Cat Comics......heeee...

How Exactly Does Training a Cat Work?

When it comes to our pets, it would be fantastic if we could train them how to do exactly what we want them to do. Training is only usually associated with dogs, but the fact is that all animals can be trained in some way and cats are certainly no exception.

The Basics of Cat Training

Cats can be trained to do a number of things. So, whether you want them to stop bringing mice back to your front door, to use their litter tray correctly, or even to just use the toilet instead, cats can be taught how to behave; you just need to know the basics. Training a cat is obviously very different to training a dog. With a dog you teach them things such as ‘stay’, ‘fetch’, and ‘heel’. However, with a cat you are generally just training them to change their behavior slightly. You do not want them to do anything spectacular (though some trainers have been able to teach their cats to perform); you mainly just want to teach them how to behave in a more appropriate manner.

Generally you need to understand your cat before you begin to train them and usually you should find that the following applies:

•Cats Will Continue to Misbehave as Long as There is Reward

Firstly you need to understand that your cat does not know right from wrong. They do things because it is a joy for them to do them. An example would be scratching their claws on the sofa. They continue to do it because it feels good when they do it. They will only not do something if it is unpleasant to do. So this means that if you want to train your cat, you have to make the preferred behavior rewarding and any behavior you want to put a stop to, will need to be a negative experience.

•Knowing When to Reprimand the Cat

A very common mistake which many cat owners make when it comes to disciplining their cat, is reprimanding them once the crime has already been committed. More often than not we are not with our cats when they actual misbehave and so we try to reprimand them by showing them the problem. The trouble with this is that the cat has absolutely no idea what you are reprimanding them for and so the punishment is not doing any good.

Overall training a cat to change its behavior can be hard work but it can be done as long as you have persistence and understanding.

Speedy...a cute little kitten without a pelvis

Speedy is a very lucky kitten. His life was saved by Dr. Edwin Jeszenka of the Lincoln Highway Veterinary Clinic in Lancaster, Pennsylvania by the development of a mobile prosthetic cart,created with K'NEX® toys.

Speedy's mother was a stray cat living in a housing development outside of Millersville, Pennsylvania, USA. His mother was keeping her kittens under an overgrown hedge that was owned by an elderly couple. While trimming the hedge, they discovered a cute black and white kitten that could not walk correctly. They realized that his back legs were not normal, and thought it might have an injured spine. They called a local animal rescue organisation to come for him.

At the clinic, x-rays were taken during the first week, and it was discovered that this kitten had been born without a pelvic bone. Some sort of cart that lifted the rear half of his body off the floor seemed like a solution to help him walk. Dr. Jeszenka sketched his plans for a "wheel chair" or a tiny cart, in which the kitten's hind end could be strapped into to facilitate movement around the floor using front-end power provided by the kitten.

Domestic Cat

Cats have always been a source of fascination for mankind throughout history. Today cats have become one of the world's most popular pets perfectly suited to the lifestyle of our day. They are beautiful, enigmatic and easy-to-care for pets. But where and when did the domestic cat originate? This page will give you some insight into this question.

It has been about 4000 years since the first cats were domesticated. The Ancient Egyptians were the first to keep and use cats to control vermin and other pests to protect stores of food. In Ancient Egypt, the cat was revered as a hunter and worshiped as gods and goddesses. The ancient Egyptians imposed the death penalty for killing cats and cats were also mummified before being buried.

Other ancient civilisations later began to domesticate the cat and took tame felines to Italy where they slowly spread around Europe. Eventually, they arrived in the New World with the Pilgrims. The shorthaired domestic cat spread across the world from Egypt while longhaired cats came later from Turkey and Iran. The domestic cat also spread from India to China and Japan.

Except for a short period of persecution in the Middle Ages when cats were associated with the devil, by the eighteenth century cats had become popular household pets world wide.

The wild cats of today such as Lions and Tigers descended from early carnivores called miacids. From there the modern wild cat developed into three main types; the European wild cat, the African wild cat and the Asiatic desert cat. The domestic cat is thought to have evolved from the African wild cat because of its tabby markings.

Domestic cats today still take many characteristics from their wild ancestors. The arresting eyes, body shape, feeding and grooming habits are the same along with the ability to pounce into action at any given moment. It is this link that makes the domestic cat so fascinating around the world.

The non-pedigree domestic cat, the Moggie is the most popular house pet today with the black and white Moggie being the most popular followed by the black cat followed by the Tabby cat. There are also 36 recognised breeds of pedigree cats around the world with the Siamese cat being the most popular. Most homes today that keep pets have at least one cat in residence.