"James" wrote in message
...
On Apr 14, 8:27 am, "Spider" wrote:


I put all my kittens through cable, chemical and car training, in the hope
that they'll live longer.

Please describe car training. My cat is but I don't know how I did it
other than being out there with her and watching out for cars. There
are few cars except during rush hours. When she was young she would
leisurely cross the street even when a car was coming down the road.
I would of course call her and made sure the driver saw her. When she
was young she would try to follow me into my car. I had to make sure
I can see her far away before starting the car.


Hi James

Thanks for your interest. As I'm sure you've discovered, any form of
outdoor training is more difficult than indoors because the little dears can
scarper at will, so you need to be sure of their indoor training first. It
gives you a much stronger hand outside. Because my kittens couldn't go out
until all their innoculations were done, and then had to wait for their
spaying wounds to heal, I had heaps of time to concentrate on their indoor
training. This is important, because it means they were fairly biddable
when I took them outside.

I always use a harness and lead on each kitten for the first week or so,
just to have overall control and see how they react. Most kits react badly
to noise at first, so I use this reaction (and others) to reassure them when
they're safe and when there's a danger, and to encourage them to trust me.
Also, by the time they're outdoors, they've already learned words like
'hurt' and 'dangerous' and, obviously 'stay' and 'leave'. They know I'm in
charge. I don't take them too close to the road at first but, as they peer
at it curiously, I warn them it's dangerous; cars pass, and I say 'stay, it
would hurt you'. This is one time when noisy cars are helpful, because
they frighten the kits and reinforce what I'm teaching them.

Once they're off the lead, but still learning, I wait for them to veer
towards the drive and road and say 'stay, don't go in the road'. Naturally,
sometimes they wander out, but I call them and warn them until they come in.
When they do, they are thoroughly praised for returning. These days, if I
see them near the gate, I say 'Cheetah (or Panther) - don't go in the road'.
I may have to say it a couple of times, but they respond more often than
not. Right through training and beyond, I find it helpful to watch their
behaviour and encourage them when they even start to move in the right
direction. Once they've willfully gone their own way, it's difficult to
turn them around, so I find it helpful to encourage their slightest
inclination to obey. In truth, safety training of any sort is never really
over, because we're dealing with nosey little critters, so I just keep on
warning them and calling them to me.

No doubt, in your own way, you've done something similar. I knew someone
once who always took their kitten to the road's edge and, quite simply,
taught it the (human) Highway Code: look right .. left .. etc. ! :~)

Cats are amazingly clever creatures.
Spider