Cats Reverse Pavlov's Experiment

[ProudLib72]

Last edited Mon Jun 24, 2019, 09:32 PM - Edit history (1)

HUMAN! YOU WILL SERVE ME WHEN I RING THIS BELL!

[csziggy]

1. My old cat has trained my husband to feed him at night

All night long, about every two hours, the cat will whine and my husband gets up to feed him. Since the cat is 17 years old and pretty thin, my husband feels sorry for him - but the cat has crunchies available 24/7 nd will eat them if no canned food is forthcoming. He just likes making my husband bend to his will.

When my husband is out of town overnight, the cat leaves me alone. If I get up in the middle of the night and feel like giving him canned food, it happens - but if I don't the cat knows better than to hassle me.

[ProudLib72]

3. If your cat was wearing a silly hat, I bet you would comply

And really you need to give him a service bell. Put it right next to your bed and see what happens.

[csziggy]

5. He does NOT need a bell - he's really, really good at singing the song of his people

At TOP VOLUME. He's part Siamese, so he is very good at it.

Sort of like this, but LOUDER:

Mostly he announces his entry into the house (through his cat door) especially if no one is in the kitchen. A week or so ago he came in and we were both in the kitchen. He was astounded, since that seldom happens. Sometimes when he wails I will go in - as soon as he sees me, his voice changes to a soft "Meow."

[CountAllVotes]

6. God that is just awful!

Plain awful!

Nothing can wail like the Siamese cat (or part Siamese!). I had two of them at once for awhile.

Whole lot of yowling going on!

[csziggy]

7. Sometimes it scares me since I worry about his health

As I said he is 17 and he has begun to look old. Fortunately, he has been healthy all his life - since he was semi-feral when I adopted him at four weeks old. We cannot get a collar or harness on him and he has left scars when he was not fed fast enough - but that was when he was younger.

Trying to dose him is impossible - it takes two of us and a plan to get his flea & tick medicine on him once a month - if we had to give him medicine daily, it would just not happen. Either he would run away or we'd be getting stitches daily.

A little yowling is acceptable - I've had some kind of Siamese cross in my life for the last forty five years.

[CountAllVotes]

10. I can sure understand!

I have two that are brothers and they are more or less of a feral nature. They hide and good luck putting one of these 20 lb. beasts in a cage!

Had to do it once and wow did he moan! It took two of us and the vet was scared shi*tless I could tell (spraying Feliway around the room which just added to the stress!) ... on hindsight re: that event.

Anyway, yes, I worry a lot for the same reasons you state.

We better live a long time is all I can say, well long enough to outlive these cats that own us anyway!

[csziggy]

12. While he can be fierce with us, he is meek at the vet's

I think he is so traumatized by being in a strange place with all the strange smells he just huddles in the carrier. Last time, we had to take the top of the carrier off so the vet could check and treat him.

But he screams all the way there and all the way back. I miss the days when my horse vet would treat the cats when she came out to treat the horses. Unfortunately, the large animal part is now separate from the small animal part of the practice and it's a hassle for her to get cat meds - plus she really doesn't like cats much.

I'm now worried that this cat won't last the three months we're going to be in the UK. He'll be at home, get fed twice a day and the people taking care of him and our horses will pet him as much as he will allow. But we've never been away this long in his lifetime. When we go away for a week, he glues himself to my ankle for hours so I know he will miss us while we're gone.

When he goes, we'll wait a bit before we adopt any more cats - then we will find two cats, maybe adults, that get along. And they will be strictly indoor cats - this guy is indoor/outdoor but we had him before we had a cat door. We'll leave the cat door to the screened porch for future cats, but that is as outdoor as they will be!

[CountAllVotes]

18. No more for me either

It sure is difficult when you don't have anyone that will come over. That is the problem here as well. I haven't had to take any of them to the vet in almost 3 years now *knock on wood*.

I won't be adopting any more kittens/cats either.

I must be realistic!

[csziggy]

22. My biggest problem has bene all my health concerns

I've had 13 major operations since 2001, not counting dental procedures. My husband is really good at taking care of me and I hate to ask more of him especially since this cat is such a handful to deal with.

But I can't imagine a house without a cat so we will probably find some more to keep us company. Or they will find us.

[CountAllVotes]

27. That is my problem too

After this girl died, I should have stopped but I could not!



She was 1/2 Siamese and 1/2 whatever. Lived to be 18 years old mind you! Still miss her so very much.

Got to have cats for a complete existence I agree!

[csziggy]

29. She was beautiful!

I'll be 67 next month so longevity is something to worry about - but Mom lived to 97 and I'm hoping I can make it that far. If so, I may have a couple of generations of cats to take care of - but someone else will have to clean up their litter. I will have to find a maid service that will do it, or get one of those litter boxes that washes the poo down the toilet. In fact, I may buy one of those for our next set of cats!

[unc70]

20. Have you checked his thyroid?

I have one about that age who sounds much the same. Starting to treat him for hyperthyroidism; has b en losing weight, elevated blood pressure, elevated levels in his blood. I hope to see sone weight gain soon.

[csziggy]

23. He's always sounded like that

But as I said in another reply, if he needed treatment, there is no way we could do it regularly. It is a battle just to get his flea/tick stuff on once a month. I can't bend over very well right now - three months out from back surgery - and he can be a vicious little monster. For a ten pound cat, he can do a LOT of damage. When he was young, he'd stare down pit bulls and make them back off!

[Laffy Kat]

24. First thing I thought about, too.

Especially at that age.

[CountAllVotes]

28. Thats what got my girl too

She was 18 however.

Sad way to see them go no doubt!

[pansypoo53219]

39. i only have hostages. no fleas or cars to worry about. they can kill bugs.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. My grey tabby has a voice just like that.

When he sings the song of his people his voice could curdle gin. I think he must have a Siamese ancestor because he also has a long nose, big ears and a long whippy tail, but that voice... OMG...

[tblue37]

8. Surprisingly enough, I love Siamese voices. nt

[mr_lebowski]

26. Me too ... but I grew up around 'em ... Siamese cats 'talking' is the sound of 'home' :)

[ProudLib72]

9. I played the clip, and Ellie was really interested

She's interested in any animal noises. But if it's another dog barking, she will bark back. Put that dog in its place!

My best friend in college had a Siamese. That cat liked chips. He would come at the sound of a bag of chips being opened. If you took out a chip and didn't immediately put it in your mouth, he would zip across the room and steal it out of your hand.

[Demovictory9]

13. that made my cat come into the room

[happybird]

14. There are Siamese mixes in the nearby feral colony

and the singing used to freak me out when we first moved in, up until we saw a few of the Siamese-mix guys and realized what was going on. We thought cats were being injured and some sound like babies crying. It's now just part of the neighborhood background noise- and still better than the time I had a neighbor with 11(!!) peacocks.

[csziggy]

19. Yes - I'd much rather hear a Siamese yowl than a peacock scream

We had some feral peacocks here at the farm for a while. Their screams were compared with a diesel truck horn or a woman screaming for help.

For comparison to the Siamese yowling:

The "honk" at the beginning of the above video is the diesel truck sound - the one on this video is quiet and polite. When they are being chased (our dog used to chase them) they honk VERY loudly.

[happybird]

33. Oh, they are so pretty but sooo noisy!

The call that sounds like 'help, help me' caused all 3 of us some panic at first because our house was 5 or 6 doors down from an elementary school, lol! The peacocks lived right next to the school.

I like the low call that sounds like blowing on an empty bottle. It makes me think of wind in reeds and the pitch is very soothing.

[csziggy]

35. We mostly heard "help" and mating calls

But if the dogs chased them we'd hear a loud "HONK" that sounded like a diesel truck. Any of the calls spooked the horses who knew damned well those thing were not supposed to be here.

One of the farms several miles down the road had peacocks and these two decided their neighborhood was too crowded and moved along to our place. Eventually they decided that between the dogs and the husband of one of the horse riders stalking them, our place was not a good home and they moved away. I haven't heard them for a decade or more so I suspect they have died of old age without producing offspring.

[applegrove]

4. Mine give me gifts of my hat or mittens or something with my scent on them.

Thank god they are not outdoor cats or the gifts i get when i wake up would be dead critters.

[ProudLib72]

15. I managed a youth hostel one summer and befriended a feral cat

She was a very sweet kitty and would come in for pets. One morning she brought a baby bunny to the door to show off. We just complemented her on her hunting skills and left it alone. A couple hours later, I guess she had shown it off enough, because it had disappeared.

My sister had a cat who hunted at night and would bring in all sorts of dead animals: birds and squirrels were his favorite.

[applegrove]

16. I had one of those. Thankfully i saved the one mouse and one bird she brought in.

She was mad as a hornet that i let her pray escape.

[Midnight Writer]

21. If your cat is eating a lot and losing weight, check the thyroid. Common problem among older cats.

[csziggy]

25. unc70 suggested thyroid, too

But as I said, he is basically impossible for us to dose. He's not actually that thin for him, and he's always lost weight over the summer, then put it back in the winter, so this is not all that new. He's small, at most weighed ten pounds, so it doesn't take much for him to look thin.

I just worry because of his age. The oldest cat we've ever had lived to be twenty, but most have died around 17-18.

[csziggy]

30. He does not have a big appetite, just wants to be fed as often as possible

One of the problems is that he only wants to eat the gravy part of the canned food. Before my husband's cat passed, Tashi would lick up the gravy, then Eddie would eat to solid bits. Tashi would fill up on crunchies. Now he licks up the gravy, then still eats crunchies rather than the solid part of the canned food.

I've tried pureeing his food with some water - he likes that since I'm paying extra attention - but the third serving he refused it completely. My husband keeps buying specialty foods- right now he's eating a kind with extra gravy.

Even so, he does not finish a can of food a day, and maybe a scoop of crunchies a day.

[unc70]

31. One of the thyroid treatments is a special diet

Rather than medicine or radiation, a special diet that is very low in iodine is often effective as a treatment. That might be easier for you to manage.

[csziggy]

32. I guess I need to get my husband to help me trap Tashi and take him to the vet

The iodine could be the problem - all he seems to want to eat is tuna and salmon even when we try to mix it up with other foods.

[kimbutgar]

36. husband gets up early for work on the weekdays but on the weekends our cat will whine until

He gets up. He puts out a feeder for the cat but the cat only shuts up when he gives her cookies. She has trained my husband well. I’m trying to figure out a technique where I can get him to do something for me!

[Bayard]

2. Too funny!

[jrandom421]

17. Even in Sta Trek, cats have the androids trained!

[MicaelS]

34. Bad link.

Image not found or was removed.

[ProudLib72]

37. It's still up for me

[More_Cowbell]

38. Doesn't work for me, either nt

[ProudLib72]

40. I don't get it

It worked for a couple days, but now it's kaput. I checked on two other computers and it was gone. It's still up on mine, though. I even went back and reposted the gif. I don't know what to think about this.