How do you know if a cat loves you? Molly DeVoss knows!

You're listening to Pet Candy. Hello everyone and welcome to this episode of Simply Pets and I'm your host Dr. Shannon Grigoire. So for all you feline lovers out there today, we are going to help you demystify any cat behavior questions that you might have in your universe. So please help me welcome Ms. Molly DeVos. She is a certified feline training and behavior specialist from the Animal Behavior Institute. Hi Molly. Hi Dr. Shannon, how are you? I'm doing great yourself. Very good, thank you. That's great. So what brought you into the career of being a feline training specialist? You know it really started in a shelter environment. I have such a passion to help shelter cats because the fact is more cats are euthanized in shelters in the United States than dogs and shelter euthanasias the number one cause of death in cats, even over all medical issues. So I really had a passion for how can I help that and my focus became you know how do I keep them out of the shelter in the first place because so many of them think they say like 34% of cats are surrendered to shelters because of some behavior problem they had in the home. So I set out on this course to be able to help people take care of those behavior problems in the home so they don't have to look at rehoming their cats. Yeah, yeah it's really sad how many you know don't make it because of overpopulation of cats in shelters. So that's a really awesome thing to try to keep them with their families is the most important part. Yeah. You know once they're in a shelter cats are such territorial creatures that once you take them out of that comfort zone home environment and you put them in a place like a shelter where there's lots of other cats which that's not natural to them and strange smells and probably dogs barking and lots of noise, loud noise, different food just everything is different and you're putting them in a little tiny box so they've been stripped of choice and control really messes with the cat's head and a lot of cats end up very aggressive and defensive in shelters just because out of all that fear that they're feeling. So you know once they land there it's not a good place and that can be a lot of the reason also why they're euthanized in shelters is for behavior. So the other part of what I do is I still work with shelters and help them by creating behavior modification programs in a shelter setting to help those cats feel less stressed, more trusting and you know willing to kind of step out of that comfort zone. Yeah, absolutely. And you know what are the I guess top I don't know handful or so of complaints I guess that you get from people that have cats in their homes now that they're trying to work through. Well the biggest are of course not using the litter box aggression to either the people in the home or other pets in the home, destruction. Those are the main ones and then I get a lot of nuisance behaviors like meowing in the middle of the night, you know, things like that, things that are natural that you know may not be as acceptable to people. Yes, and I like how you brought up the you know not urinating in the litter box. So that definitely check with your veterinarian because that can be life threatening if your cat all of a sudden doesn't use your litter box and they're exhibiting some sorts of pain. Definitely get them checked out immediately. That can be absolutely a problem but sometimes they can just be a little defiant with their urinating behaviors. Is that right? I don't know that I'd call it defiant. I'm not sure that's an emotion cats actually have but you're absolutely correct. Sometimes they make me think so. Yeah, yeah they do. They make us think they're spiteful and all kinds of things but you're absolutely right. I always tell my litter box clients that the first place they start is getting the cat checked out because especially depending on what they've been feeding the cat a lot of them it's crystals or it's urinary tract infection or those kinds of things which also can be brought on by stress in the environment. So that's always the place to start you know getting a good year analysis and blood work if it's an older cat and maybe sonogram and that kind of thing. Once they get a clean bill of health from a vet then we know that it's very likely something going on in the home and it's usually beyond medical issues a dislike for the litter box or something happening in the environment to make them feel like their territory is threatened and their territory marking because that's a real natural behavior for cats. You know if cats see other cats outside they don't know that they can't get into the house and it's very natural for a cat in the wild to urinate and defecate along the perimeter of their territory that they've carved out for themselves because that's how they warn cats that are in the neighboring territory that this is my zone and you crossed that line and who's going to be traveled. So you know if they see a cat outside they will often urinate along the perimeter of the house oftentimes doors and windows as a gesture to that cat outside to say nope you're not coming in here and that's a very natural behavior. So then we have to look at how do we discourage in a humane fashion those cats that are outside from crossing the path and sitting in the yard and being where your cat can see them and or blocking the view from the indoors and things like that. Oftentimes it's a matter of resources. A cat doesn't feel like there are enough resources. We always say as a rule of thumb you should have one more litter box than numbers of cats and you know somebody's living in an apartment with three cats it's hard to find space for four litter boxes but you know that could very easily be the issue. So it's usually one of those two things trauma can also cause you know cause litter box issues if there's unsettling things going on in the home marriages divorces new babies move new pets are way up there especially if it's a new cat of course then that kind of goes into the territory issues but yeah yeah those are the main reasons. Yeah and then you said I guess when you're when you're moving and you know all those kinds of things and you or you get a new a new cat in the household how do you advise people to properly give them time to acclimate to each other or when do you you know I guess pull the plug and say maybe you know this isn't going to work out because they don't get along. It's you know there's no real set timeline because it's different for every cat and you know I've seen some cats not like that particular cat but like another cat so it's and I've not found any real scientific rhyme or reason for why that happens but it does happen so it you know again they're very territorial so anytime you bring a new cat in they are going to naturally feel like somebody's invading my territory and I got to get rid of them so we recommend that you create a sanctuary room and put the new cat in the sanctuary room and and with the door closed and then begin to feed and do all kinds of fun things on either side of the door and then you slowly move to a visual barrier where the cats can see one another and then you have to make sure really great stuff is happening and a lot of that revolves around a really wonderful treat you know not just a run-of-the-mill thing you normally give kitty because he likes it. The dehydrated chicken gets them. Yeah that does say you know my cat's not as crazy about that I I found a product called the lichenlap snack from Minecraft and it is absolutely wonderful it's a it's a liquidy treat that's in a tube that you squeeze up you know there's a lot of those squeeze up tube products out there and I use them in shelters because you know this bonding with cats with treats is very important because cats are motivated by food over anything else in the universe and so you know I use some of those others and they just you know about 50% of cats like them the other 50% were like meh and then I found I found VitaCraft at Global Pet Expo one year and 98% of cats I offer that to just go bananas I mean like absolutely bananas over it and that was their first cat treat and now they've expanded to have different textures and things like that so they've got an array of products they're really high quality small batch which I like you know I think newt and this is important for cats so anyway on either side of that door give something like a lichenlap product to both cats so that those cats can have a really knock your socks off moment in the presence of the other cat you know that's basic counter conditioning we're we're changing the way cats naturally feel about other cats by pairing that scary you know circumstance with something absolutely wonderful and that really goes a long way and then I tell people too to harness and leash train the cats especially the one that you feel is going to be the the aggressor or the most protective and then you do start those face-to-face introductions then the cats are not lunging at each other because every time they're a bad experience whether that's intense staring which is very confrontational for cats or hissing or growling or lunging at the door that's a setback because that's making a negative association with that cat when what we really want to focus on are positive associations with each other so I tell people if you see those negative behaviors between them it's time to step back maybe you close the door again and just go a little bit slower and increase those opportunities for something really fabulous like the lichenlap snack happening at door you know with the other cat there so that's that's it I have a webinar on YouTube that's much more in depth on on introductions well that's great we can put the link to that video below too so people can watch that if they're trying to introduce new kitty cats and their family we'll be right back with more pet candy here's something fascinating I realized while taping this podcast there are compelling and downright mysterious medical cases that happen every day in veterinary hospitals all across the country and most of the time the unsung heroes that help these animals never get a chance to talk about them and you never hear their stories until now this podcast vet mysteries with Dr. Courtney takes a deep dive into some of the strangest medical cases and we meet the incredible veterinary teams that help to save their lives if you like a little bit of mystery a ton of intrigue and love pet health like I do this podcast is for you I'm Dr. Courtney and you can subscribe and listen to this podcast for free on vet candy radio or anywhere you listen to podcasts and when you were talking about aggression that that's a common issue you know is it you know certain individual types of aggressive behavior or just in general like attacking either people or other pets you know all of a sudden or is it since they got the cat you know how does it set on it can yeah it can be any number of things so it can be redirected aggression so like I said earlier they see cats outside and they're feeling very hyped up about protecting their territory and if you come over to the window and you don't see the cat that they're looking at and you reach down and pet them or go hey what are you looking at and reach down to pet them they may very well just turn around and bite you there was a cat surrendered to the shelter about a month ago that the family had taken in a cat that had just had surgery for a friend of theirs so they went and picked up this cat from the from the clinic brought it home didn't know to keep it separate from their cat and of course their cat went bananas and you know and and bit a child in the home and they were very afraid of their cat because they'd never seen behavior like that before and unfortunately they surrendered it before we could intervene because you know that's an isolated incident not likely to happen as long as they don't bring other cats in the home so it can be redirected aggression it can be territorial aggression you know it can be it can be pain you know cats are as you well know they're they're very secretive about feeling pain and discomfort because you know they're not an apex predator they are both predator and prey so they live in mentally in a hypervigilant state all the time kind of thinking about what's going to eat me next so they don't outwardly show weakness of pain and things like that so it's really hard to tell when something medically might be going on with your cat but if your cat suddenly becomes aggressive especially when you're touching it it could very well have you know some sort of pain or discomfort going on in its body and that's another instance where I tell people be sure to take your cat to the vet first and and wow to any medical issues before we start figuring out what's going on aggression but aggression is a very complicated issue and there are a lot of moving parts at play with why cats you know are aggressive to people or or to other cats yeah that was one thing you know I notice in my own cat he's a little over 12 years old now and um he started getting like just a little ornery and was starting to like you know redirect some aggression very odd times or like very weird it would only happen every once in a while and it would it started getting a little more frequent um and I actually brought him in while I was still in school and you know nothing major was wrong did like all the x-rays and the ultrasounds and blood work and everything we think has a little bit of really early arthritis um because even on the x-rays you it's it might be there it might not be situation so we started him on some joint supplementation those episodes seem to be less frequent now but I saw him jump four feet in the air the the other day so he is feeling better you know I make sure he eats those treats every morning before he gets breakfast but yeah you know those little things that you pick up on you know oh maybe he's starting to get a little creaky now that he's 12 years old so that's something that is really under diagnosing cats is arthritis pain yeah usually tell most of my clients if your cat's 10 or older it's probably got an 80 chance of having some level of arthritis and I mean and it makes sense because you know the species hasn't really evolved that much from its wildcat ancestors and they really aren't I mean outdoors they only live to be about eight to 10 years old so now that we're keeping them indoors and feeding them better and things like that they're living to 18 to 20 so a lot of they start getting old cat problems yeah exactly just like us absolutely oh gosh yep it's definitely you know I was freaking out thinking you know oh my god is he blocked or something because one time he was super painful and he he was totally fine and just a little ouchy that day and that's the other thing you know when they're feeling uncomfortable a lot of one of the big signs is they'll get finicky about what they eat you know dental issues is such a huge thing with cats and as you know you know 50% of people don't even take their cat to a vet at all so they're not getting and they're just like us you know they need annual dental cleanings to remove that tartar and plaque build up and if you don't then just like us those teeth they're not going to get cavities cats don't get cavities but the teeth get infected and then those infections start to mess with the body and so when a cat gets finicky about what it's eating I always tell people get your cat to the vet ASAP and let's make sure that there's no you know dental issues going on and no gut issues going on and of course we look at what they're feeding but you know back to that licking lab product I have used that in those situations as well because it's so awesome I use it as a food topper and it encourages cats to eat you know when because a lot of times too if they just don't feel well they just don't eat the first thing they do is stop eating yeah yes and and they but a lot of times that's associated with pain in the mouth you know they'll eat and they'll go ow that hurt well that's that smell and that flavor that made it hurt I'm not eating that again and so you put down a different can of food and they'll eat it and then they'll go oh that hurt okay I'm not eating that again and so you know you find yourself in this constant I'm opening up a new different kind of cat food every day just to try to get my cat to eat something and that's that's a huge red flag to get the cat to the vet and and even if it's young you know dental issues don't just build up in older cats I I had a client just the other day that has a cat both cats siblings with tooth resorption you know and they're young and that's a that's such a horrible deck of cards to be built when you adopt a cat because that's that's not something you can fix and it's a problem potentially a problem for for the rest of the cats lives so so yeah getting a cat to eat is really important and you know one of the things I like about about that lichen lap treat too is it's is it's moist it's wet and some of the biggest problems we we we present for our cats is not giving them enough hydration in their diet and so it's another great way to get some hydration in your cat for a treat that's relatively low calorie and a good between meal snack as well yeah absolutely because you know when cats eat a live prey there's a lot of water content in that food so when you switch them over you know some cats only eat wet food which is great some cats only eat dry food which can make things a little bit tricky if they're not good at drinking their water yeah yeah and they say that a cat cannot because their descendants of desert cats they're they're genetically not programmed with a very high thirst drive and so if we're feeding them exclusively a dry diet there's no way they can possibly drink enough water to stay hydrated and that's very stressful on the kidneys and and over many years then those that stress on the kidneys can become issues as as you see probably primarily in your practice we'll be right back with more pet candy I love my fur babies so much and when they're stressed out it makes me stressed out mine hate loud noises like thunderstorms and fireworks and sometimes they just don't want to be left home alone brave pause is a natural stress and anxiety chewable for dogs it is clinically proven to help calm nervous dogs by maintaining normal cortisol levels what's even better is that it's fast acting and starts working in less than an hour want to learn more check out my brave pause.com yeah yeah it can definitely you know cause urinary or renal issues and you know other things too you get the ball rolling and it just you know keeps getting bigger and bigger and cause more problems with the dehydration so definitely keeping them hydrated you know people can get um water fountains for their cats you know sometimes they like moving water or there's um like a little meal topper like a little sprinkle cap or product that you can get that tries to encourage them to drink or you can you know do something with their water maybe move it around make it more interesting for them to to drink it yeah I always tell people indulge your cat wherever it wants to drink if it's if it's in the sink go ahead and let him drink out of the sink if it's in the toilet leave the seat up I mean you know make it easy for them to have as much water as as they want wherever however they want it but getting it in their diet and their treats is hugely important as well I mean I taught my cat to sit for me for a treat so I can look at him and to ask him to sit and he'll do it for me and then get the treat are there any other I guess commands like you could say um that you've been able to teach cats to do yeah and again this goes back to the treat if the cat if the cat is doesn't have one of those oh my gosh I would just do anything for that treat kind of things then they're like meh sometimes they'll participate in training and sometimes they won't because they're not motivated to please us like dogs are dogs are like you found that amusing okay I'll do that again cats not so much cats they're like I don't care how you feel do you have something good for me or not and and so that's when that's exactly why I started using the the licking lap treats exclusively in shelters and in my home trainings because that's like the thing that like I said I think I've only seen three cats that have just kind of turned their nose up at it and the best way to start when you're training a cat is to watch what the cat's naturally doing like sitting if every time that cat sits you go good boy and you give them a wonderful treat they're going to make the connection real quickly and and then you can begin to put verbal cues like sit down the other thing is you can lure them and that's one of the things I love about the licking lap tubes is I can put a little bit of the treat on that I squeeze it up a little bit and then it's not too liquidy like if I hold the tube upside down it doesn't drip out on the floor so I put the tube over the cat's head right in front of its nose and I lure it into a circle and I'm and I put spin with that and I'm pointing out at the same time so eventually I can take the treat away as the lure and I can just go spin and then when they're done spinning give them the treat so you can you know you can lure them around I lure them through a hula hoop and you take them then to to jump through the hula hoop you can almost every cat will come to you if you point to the floor and you hold your finger about six inches above the floor they'll come running and smell your finger and so I usually make that come so I'll put my finger down and I go come and he'll come running over smell my finger and then of course give him a treat if you don't reward them they have absolutely no motivation to do what you want them to do whatsoever you know and so in a home setting we teach him to do very cool fun behaviors you know like mine stands up and walks on his back legs any high fives and he does all kinds of things in a shelter setting we're teaching we're rewarding them for being brave right they're scared to death they they don't know who you are or where they are and so we put that licking lap in front of them and they're like oh I'm scared I'm scared I'm scared and then they go oh my gosh what is that and then when they start to eat it that again is counter conditioning with us in in that environment but then I replace the licking lap with my finger and then when they lean forward towards me towards my finger then I reward them for that so I'm rewarding them for being brave for move is something as simple as moving forward to me or being brave enough to make eye contact and and so it's a you know it's different in a home setting versus a shelter setting but having a reward that is absolutely the tiramisu of cat tree I don't even know what else to compare it to in our world but you know is it is so crucial to getting them to do things and I reserve my licking lap to just training I don't give it to him freely all right if I might have another right I give to him freely that he's kind of about but the really good stuff he has to do something for and it's not that's not cruel to do to a cat in fact it's natural you know they don't get their food freely in the environment they have to work for it so making them work for their food is very natural to simulating some of that hunting and or foraging sequences that they they do in the wild and they miss when they're in your home yeah they get that real life enrichment yeah absolutely and it's a you know one of the best things you can do for simulating hunting sequence is prey playing pr ey not not praying they're going to play with you but pr ey and which is basically a wand with a string and a toy on the end some cats like feathers some like mice some like you know they're all different so you usually got to have several different ones some just like the ribbons and you let them it's really important that you let them catch it you know so you've got to make it go behind things and out of sight and stuff like that and to let them catch it because in that catching it and in the biting it that releases some serotonin in their brain which makes them feel good and and then to complete that hunting sequence you give them a treat after they've bit the toy and that actually does kind of really fulfill that whole hunting sequence which is very very important because in the wild they'll spend six hours a day hunting when we keep them inside which i do prefer for safety and longevity they don't get that opportunity so i always tell people pray play with your cat you know twice a day doesn't need to be long 10 minutes is is perfect and make sure you've got a really good noctur socks off treat to give them once they've delivered that kill bite to the toy yeah i think it's so cute when they get all hunty and they go crazy over their toys it's just the cutest thing in the world it is it is and it's again it's so sad in a shelter because you see cats you know they're not exhibiting those natural behaviors because they're not as comfortable in their environment doing so so they're you know they're they're much more subdued and still and it's very hard to engage them in play in a shelter you know that of course i work with the most stressed out ones and that's that's sometimes extremely hard to do and you know that's another thing this viticraft who's the company that that makes this lick and lap product you know i found them and they've been fabulous at supporting my shelter work with product you know so they'll they'll actually send product free to the shelters that i work with with behavior modification programs and and jointly that we are we are developing an actual behavior modification program for shelters so hopefully sometime this year we're going to be rolling that out nationwide and it'll be a you know work through module so shelters will be able to set up for the program and then have their volunteers and staff go through it and they'll be supplying these treats that are just fabulous to them so that they can help these cats that are super stressed out become more adoptable faster so i'm really looking forward to that that's going to be a program called feline ride at home and that cute so i'm really grateful um grateful to have found that product that works so well in training and and changing that that making that paradigm shift in the cat's mind about you know it's fear in relationship to people and and environment and and very very grateful that they reached out and said hey we want to do more how do we do more and and we're working to to roll this out nationally so i'm super stoked that we'll be able to save a bunch of bunch of cats once we get this out there we'll be right back with more pet candy hi this is shea and i want to tell you about my new show on pet candy cooking with shea i make vegan eating easy and fun check it out on pet candy tv i think you mentioned um destruction as another big reason that people um you know give their cats up to shelters and you know is whether it's destroying furniture or you know fabric or you know whatever it is in the home how do you then go and work with people to kind of redirect those yeah chewing cords trash rummaging all those things are are very very destructive and and dangerous yeah yeah i have many blockage surgeries have you done yeah and so you know there's a real problem i think in the way that cat that people try to correct cat behavior we tend to think of them like dogs and and a dog you can punish and tell a dog no don't do that and a dog might listen to you because a dog cares there's a social hierarchy in a dog's background and so the dog cares about you know your approval of its behavior there's not an ounce of that in a cat the cat does not care if you approve of its behavior right and nine times that attend the cat's doing something that's very natural to its species so they claw your furniture because they have scent glands in their feet and that clawing leaves behind an ascent that that is also a territorial marker just like its urine and defecation around its its territory and it also leaves a visual marker so you know in the wild they'll make claw marks even big cats do that so that other cats can see that's a visual sign if they don't get close enough to smell it that this is another cat's territory so scratching sofas and furniture happens mostly in multi-cat households because they're they're making territorial gestures amongst themselves and then once a cat places ascent whether it's urine feces or scratching the other cats in the household come along and scent over it in an effort for everybody to get along right because that's kind of how they deal with the stress of having multi-cats in an environment is layering their scents to create a community scent none of them are comfortable if one cat's scent is dominant in the house so once you start having this problem one cat does it all your other cats are likely to start doing it too because it's natural so people tend to put up deterrents right they'll put up you know double stick tape on the sofas and stuff like that but they forget the biggest component to teaching a cat I always say you can't tell a cat no you have to show the cat what you want it to do instead so you have to go this not that right this not that if you just do not that they're probably it's not going to be effective at all and especially if you're trying to yell at a cat or squirt it with water because then the cat the cat knows that's coming from you and if it really wants to scratch that sofa is just going to wait till you go to work and then it's going to scratch the sofa all day while you're gone or when you're not in the room so you've got to use deterrents hand in hand with an alternative so you know people make the mistake of getting little short scratching posts cats need a full back stretch when they're scratching so get the tallest scratching post you can find amazon has some that are 40 inches or more it's what I usually use and put that next to where they're scratching and then cover where they're scratching make that place either unattractive or inaccessible and show them at the same time what you want them to do instead and then if you want that to go quicker you know rub some catnip on that scratching post that you put next to their favorite scratching spot and then reward them again get that that licking lap snack tree that just is fabulous and stand at the post a lot of times I'll like scratch the top of the post and they'll come over and start scratching and then reward them go oh that's so good and and give them a treat for scratching and then they quickly learn oh I get food when I scratch that puzzle I'm going to come over here and scratch it and see if I can get another treat and as long as you're consistent with that then they'll learn to scratch that instead of your sofa and a lot of it is texture preference some cats like bark some cats like rope some cats like carpet you know it just depends and you if you should try to mimic whatever the texture is that they're scratching up until the point that you might even have to go to an upholstery store and buy whatever fabric similar to what your sofas are covered in and wrap it around your scratching post so that it will attract them to it yeah absolutely and the catnip I have an actual plant it's not that big of a plant but it's in a huge planter because he just goes in there and he rolls in it he'll chew on it he rolls in it he just like lays on it like don't kill it and you know that's a good point because eating plants is another destructive behavior that a lot of people don't like and and again the this not that is give them some catnip give them some cat grass you know give them give them something to chew on and eat in a plant farm that's safe for them and that they like and and that will keep them away from your other plants yeah something that's that's good for them to kind of just nosh on which I I was very surprised the first time we got a cat that they like to chew on grass like that's so interesting yeah a lot of theories about why they do that if they've you know they they know it makes them throw up because that's what they are you know take your cat outside it eats grass comes back in and throws it up this is like you know clockwork so why do they do it if it makes them throw it a lot of times it's because again goes back to diet whatever you're feeding them may not be settling in their in their system they may feel like they need some help moving stuff through you know they're either constipated or they have some GI upset or things like that so they they say that they'll do that a lot that way and that they could be lacking nutrients in their diet so they're eating plants in an attempt to get you know folic acid and other things that they that they need in their diet that may be missing in in what they're getting yeah I've also seen them do it too when they try to bring up a hairball or something like that from grooming and they can't get it up and then they eat the grass and air it goes yep exactly exactly they're they're pretty smart at knowing how their little bodies work yeah yeah they are too smart for their own good sometimes yes they are and that's I think that's what makes them easy to train you just have to learn what motivates them you know it's I said a dog will do something for you just for your praise a lot of the times just to get you to pet it or pay attention to it and and a cat's going to do something for you because it really really really likes the treat that you gave it in reward you know that's that's so such a big difference between training the species oh yeah absolutely and we got um pretty good recall with our cat like you can call him for moles anywhere and he'll come running to you because I would say 75 percent of the time he'll get something for it yes exactly it's pretty simple training cats any behavior you reward they're going to do more of any behavior you ignore is probably going to go extinct so you know make sure you've got a great treat and reward them for the things that you like that they're doing and they're going to do those things more often ignore the things that they're doing that you find annoying and chances are they'll stop it and do you ever use um like the feel away products or any sort of pheromone type product for cats in the home you know I when I first went into this field professionally I was very leery about those products I thought how can they make a synthetic pheromone that really works I mean is synthetic anything is probably got to be dicey on whether it works but you know part of what we learned in in our education was we studied all those scientific results and studies about how they respond and they really do respond to the pheromones I find that it's not a magic wand by itself like I'll get people that say my cats are fighting and I plugged in those diffuser pheromone things and and and they still hasn't made any difference like you know yeah it doesn't by itself it's not some magic behavior wand but it can help to take the edge off you know to make a cat feel a little more comfortable so anytime you're bringing a new pet into the home or moving or there's changes or you're going on vacation or anything that's going to upset the routine in a cat's household I always recommend you know go ahead and plug in some pheromone diffusers because it can't hurt certainly isn't going to hurt the cat it's either not going to do anything at all or it'll just kind of help take the edge off and might help to relax them a little more yeah absolutely and I don't know if you have any specific training tips for you know when cats go to the vet usually they're the one of the most stressful places because there's a lot of loud noises there's tons of smells there's a lot of things going on I know with my and I try to give him his favorite treat whenever he goes into the carrier when we get to the car when we get to where we're going and when he's in the clinic he'll get like random his favorite treats the whole time he has to be there or I give it to the whatever clinic staff that we would go to like here give these to him he loves these and you know kind of make sure that they know what he loves so that they can kind of do that to make sure he's comfortable so I don't know if you have certain things that you try to tell people whenever the cat has to either go boarding or go to the vet somewhere for a short amount of time to help them feel less stressed yeah first I tell people get get the right tools get a top loading carrier or a carrier where the whole top comes off easily and leave the carrier in your house out somewhere I don't have to be in the middle of the living room but leave it somewhere and you know maybe even if your cat has already developed a traumatic anchor to that carrier because the only time that carrier comes out is when they're going in the car which is scary and then to the vet which is scary and so they see that carrier and they go right under the bed so you first you have to change the perception of the carrier not being a bad thing so get a good carrier so that your vet doesn't have to drag the cat out of the carrier so a top loading carrier is recommended and then leave it in the house maybe even feed them in it start putting their food bowls in it you know get little bungee cords and keep the door open so it doesn't accidentally shut while they're in there eating but let them eat in there that again makes a good connection with the carrier and then start luring them with and again that's why I like these two treats is because I can lure them into the carrier with that and then give them the treat in the carrier so that they realize oh carrier good yeah okay great I go in the carrier I get these great treats I go in the carrier I get dinner and then you can slowly desensitize them to car rides in the same way you know take them out to the car in the carrier give them treats out there buckle them in take them around the block give them treats so that not every trip ends up at a vet office you know where of course it's probably uncomfortable for for what they're going through and then make sure that you've got a towel or a t-shirt that smells like you or something like that in the bottom of that carrier that smells like the cat and home and leave it in there so that when they go to the vet too that while they're in the carrier the vet can do the exam they don't ever have to leave the carrier if you can take the top off unless they've got to go you know weigh on a scale something like that but you can also take that towel out and put it on the exam table so that the cat always has something that smells like home and smells like itself with it and that will make those those vet trips a little easier I'm also a fear free certified trainer so that's one of the our focus is making those vet visits for cats less stressful on the cats and helping veterinarians understand what they can do in a clinic setting to make that environment also less stressful for the cat absolutely and you know when you get a kitten and they're in that really big socialization period are there any certain things you can do to you know make them more friendly to you know other people so they're you know not crazy hiding when someone comes over for dinner you know so that they're open and friendly and willing to interact with someone other than their immediate like family yeah exactly you mentioned that that sensitive uh development period is like from three to seven weeks so usually that's you know that's going to be the foster environment so if you're fostering cats like I'm fostering a litter right now and we expose them to every different kind of stimulus we can think of music vacuum cleaners like my kittens will not even go away if a vacuum cleaner is running they won't move they just does not phase them because I started using the vacuum around them at a young age and made sure that you know they they have those experiences they ride in the car yesterday I took them to the pet food store because everybody there likes to handle them and they they learn that you know we go places and people coo over me and cuddle me and give me treats and it's fun so they don't run from people they don't run from cats they don't run from you know dogs things like that because they've been exposed to all those things in this time that you know that I've had them so it's very important at a young age one once you kind of get past that window that that socialization window really starts to close at eight weeks and at 12 it's probably fully closed and so you know if you have an adult cat that didn't have a lot of experiences during that age it's going to be one of the more frady cats you know that any little thing kind of jumps and runs and hides and there's people like that too so you know it's it you know it's not not what they necessarily had any trauma at that age but the lack of exposure is kind of like produces the same results as if they had a traumatic experiences at that young age and it's one of the best things you can do you know it's fun you get a litter of kittens you get to enjoy them while they're cute and then you send them off to their full-time home it's kind of like grandparenting you know and I encourage everybody to go down to your local shelter and get signed up to to foster or you know volunteer in some way they they desperately need your help especially now when they're so overcrowded yeah it was fun I fostered a few dogs during school and it was definitely it was fun to like you know get to know different dogs and take them around and start to learn their personalities it's really really rewarding experience yeah it is and and to know that you're you're really shaping that animal's life for the rest of its life you know it's when you get them really young like that you know what what happens with you really does reflect on how they're going to behave as an adult cat so it's you know and I've already teach mine they're never too young to start teaching by the way so I teach mine same way same kind of treat I use the licking lot they go bananas they're like literally eat the whole packet I have to be really careful with that and you can't give it on your finger to kittens because they're like that's too good they'll eat your entire hand off so but I give them treats I'll dab it on the floor you know so when they do something that's particularly cute I want them to do again I dab it on the floor and like I have them in a sequestered in a room and as soon as I open the door they all come racing out and and they know and then they'll right now then they'll all turn around and go racing back in because they know I've rewarded them for coming back so I started out going kittens and then I would give them treats every time I'd go kittens and so they associated that so all they go blasting out of the room and trying to run into the house and all I have to do is go kittens and they come all running back and looking for their treats so it's yeah the the power of treats is strong very very very strong with cats of any age we got a kitten and a puppy when I was younger at the same time and it was crazy because they were both in that in that highly impactful you know development period and they absolutely adored each other like they would cuddle with each other all the time like they were you know one in the same it was the cutest thing I had ever seen because a lot of people you know oh my cat hates dogs or my dog hates cats well they probably weren't introduced young enough to them because they just absolutely loved each other well they groom each other even it was crazy that's so cute we'll be right back with more pet candy does your dog shake and tremble when she hears thunder brave paws anxiety and stress support cheuables may promote calm behavior in dogs who exhibit nervousness or anxious behavior our clinically studied and patented botanical blend contains naturally occurring bioactives which can be found to promote a sense of calm and relaxation in dogs what's even better is it's fast acting and non drowsy get it today at my brave paws dot com well thank you so much Molly for coming on the show today I think you brought a really great amount of information to our listeners and that they learned a lot from you today well thank you thank you for having me and anytime happy to come back and talk more about behavior if there's anything else that comes up thank you and where can our listeners find you like a website or social media something like that absolutely they can find me at catbehaviorsolutions.org and if you want those lichenlap treats it's it's l-i-c-k apostrophe n-lap l-a-p and if you google that they're available on on amazon and wal-mart carries the vitacraft product and you can you can go to the vitacraft website too i would imagine that's v-i-t-a-k-r-a-f-t and you'll be able to find them where they're located and look at all the products they have because behavior absolutely is anchored in having a fabulous positive reward system so i strongly encourage you to arm yourself with some of that too yes absolutely we'll put all those links in the show details for anyone that's listening so you have those right and available for you and i just want to thank all of our listeners for coming and joining us today for this discussion i hope that you learned a lot about kitty behavior and what you can do to help your cat be more enjoyable in the home and maybe even sign up to foster a cat today so thank you everybody for listening this has been Simply Pepps and i'm your host dr shannon grigwar it's pet candy it's pet candy radio