Teach my old cat a new trick
April 11, 2017 8:24 AM Subscribe
My nearly 11-year-old cat is having issues with her back end, but she refuses to use stepstools or cat stairs. What's the best way to teach her, before she aggravates whatever condition she has?
(Vets have been seen, x-rays have been scheduled; diagnosis is likely arthritis but she's young, so they are ruling out all sorts of other issues.)
Cat has stiff hind legs that don't work quite right after she gets up from a nap or jumps from a height. She gets around pretty well, but when her legs are troubling her we can tell from her gait -- the back paws either wobble or make a kind of "stump stump stump" sound on the floor because she is holding them so stiffly.
All of her favorite places are up fairly high, so as soon as she developed her hind wobble we started putting stools, crates, steps, etc. near them for her. But she refuses to use them! Instead, she flings herself off of or on to the bed, windowsill, etc., and then stumps around on her stiff back legs for several seconds afterward, and it is terribly sad. We were concerned that she might have been losing her eyesight and not even seeing the steps, but the vet assured us her vision is fine.
We have tried showing her the steps, placing her on them (she protests audibly), and tempting her toward them with treats. If anything, these efforts just panic her.
Is there anything we're not thinking of?
Have you had to teach a cat to do this, or do they just eventually pick up on it themselves when the regular jumping becomes too uncomfortable?
(Vets have been seen, x-rays have been scheduled; diagnosis is likely arthritis but she's young, so they are ruling out all sorts of other issues.)
Cat has stiff hind legs that don't work quite right after she gets up from a nap or jumps from a height. She gets around pretty well, but when her legs are troubling her we can tell from her gait -- the back paws either wobble or make a kind of "stump stump stump" sound on the floor because she is holding them so stiffly.
All of her favorite places are up fairly high, so as soon as she developed her hind wobble we started putting stools, crates, steps, etc. near them for her. But she refuses to use them! Instead, she flings herself off of or on to the bed, windowsill, etc., and then stumps around on her stiff back legs for several seconds afterward, and it is terribly sad. We were concerned that she might have been losing her eyesight and not even seeing the steps, but the vet assured us her vision is fine.
We have tried showing her the steps, placing her on them (she protests audibly), and tempting her toward them with treats. If anything, these efforts just panic her.
Is there anything we're not thinking of?
Have you had to teach a cat to do this, or do they just eventually pick up on it themselves when the regular jumping becomes too uncomfortable?
Best answer: How treat-motivated is she? I had more success with setting a treat on the bottom step, waiting for my cat to eat it, then putting a treat on the next step up, etc., than I did trying to lure him up the whole set of stairs with one treat. Make her think it's her idea.
posted by mgar at 8:43 AM on April 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by mgar at 8:43 AM on April 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
Catnip on the highest step, so she doesn't stop at the first one.
posted by AFABulous at 9:14 AM on April 11, 2017
posted by AFABulous at 9:14 AM on April 11, 2017
Does she have front claws? Maybe even if she doesn't. But a cat tree might do the trick if she doesn't like boxes and steps.
posted by Autumnheart at 9:30 AM on April 11, 2017
posted by Autumnheart at 9:30 AM on April 11, 2017
Best answer: My cat has bad knees and my bed is high. She would fling herself at the side of hte bed and then hand-over-hand climb her way up like soldiers in basic training doing a ropes course, and with comparable amount of grunting and scrabbling. It would have been funny if it weren't so pathetic. She can get onto one sofa by climbing up her cat tree and walking over across the end tables, but the futon sofa doesn't have a furniture access path, to high to jump up to (yes, she doesn't jump at all hardly), and there's no structure underneath to brace her back paws against so she can't even climb it. We put a stool there, just a regular wooden stepstool, about 12"x12" top, 8" high, and it's almost too high/awkward for her, she'd do better with something lower and/or upholstered. She'll use it sometimes if she wants up on the futon badly enough, but usually just meows to be picked up. We have attempted to encourage her to use the stool, but she's just not into it.
On the other hand, we have this Ikea stepstool next to the bed, and she is really happy to use that one. We didn't really have to teach her to use it, she just saw that it was there and immediately started climbing it because she is a tool user who wanted something. Is it that she likes these particular steps better? That she wants up on the bed more than she wants the futon? I cannot fathom the mystery of cat.
Previous iteration was the laundry basket next to the bed, and when we saw her climbing on any object handy to make the job easier, we knew she'd want it. So I'd say just pile things around her places - stacks of books, a full basket of laundry, an empty laundry basket flipped upside down, a stepstool, an end table, etc. Get her used to the idea that she can climb on other things to get to places, and then you can start making her climbing routes more aesthetic for the humans.
posted by aimedwander at 10:38 AM on April 11, 2017 [2 favorites]
On the other hand, we have this Ikea stepstool next to the bed, and she is really happy to use that one. We didn't really have to teach her to use it, she just saw that it was there and immediately started climbing it because she is a tool user who wanted something. Is it that she likes these particular steps better? That she wants up on the bed more than she wants the futon? I cannot fathom the mystery of cat.
Previous iteration was the laundry basket next to the bed, and when we saw her climbing on any object handy to make the job easier, we knew she'd want it. So I'd say just pile things around her places - stacks of books, a full basket of laundry, an empty laundry basket flipped upside down, a stepstool, an end table, etc. Get her used to the idea that she can climb on other things to get to places, and then you can start making her climbing routes more aesthetic for the humans.
posted by aimedwander at 10:38 AM on April 11, 2017 [2 favorites]
One of the first things taught/covered in the [very small and helpful] book "Clicker Training for Cats" is a skill called "targeting", where a cat learns to follow the end of a stick/wand with her nose. This is really easy to teach, since cats naturally touch their noses to the ends of things anyway.
That, and the double-thump-come to location skill, will get your cat quickly learning to go places by different paths.
Seriously, it's miraculous and fun, and should squarely address your problem.
posted by amtho at 11:11 AM on April 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
That, and the double-thump-come to location skill, will get your cat quickly learning to go places by different paths.
Seriously, it's miraculous and fun, and should squarely address your problem.
posted by amtho at 11:11 AM on April 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
I wonder if you could find something more ramp-like that wouldn't require jumping or extra pushing with the hind legs at all? Obviously this only really works for fairly small heights, but it seems like the cat might be balking at having to do any kind of jump up - finding a solution that just lets her walk might work better.
posted by augustimagination at 12:27 PM on April 11, 2017
posted by augustimagination at 12:27 PM on April 11, 2017
Best answer: I taught my cat by picking her up and putting her on a middle step, repeatedly. She caught on after about a dozen tries.
posted by SLC Mom at 12:37 PM on April 11, 2017
posted by SLC Mom at 12:37 PM on April 11, 2017
Response by poster: update: through a combination of just endless repetition and the occasional stinky treat path, that dumb kitty has finally gotten the hang of her stairs! And it's freakin' adorable.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:49 PM on May 31, 2017
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:49 PM on May 31, 2017
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The closest I got to him using them was by putting small, stinky, high-value treats on the steps and walking away so he could figure things out himself with no pressure.
(Unfortunately due to the precise configuration of my bedroom I can't have steps there full time so I don't have evidence of long term success, but that's not to say there wouldn't be any.)
posted by phunniemee at 8:41 AM on April 11, 2017 [1 favorite]