As many of you probably already know, I am a dog person. For one reason or another, I am drawn to dogs, I understand them better, I usually know what dogs do/don't like, etc. When it comes to cats, I'm pretty much clueless! I'm trying to learn as much as I can... But I guess part of the learning process is accepting that, no matter what, we'll never fully understand cats! Many of the staff members at Cat World have told me that even with all of their years of experience, they're constantly being surprised and challenged each and every day! Cats have a mind of their own; and that mind typically does not care what a human wants. I'm taking a lot from this experience in cats, and hopefully one day, the right cat will come into my life :).
This is Hamlet. I took this picture of him while we were on our "walk". I say 'walk', but what I really mean is, Hamlet rolling around in the bushes while he's attached to a leash. He's a funny cat.
This is Miri (looking extremely evil). Miri craves a lot of human attention, so she just sits in her cattery and meows constantly. I take her on at least one "walk" every day.
And this is Princess Blue. She is a purebred Korat cat. She has a lot of personality, and a loud mouth! Out of all of the cats that I walk, she's probably the best. She only lays down about 50% of the time...
This morning, in addition to walking several cats, we had a presentation on TNR (Trap - Neuter - Return). For those of you that aren't familiar with TNR, it's a program that mainly focuses on feral or "community" cats, and it's been in existence for almost 20 years, but has only become popular within the last few years. Best Friends has been doing its' best to implement TNR programs in cities all over the country, and so far, they've made phenomenal progress. As many of you already know, thousands of animals are being killed in shelters every single day. Most of the time, it's for no reason at all. Through the implementation of TNR programs, reproduction rates are significantly decreased, which in turn, leads to less cats in shelters. If more rescues/shelters/sanctuaries took on the TNR mission, they would realize that it's a lot more effective (and not to mention cheaper) than euthanasia. In today's world, there is absolutely no reason for euthanizing innocent animals. The amount of ignorance and the lack of regard for the lives of animals is beyond disturbing... Something needs to change! And to bring about change, we need to increase awareness! So spread the word, everyone :)
After lunch, I shadowed one of the vets at Best Friends, Dr. Frank. He specializes in animal behavior, but mainly, cat behavior. He has been using clicker training with some of the cats! Clicker training is typically used with dogs, but it can and does work for some cats. It was so interesting to watch these cats! One of the lobby cats, Sunny, has learned how to knock plastic bowling pins off of the counter with his paw. Once he knocks all of them off, he hears a click, and receives a treat. Dr. Frank repeats this procedure several times, and Sunny seems to really enjoy it! Another cat, Mozart, knows how to 'target' Dr. Frank's hand with his paw, once he does so, he hears a click, and receives a treat. Mozart can also spin around, and he knows that he will receive treats for doing so! And the last cat, Raed, has been deemed 'the smartest cat ever'. Raed knows tons of tricks, he knows how to target, and he also enjoys doing puzzles to find treats.
Overall, I found Dr. Frank's work to be extremely fascinating. It's remarkable how much cats are capable of! One of the main reasons to train cats is to keep them stimulated in order to avoid boredom and destructive behavior (basically, the same reason as dogs). An animal that has been stimulated, whether physically or mentally, will be more tired and usually, more well-behaved. I admire Dr. Frank's patience with the cats... I don't know if I could handle it!
And to finish my day, I took a few cats for stroller rides. Yes, I said stroller rides. Some cats prefer to walk on leashes, but others find it too overwhelming, so they take these cats on stroller rides. The strollers are enclosed with a mesh fabric, so the cats can still see outside, but I guess they feel more safe. And they thoroughly enjoy these stroller rides. As a large-breed dog lover... Let me just say that this was a humbling experience. Never in my life did I think I would be pushing cats around in strollers. It felt vaguely degrading. Lol. Like I said before, I'm learning a lot about cats... :)
