on a trip to the vet.
Long story short; Tyyne, who was already the most courageous cat in the house, had to have several blood tests and fluids taken at the veterinary clinic, and all of this was done without my presence. I got back a visibly stressed and fearful cat who was afraid of handling, among other things - I don't know (and maybe I don't want to know) why.
This began a long journey called making handling training more comfortable. That's when I learned about utilizing self-motivation in cat training, and the end result, after a lot of work, was the same old Tyyne, who can be spun around even in a knot and the lady just smiles.
This time I'll tell you about how to train handling tasks more comfortably at home!
What, why and how?
When talking about making care activities comfortable, the issue is strongly linked to giving the cat the opportunity to influence. The basis for autonomy can be found in the cat's species-typical nature: the cat's ancestor has been solely responsible for its life and survival. In light of this information, it is easier to understand why making your own choices and influencing your own life and environment is important to the cat - and on the other hand why the cat reacts so strongly to forced situations.
A cat would not choose to brush its teeth or trim its nails because it is not typical for its species. Unpleasant, non-species-typical situations are made easier by letting the cat decide the pace at which care activities are carried out when a person decides that care activities need to be carried out. The more sensitive the cat, the more important this is, and the sooner the cat will show autonomy in care activities.
When training, the key is to make the grooming procedure and the associated equipment worthwhile for the cat - when the toothbrush comes out, it gets treats and it's nice! A sense of security and trust for the cat is created by knowing that it can leave the situation at any time if the situation becomes too exciting or otherwise unpleasant - if the cat leaves, do not punish or bring the cat back to training, but wait for the cat to come back on its own.
In practice
Let's take a longer example of training, cutting nails; we learned this in the following steps, utilizing our own initiative:
- First, the nail scissors are simply brought out and the cat is rewarded when it glances at the scissors. As the training progresses, the cat touches the scissors with its snout or paw, for example, and receives a reward for doing so.
- The nail scissors are gradually moved towards the paw when the cat touches them. If the cat leaves the situation, the movement is further reduced. In other words, the cat touches the nail scissors - the scissors move towards the paw - reward.
- When the nail scissors can be moved towards the nail, we begin to practice cutting the nail one nail at a time. In other words, the cat touches the scissors - the nail is cut. If the cat takes its paw away from the situation, the level of demand is reduced if necessary.
- The background is also partly that everything that is done is predictable for the cat, and nothing comes as a surprise. The cat is gradually taught a chain of events where touching the nail scissors leads to cutting the nail - a bit like you are told what will happen next at the doctor's office!
The activity always starts with the cat touching the nail clippers. If the cat doesn't touch the scissors, nothing happens. I personally like to "ask permission" for each nail separately, meaning after each nail is cut, I reward and bring the nail clippers back to see them. If the cat touches the nail clippers, the next nail is cut. Nowadays, we can cut all the nails at once, but in the beginning, the nails were taken one by one.
When things are done voluntarily and the grooming tool and situation are made profitable and positive for the cat, the end result is that the cat rushes to the spot when it hears you take out the nail clippers and actively touches them, even though it knows that touching means cutting the nails.
It may sound time-consuming and difficult, but it was actually surprisingly quick - in a week the nails were trimmed one by one and the cat ran to the nail clippers when they were taken out, although previously the nail clippers and handling were associated with a negative emotional state.
Above all, it is worth teaching the cat to explore the head area. This can be trained either by teaching chin touch (the cat puts its chin on your palm) or by connecting a cue word (in our case, for example, ‘hemp’) to the beginning of petting the cat on the head (stroking – “hemp” and a reward), gradually generalizing this so that the petting can be done anywhere on the head and gradually adding the challenge of being allowed to touch the ears, mouth, etc. The end result is that when I say ‘hemp’, I can calmly touch the cat on different parts of the face (e.g. the teeth) and it gets a reward after looking.
What else have we trained on?
Here are some of our other grooming training clips in shorter versions – you can actually prepare for many grooming tasks in advance and make them worthwhile for your cat!
Brushing teeth:
Basic skills: the cat finds examining teeth relaxing.
- the cat touches the toothbrush - reward the cat touches the toothbrush.
- the brush moves towards the mouth - reward the cat touches the toothbrush.
- the brush touches the tooth - reward the cat touches the toothbrush.
- we brush with a few strokes, gradually increasing the duration - reward.
Injection (=vaccination training):
- cat touches pen/syringe - reward.
- cat touches pen/syringe - cat is stroked towards injection site - reward.
- cat touches pen/syringe - cat is stroked towards injection site - light pressure with fingers on injection site - reward.
- cat touches pen/syringe - stroke towards injection site - light pinching with fingers (skin between fingers) - reward.
- cat touches pen/syringe - stroke towards injection site - pinching with fingers - pen tip goes on the end of the skin between fingers - reward.
- cat touches pen/syringe - pinching through stroking - pen tip into skin - reward.
- Note! Practice with a blunt end, i.e. no sharp objects for injection training at home! For example, a fountain pen is handy, as is a syringe, just as a syringe.
- Remember to tell the vet about the injection method so that he knows how to use it when giving the injection at the vet's; the vet can also do this by having a familiar pen/syringe from training at home and letting the cat touch it (if the cat is able to do this out of excitement), but at least by stroking the injection, i.e. first stroking and pressing the injection site with a finger, then stroking and injecting. This way, the cat will know what is going to happen and where the injection will go, even at the vet's.
Administering the medication:
- Training can be done either as a dry training or by putting a treat paste in the syringe.
- The cat touches the syringe – reward.
- The cat touches the syringe – touch the cat’s head – reward.
- The cat touches the syringe – the syringe comes a little closer to the cat – reward.
- The cat touches the syringe – the syringe comes close to the mouth – reward.
- The cat touches the syringe – give a little treat from the syringe – reward.
- NOTE! Always administer the medication with the syringe on the tongue, not down the throat!
- Although this medication training does not teach you how to administer tablets, the main thing is that the cat finds it rewarding to have something put in its mouth. However, if you wish, you can also give a mini piece of treat in the front of the mouth instead of the syringe.
Article originally published:
Somakiss-member magazine 4/2023
Text & photos: Eveliina Jurmu
Additional lessons, training and services available through Eveliina's own pages > www.kissankanssa.fi
Somakiss ry's youtube links on nail clipping and teeth brushing: