Tag Archives: cat love

Nightstar and the Cuddle of Love

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Ooh.

I walked carefully into the bedroom late last night to avoid waking Susan and there was Charger nestled on her legs, and Nightstar curled up right below my pillow.

So I crawled even more carefully into bed to avoid waking any of them and tucked myself in next to Nightstar.

She soon got up, stretched, and settled down on the outside edge of my pillow. So I put my arm up around her to prevent her falling off the bed.

And we all stayed that way for hours. I know because I lay there smiling in the dark, listening to Nightstar purr until I finally fell asleep.

More Great Feline Health Videos

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I had previously written about some videos that showed cats having asthma attacks. I have found some more useful videos that I thought important to share with you.

These How To Health Videos are from the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Feline Health Center web site. These videos are:

  • Caring for your Diabetic Cat
  • Giving Your Cat a Pill or Capsule
  • Giving Your Cat Liquid Medication
  • Trimming Your Cat’s Claws
  • Taking Your Cat’s Temperature
  • Brushing Your Cat’s Teeth

And They Say Cats Can’t be Trained :-)

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The trainer in these videos uses the well established technique of using clicker and food to teach kittens specific behaviors. The premise is also used in training dogs, zoo animals and more. Food — the great tamer of them all :-)

From the You Tube description”
“Clicker training is not only enjoyable for cats, but it can be life-saving too. Suppose you had an extreme emergency and needed to get your cat out of the house immediately? A cat that is clicker trained will quickly jump into his carrier. Richard Norton clicker trains his Bengal cats, starting with very young kittens, as shown in this YouTube Video. Richard explains the click as a conditioned stimulus for operant behaviour. “This means that the click alone can elicit some of the same bodily responses and processes that food could elicit. This is achieved by presenting food and the click nearly simultaneously. Our experience is that 3 or 4, 5 minute sessions is more than adequate to fully establish the click as a conditioned stimulus for operant behaviour.“

Video explaining the clicker training process with a young kitten

Video of clicker training process to teach a Bengal cat to press a light switch

I tried out a few clickers at Petsmart (had to go to the dog training aids area), Then I found some healthy treats my cats might get excited about. While we have tried this technique before, I was unsure if my cats would really respond well. Having found these videos I am more determined to make it work this time.

If you have a cat behavior issue, you can visit Marilyn Krieger’s site The Cat Coach. She advises clients about modifying an unwanted behavior through clicker training and other techniques.

Some really good books about training cats from Amazon.com:

Cat Training in 10 Minutes
I just ordered this one. I will let you know how we are doing :-)

Getting Started Clicker Training for Cats

How to Get Your Cat to do What You Want