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Post by tonib on Dec 16, 2015 14:36:34 GMT
He sounds a real character J1M, the playing fetch etc. doesn't surprise me with a Bengal, they are usually very bright & often classed as being a bit dog like. We've got the Da Bird not the Flying Frenzy but they are very similar. I hadn't thought about giving replacement feather ends on their own as toys - Lexie would probably like that. We've got a pink ping-pong ball with a fur tail (a bit like the Da Bird fun fur attachment) added & she carries that around & plays with it. Ours run away when the front door bell goes, except Lexie who does tend to supervise anyone doing anything in the house & Penny has to inspect any post through the letterbox as it soon as she hears it she's there! Ringo's got such a serious expression on his face in that photo by the front door. Lexie & Penny are also great laptop blockers, Penny by standng/laying on your chest so you can't see the screen or Lexie by laying on the sofa to the right hand side with head & front paws on the keyboard/touch pad. Makes reading & typing interesting as the screen jumps around & various settings get changed!! Great pictures & I love the new collar, very smart - it matches his stripes! Glad to hear you & cheryl will be continuing on the forum
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2015 19:59:56 GMT
I've got the Flying Frenzy too and have regular games with Lily. Chilli used to love chasing it and would leap into the air and grab it and drag it off. When Lily was a kitten she would often chase after sponge balls and bring them back to me....there was quite a few times I woke up to find a ball next to me on the pillow or elsewhere on the bed Not so funny the day I opened my eyes to find a DEAD VOLE on the pillow just inches from my head!!!!! Little tinkers have a very warped sense of humour!!! So pleased Ringo is back to full fitness now - he looks SO happy Our Lily didn't go outdoors until she was almost 14 months old as I didn't get her spayed until she was around 13 months old (she was such a small girl of 3lb I worried about the anaesthetic) but now she absolutely loves it and regularly takes herself off out through the cat flap for around 30 minutes or so.
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J1M
Newbie
Posts: 47
Animals I love: Cats
Pets I own: Have always had cats as far as I can remember. Currently the owners of a Tabby kitten called "Ringo". He was born Weds 29/04/2015 & we got him Thursday 18/06/2015. He's just over 3 months old at time of writing. He is light grey with black Tiger stripes & he has black rings around his tail & back legs, hence the name "Ringo". Nothing to do at all about The Beatles. Now he has started to develop a beigey colour in his coat, & in some photos & different light, for some reason seems to have a slight orangey/ginger colour.
He's a right character, always friendly & loving & happy to see us, always following us around the house, always charging around & playing with his toys & stalking anything that moves, & then when he gets tired, jumps up for a fuss. Couldn't ask for a better cat. He's perrrfect.
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Post by J1M on Dec 17, 2015 12:36:29 GMT
We've started training Ringo to come when called. We call his name & whistle & when he comes, he gets a treat. He's responding well so far. We want Ringo to perfect the come when called for when we let him outside on his own next year. We've just bought a book from Amazon called Teaching Your Cat Simple Tricks. www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1580173640/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1450354267&sr=8-2&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=teach+your+cat+tricks&dpPl=1&dpID=51V6i33rFbL&ref=plSrchWe have seen a few books about teaching tricks to cats but we went for this book because most of the tricks in it are behavioural, things like answering when called, coming to call/whistle, sit, stay & go fetch. We thought about the clicker training but it sounds a bit complicated clicking here & there & everywhere. We watch My Cat From Hell on Discovery Animal Planet at 4pm weekdays (recorded when I'm at work) & we've seen some of the clicker training in action. Next year I will also put in a microchip cat flap for him to use in the back door. I'm just hoping he learns how to use it. To help with that we've just bought a normal cat flap to put in our bedroom door. At the moment we have to leave our bedroom door open for him but we have 2 grown up sons still at home so we would really prefer to close it. Fitting a flap in our bedroom door will be more convenient & will make sure he knows how to use it for when we put one in the back door next year. Do cats get used to flaps quickly? We've never had a cat flap before for our old cats but I want us to put one in for Ringo. That way he can come & go as he pleases instead of waiting for us to open doors which will be better for him if the weather is bad & everyone is out.
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Post by zahada on Dec 17, 2015 13:10:39 GMT
Good luck with the training. Hopefully you'll soon be posting videos similar to this. Didga the cat
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Post by tonib on Dec 17, 2015 15:47:56 GMT
I like the idea of training Ringo to come when called, ours do recognise when we call them but don't always come & we;ve not tried a whistle. Mind you we've now got the Loc8tor tags on their collars (except Penny) so we can find them within approximately 600 feet & as it beeps on their collar as well so they know when we're looking for them. Its not a GPS signal type that will tell you where they are on your mobile, you have to know where to look first & the handheld device will tell you which direction to look in. Or if they lose their collar how to find that as has happened! J1M, We've got the Sureflap Microchip Pet Door as its slightly larger than their microchip catflap so is more comfortablde for our 5.6Kg boys. We got it in preference to the other brand (Staywell/PetPorte) as the chip implanted at the rescue is not guaranteed to be read by the other brand. We've had no problem with the Pet Door at all, once some initial issues (due to the weak range of the microchips) was sorted by their very helpful & speedy support staff. We did have a catflap previously that needed battery operated tags on their collars but the batteries seemed to wear out quickly so we could find a cat locked out on occasion. But all 4 of our learnt to use a catflap easily & the microchip one was no different.
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Post by smilesbetter on Dec 17, 2015 16:12:43 GMT
Well done on training him to come when called, and that's great that you are looking to teach him tricks. I'd recommend clicker training him, but make a noise with your mouth like a click rather than using an actual clicker as that way you are quicker to do it and it's not so loud and scary.
I've not done much training with my cats other that to sit and wait for food, and Mieze also will tap the bowl if I hold it at the right level, which looks like training as she does it every time, but it's just greed. And mines all come to their name, Smudgie also always comes to a whistle which was hilarious when I used to have a ringtone that was someone whistling and yelling "taxi", Smudgie came flying through every time I got a text!
Training cats is fun, especially when they are eager kittens! Not so easy with grumpy Mieze unfortunately for me haha.
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Post by smilesbetter on Dec 17, 2015 16:13:46 GMT
Oh and I also trained Smudgie to scratch her scratching post before eating by always tapping it and getting her to scratch before tea. It's now her tea time ritual haha. Not very useful or anything but when she was a kitten I thought it would help her to scratch the right things. To be fair she never scratches anything she shouldn't now so it must have worked!
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Post by tonib on Dec 18, 2015 12:15:18 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2015 18:59:18 GMT
If Ringo is anything like Lily he'll cotton on to how to use the cat flap pretty quickly It was Chilli who seemed to have problems so we had to tape it open for the first couple of days until she got the hang of pushing her head through. After that there was no stopping either of therm and they loved having outdoor access whenever they wanted. Only downside was the many 'presents' in the form of voles, shrews and wood mice Chilli would bring in for me - alive or dead! Funnily enough since we lot Chilli in early November there have been no more corpses so it doesn't look like Lily is much of a hunter Putting a cat flap into your bedroom door is a a great idea (we would do the same with every door if this was our own property) so Ringo should have no problems with using a flap to go out once he's neutered
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