What are Reward-Based Training Methods for Dogs (and Cats)? By. Zazie Todd, PhD Click HERE for original post Dog training methods can basically be divided into those that use fear and pain and those that don’t. Or aversive methods and reward-based ones. What do we mean when we talk about reward-based training methods? It’s an important definition because there’s an ever-increasing body of research that tells us that we should use reward-based methods because aversive methods have risks to dogs’ welfare. Those risks include fear, anxiety, stress, aggression, stress-related illnesses, pessimism ..read more

Can kittens do math? What a new study tells us about cats’ cognitive abilities By: Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado Click HERE for original post Can kittens do math? Most, if not all, animals show the ability to perform a rudimentary form of math. We call the ability to tell between a smaller and a larger amount quantity discrimination. This “number sense” may help animals with important survival needs, including finding food (which patch has more berries?), avoiding conflict (which area has more predators present?), and reproducing (which male is larger?). What is Weber’s Law? The ratio between c ..read more

The Feline Grimace Scale Helps You Know if Your Cat is in Pain by Zazie Todd, PhD Click here for original post Cats have a reputation for being inscrutable and It’s well known that it’s hard to spot when a cat is in pain, so the Feline Grimace Scale is an important breakthrough to help veterinarians recognize the signs in their feline patients. New research shows that cat guardians can use the scale too. This is great news for cats because it means people can more easily assess when their cat needs to go to the vet due to acute pain. Dr. Beatriz Monteiro of the City Univer ..read more

What are Cat Pheromones and What Do They Do? By Zazie Todd, PhD Click Here for original post What are pheromones? Pheromones are chemical signals, technically called semiochemicals because they have meaning. Cats produce various pheromones and leave them as chemical signals that they or other cats will notice. The one you are most likely to have heard of is the synthetic pheromone in Feliway Classic that is used to help make cats feel at home. Pheromones are a type of volatile organic molecule, and cats have an innate response to them. In other words, cats don’t have to learn what th ..read more

3 Easy Ways to Get Started with Training Your Cat Click Here for original post By Zazie Todd PhD If you’ve never trained one of your pets before, it can feel a bit intimidating to get started. Especially when your pet is a cat. But the good news is that despite the stereotypes, an increasing number of people are realizing that cats can be trained—and it’s fun for you and the cat. This article will look at why we should train our cats, as well as 3 easy ways to get started. The benefits of training cats Training can have several benefits for cats. Training cats does not necessarily mean teachin ..read more

How do cats use space? Part 3: Looking at relationships by Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado Click Here for original post In this third post about how cats use space, we are now going to take a hyper-focused look at not just how you lay out the resources for cats in your home but how they get used! This is especially helpful for multi-cat households, but if you’ve only got one kitty, you may want to try it – and let me know if it was useful! First lets review: We know that cats who live indoors will establish both a core territory and a home range, just like kitties who go outside. The core territo ..read more

How do cats use space? Part 1 By Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado Click Here for original post There have been several studies of feral cat colonies, their social interactions, how cats co-exist, and what factors (such as food availability) are related to the density of cat populations (for example, a greater number of resources increases the number of cats living in a space). However, we have very little data on the other most common place domestic cats live: the human home. The only published research related to space use in indoor cats came out in 1996, and since then, there has not been a ..read more

Manners, Cues, Management, and the Language of a Better Relationship with Dogs by Zazie Todd, PhD Click Here for original post Do you ever think about the different ways in which we talk about dogs and dog training—and the extent to which it reflects (or shapes) how we interact with dogs? Old-fashioned views about dogs can really get in the way of dealing with behaviour issues when they arise. They can also, unfortunately, contribute to creating those behaviour issues in the first place, for example if people use aversive methods which are linked to increased fear, anx ..read more

Another study shows…technology can help cats lose weight! By Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado Click Here for original post Last year, I told you about a study that found that feeding cats from a SureFeed microchip feeder helped cats lose weight above and beyond just being placed on a weight management diet. The most likely benefits are preventing food-stealing between cats and allowing cat guardians to weigh how much food they are feeding their cats (some SureFeed models include a scale). Other commonly cited challenges to feline weight loss are the ability of cat guardians to “stick with the diet” for ..read more

Can Dogs Detect the Earth’s Magnetic Field and Use it to Navigate? By Zazie Todd, PhD Click Here for original post Every now and then, there’s a story of a dog finding their way back home from somewhere a long distance away. Of course scent is very important to dogs, so following a familiar smell is one way they might find their way back to family and home. But are there other ways too? Is it possible that dogs can detect magnetic fields and use them to find their way? It’s not a completely out-there idea, because birds are thought to use the Earth’s magnetic field to navigate during long mig ..read more