Your cat willtrain you — or drive you insane trying to do so. They have the ability to communicate their basic needs and desires — and trust me, communicate it they will. When you cat wants something from you, you’ll know it. Cats usually use a form of behavior modification when they are trying to teach something to humans. Typically, they’ll just keep getting in your way until they get what you want.
The Cat’s Step-by-Step Human Behavior Modification Plan
1. Meow.
2. Rub against something, preferably human.
3. Meow again. Rub again.
4. Knock something over.
5. Knock something else over.
6. Scratch something, preferably human.
7. Bite something, preferably human.
8. Repeat steps 1 through 7 as needed.
As a vet, I’m well trained; after all, some twenty to thirty cats a day for almost thirty years have subjected me to behavior modification techniques. Yet even after all that time — and training! — I still sometimes misread a cat’s intentions and pay for it by being bitten or scratched. Severe pain — now that’s some downright negative reinforcement. But that’s how cats teach us what we need to know. And we don’t forget it.
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