this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2024
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People don't "get" cats the way they "get" dogs, and cats don't "get" people the way dogs "get" people.
But cats definitely do think, they can do some pretty complex problem solving, and can even be trained with the right methods and motivation. But you basically have to teach yourself how an alien race might process the world to be able to understand their behaviour. I've no clue if that makes them smarter than dogs. Dogs certainly understand humans better, and vice versa.
I don't pretend to know what goes on in my cat's head, but I've gotten pretty damn good at predicting behaviour, and even modifying it where needed.
And you're right about one thing, getting a cat to unlearn something instinctual is basically impossible. Digging their claws into you when they are relaxed is a good example, no matter what you do, your cat is will always mercilessly knead whatever it's sitting on when it's happy.
For some reason walking into your legs as you move is one of those things they just keep doing, but I've gotten my cat to stop doing a variety of other things I didn't want it doing.
My biggest success is kitchen counters. He no lingers jumps onto them. Ever. I've even taken him to relatives and friends, and he somehow knows the same rules apply in homes he's never been in.
I’m autistic. A common explanation of how we experience the world is like being born on the wrong planet; people look like me, but they all behave in strange and alien ways. For me, cats are much easier to deal with than dogs. I’ve heard cats been described as ‘autistic dogs’. Research has also shown that autistic children like cats more than they like dogs. If autistics are born on the wrong planet, then cats must be from the same planet as us.
How'd you manage to get them off counters?
The best way is to change something so the cat doesn't wanna be there in the first place.
I used a motion activated can of pressured air to scare him off the counter, changing its position so different parts of the counter were covered at different times. That, plus instantly pushing him off the counter whenever I got the chance.
He stopped hopping up there after just a few weeks of this, and I haven't had to use the pressured air can since.
I did something similar with his habit of shredding the toilet paper. I set a metal measuring cup on the tp, so that whenever he'd go to unroll it the metal cup would loudly clang onto the tile floor. Had to manually reset the cup each time, but it took him less than a week to get the point.
Cat's do problem solving very quickly (at least mine does), but I don't think they see us people as a problem that needs solving. People like to joke that cats teach their owners to do more tricks than the other way around, and it's true, I know exactly what ques mean pet me, play with me, swap my water, feed me, etc.
But if you change the environment so that it teaches the thing you want the cat to learn, it's insane how quickly their behaviour changes.
I imagine the counter training wouldn't have worked nearly as well if it was just me spraying canned air, rather than a consistent automatic device with no clear person operating it.
Brilliant, thank you for these insights, I needed them.