What cats don’t want you to know

Research shows that cats recognise their name when they are being called but choose not to respond And with that you know the very crucial difference between a human beingrsquos most popular companion If dogs are our best friends cats are our sometimes benevolent overseersSo it may come as a surprise that cats can be trainedmdashto do tricks to come when called to act in commercials and to more or less listen to you Like dogs they also undergo behavioural problems such as improper elimination thatrsquos toileting outside the litter tray No your cat is not just being an a and getting along with other cats or dogs in the same householdYet there are very few educational bodies across the world that tutor individuals in feline behavioural psychology And so it follows there are very few feline behaviourists Mumbai has at least two feline behaviourists and theyrsquove got their hands busyRaj Mariwala had been training dogs for five to six years when a little black kitten came into her life ldquoWe handfed her since she was a day oldrdquo says the Bandraresident ldquoAnd my dog Tequila fell in love with her so Chomchom stayedrdquo Raj began getting more requests for fostering cats and many became ldquofoster failsrdquo a term used to describe the delusion most rescuers suffer from That they will eventually give the animal away Chomchom curiously loves to lounge in a wash basin and swat at the running tap while Raj brushes her teethAmanda Tong and Oscar practise some agility training She trains cats to be accepting of human handling PicBipin KokateSeeing her happy multispecies household Mariwala began to help others integrate their pets ldquoI was learning so much from my animals that I started using my cat to train other dogs to be okay around them and my dog to teach other cats to not be afraidrdquo says the 42yearold To be better informed Mariwala began looking for courses on feline behaviour She found only twomdashone in the UK and the other in the USAldquoI decided on the latter since I was scheduled for a holiday anywayrdquo she says ldquoIt was a short course run by the Humane Society with an aim to bring down the number of cats being given up due to behavioural problemsrdquo The course has since been discontinuedWhen Deeksha Honawar sensed that Kaapi was amiable to learning she started teaching her tricksAmanda Tong also found her way into the minds of cats through dogs The psychology graduate was working parttime as a dog trainer when she came across a course in companion animal behaviour in the University of Lincoln in Britain It covered dogs cats fish turtles and other sundry animals that enslave humans with subterfuge ldquoI chose to focus on catsrdquo says the 24yearold about her MSc in Clinical Animal Behaviour Her test subject was Suri the Spanish cat whom she taught to play fetchOn her return to India in 2020 work started flowing to her through a veterinarian ldquoDr Brijesh Raj would recommend me to pet parentsrdquo says the Mahimresident ldquoAnd my work began to growrdquo Later in the year she set up The Animal Behaviour Academy Through the lockdown she conducted online informational workshopsmdashin partnership with animal rescuer Sib Khushimdashon topics such as lsquoHow do I know if my cat is in painrsquo and lsquoHow to litter train my catrsquo With the pet care industry being one of the very few that boomed over the last few years her timing could not have been better The industry is estimated to grow at a value of R7500 crore by the end of 2026 as per a 2021 report by Research and MarketsA large chunk of both Mariwala and Tongrsquos clientele struggles with coaxing their multiple cats to get along with each other This could include the introduction of a new cat into an existing clowder or ongoing passive aggression that erupts sporadically The second problem most cat parents struggle with is housesoiling something that happens most in multicat homesldquoCats are a prey and a predator speciesrdquo says Tong ldquowhile dogs are predator and social creatures Cats focus on selfpreservation and survival thus like dark high up placesrdquo ldquoYou bond with a dog through trainingrdquo says Mariwala ldquoWhile with a cat they pick up things more easily if they first have a bond with yourdquoUnlike dogs who could work for treats play or just to please their humans cats are more motivated by play finds Mariwala ldquoThey have to learn to like human touch and they can pick up human expression and variation in tone again whether they choose to respond to it depends on their astrological forecast for the day One cannot be as loud or overexpressive in praise like one would with a dog Even greetings cannot be overthetoprdquoTong finds it easier to train with a clicker ldquoItrsquos better to reinforce a behaviour say a lsquoSitrsquo just before it naturally occurs and repeat this as many times as you canrdquo she says ldquoYour timing has to be perfect and itrsquos better to try to engage them when they are feeling motivated Cats also tend to get full fastermdashthey have several small meals a daymdashso you can only do a few repetitions at a time Also if she is not in the mood the cat will just avoid you turn away or recede into a high dark space away from you if not swat you The recommendation is to leave them alone and come back laterrdquoReading cats needs more careful observation and an awareness of the context A dog expresses explicitly with its entire body and a range of facial expressions A cat might just come sit with you ldquoYou have to watch intentlyrdquo says Tong ldquoA swishing tail does not always mean annoyance it can be arousal during play Pulled back ears especially when stationary can be fear or pain relatedrdquo ldquoIt can be as small as a dilated pupil or the twitch of an earrdquo adds Mariwala ldquoand they also tend to pick up on the stress in the house just the same asdogs They tend to go into hiding when unwellrdquoTongrsquos scope of work includes socialising cats She holds kitten kindergarten arguably the second happiest place on Earth Puppy school being the first through which she teaches parents how to get Ms Claws to be accepting of human handling like she would experience at a vetrsquos She also trained a cat to be in a commercial for a food delivery partnerldquoTricks etc are just the tip of the icebergrdquo says Tong ldquoTraining should actually be incorporated for a smoother humancat relationship such as training a kittencat to accept more handling to make travel less stressful with carrier training It should involve reinforcing desirable behaviour and dissipating an undesirable one using claws during play on human hands or even to help a cat exercise more to lose weightrdquoThe most complex move Tong has trained a cat to do is play Fetch with a ball Hold your breath The cat goes through an obstacle course and drops the ball into a glass One of Mariwalarsquos departed cats could balance on a moving ball Shersquos found that they enjoy scentwork sniffing out objects or food ldquoI hide treats in one of three toilet paper rolls and arrange them in a triangle The cat then sniffs them outrdquo she says Sits highfives coming when called and spins are commonplaceHence proved Cats can be trained but they train you firstKaapi Cat the performerDeeksha Honawar had an inkling that Kaapi the cat was clever enough and more importantly amiable to be taught tricks Her cousin Pradnya Hattiangadi is a dog trainer and Deeksha watched her train her two WeimaranersmdashKiss and Rory ldquoI was familiar with the cuepraisereward order and knew to make a hand gesture to support the verbal cuerdquo says the 25yearold ldquoI came across an Instagram account where the human taught the cat to sit etc So I tried it with KaapiTwoyearold Kaapi got it quickly the first command being lsquoGive pawrsquo ldquoThen I told my family to repeat it a few times a day and it was down patrdquo Deeksha then moved on to others and soon Kaapi knew lsquoRoll Overrsquo lsquoDownrsquo and lsquoBang bangrsquo The last is a complex command common in dogs which involves the pet lying down on the floor as if dead belly up to the cue lsquoBang bangrsquo Itrsquos a bit complex as each stage down belly up stay like that has to be taught separately and then linked together seamlessly technically called reverse chaining It takesa bit of practiseNow they are working on lsquoStayrsquo a valuable command in case of emergencies and on jumping over things ldquoKaapi does not always like to be touched but loves foodrdquo says the Wadalabased graphic designer ldquoHe gets bored if people pet him too much and walks away into a remote corner where he wonrsquot be disturbed If hersquos in the mood to play hersquoll come find you And hersquoll run from wherever he is when he hears the rustle of the treat packetrdquoJust like with dogs Honawar rewards randomly so that Kaapi performs each time with expectations With Honawarrsquos parents living in Pune Kaapi has also gotten used to riding intercity in a carrier His favourite games are playing with a ball of crumpled paper or an ear bud ldquoWe usually end each session with playrdquo she says