Several months ago a young cat was given into my care. His name was Ringo for the rings on his tail, but Trouble would have been far more appropriate. Ringo could not keep from causing mischief. Indeed, that was the reason by which he came to me. Ringo harassed his previous owners and their animals mercilessly. He tackled their old cat, stalked their dog, and had a penchant for climbing the draperies. When he came to my home his behavior was hardly better. Then my education began.
Within the first five minutes of being released from his travel carrier, Ringo clawed the leather couch as he attempted to climb over the back of it. As soon as I went to intercept him, he would shoot for the chair to continue his scratching and climbing. When I finally separated him from the furniture, Ringo wrapped himself around my leg and began gnawing on my boot. Nothing was safe from his teeth or claws.
I tried confining him in a single room which did not alleviate the problem. Ringo got into the closet and started playing with the clothes. He yanked the sheets and blankets off of the bed. That cat was like a chainsaw in a twister. I had to get him under control, but how do you control a cat? This led to some pretty creative problem solving, drawing on experiences with dogs and horses.
First, I had to come up with a safe and indestructible place for him. I took a large plastic crate that had formerly been used for dogs and converted it into a Ringo-sized room. A litter box, food dish, water bowl, blanket, and toy turned the bare crate into my idea of kitty heaven. When Ringo was not being directly supervised, I put him in his “box.”
At first, Ringo was not terribly pleased with being confined. He would cry and cry and cry, reaching his little paw through the grate to touch me when I passed. It was tempting to free him, but necessity demanded that I be strong. Had I released him every time he demanded it, he would have soon become intolerable when in the crate. Instead, I waited until he calmed down and I was ready to interact with him before opening the door.
After about a week of this conditioning, Ringo settled down in the crate. Soon enough I would tell him to “get in your box” and he would walk in and make himself comfortable. The crate became a wonderful way to minimize the destruction to the house when I was out or busy. Every night, Ringo went in the crate so I could sleep with no fear of nighttime damage. If I had to leave the house, or get some work done, I put Ringo in the crate. When Ringo got too rowdy and needed to calm down, I gave him a “time out” in the crate.
While many of you out there might think confining a young cat to a crate is cruel, after all he is just a baby and can’t help his behavior, it actually is a method that can be beneficial to the cat. Cats sleep, a lot. When Ringo was in his crate, he generally slept. Additionally, he was not left in the crate for hours on end with no interaction. The crate was in my room, and he had frequent play times with me. The crate method allowed him to have a safe place for down time as well as allowed me some control.
Well, that is all fine and well, but I still needed some control over our play times. I could not just leave him out and ignore him; I had to interact with him. So I carried toys around with me. I never left Ringo to his own devices. Instead, I was constantly engaging him with balls and towels and treats. I even taught him to sit on command, and later, walk on a leash, primarily as a way of keeping his thinking on me and not on kitty mischief.
Over this time period, Ringo reinforced many previous animal training lessons that I had learned through working with dogs and horses. The first was to be emotionally neutral. When Ringo clawed the couch while unsupervised I could not get angry with him. He was merely doing what kittens do. The fault was mine for taking my eyes off of him. Nor could I correct him at that point. After a couple of seconds there is no way for the animal to connect the behavior and correction. I just had to let it slide and be ready for the next time. Lastly, I had to have patience. Some days Ringo was an angel and others he was a devil. I had to work through the bad days and cherish the good ones. Above all I had to keep watching, keep correcting, and keep praising. Ringo caught on pretty fast but I still had to repeat commands dozens of times, leading him through the behavior and praising each time. I had to stalk him and wait for him to mess up so that I could correct the behavior with a “no” and a light swat or foot stomp.
As Ringo matured and adapted to life with me he earned freedoms. At first, it was time out of the crate while I was sleeping or working in my room. After he showed himself to be well mannered in that respect he was allowed the run of the house. Now, he goes outside, comes inside and pretty much does what he pleases. He still follows me around like a dog and loves his training and play sessions. I no longer have to stomp my feet or clap with my “no.” Now, if I hear him getting into trouble in another room, I can just holler and he quits. The difficulties and rigor of his early training means we have a good relationship now. What I am most proud of is that I took a cat that was on his way to the shelter for being unmanageable and taught him how to exist in a human world.
