Teach my cat to fetch

Otto has a few tricks in his repertoire, and fetch is something I’d really like him to learn, since it would be good fun and exercise. So yesterday we started working on fetch. I don’t think he understands the concept. Some cats do, some cats don’t. It’s very interesting. We’ll see how it goes. 14 months ago

I didn’t even try to teach my cat skittles to fetch I was more or less just throwing her toy mouse so she could jump up in the air and get. She would want to play that game for hours and I’d get tired. When I quit playing and would go sit down she started bringing me her toys. One day I got frustrated and just threw it then she brought it back and I ignored it. After a while I realized she like retrieving more than jumping after her toys. Her favorite things to fetch is twisty ties. She loves to play and and it keeps her in shape….the only down side is it can get annoying when she tries to force me to play and I’d rather not! =) 2 years ago

I almost gave up on this one. I hadn’t tried to teach her for over a week. Then, this morning, I was working away when I looked down. Two big playful eyes were imploring me to throw the pink elastic under her paw.

We played for two hours! I was so proud of her and she seemed so excited. I really feel closer to her when we chat while playing. She makes the cutest squeaks to let me know she is “ready”. 3 years ago

Well the elastic wasn’t working as well as a plastic ring she found (no doubt climbing on the kitchen counter like a naughty kitty). So I hucked it a few times and it was going swimmingly until I somehow flung it into the great unknown. I felt terrible for losing her favorite new toy. So I twisted a twistie tie into a circle and it is working well. I looked down a second ago and there she was looking up and me with The twisty at her feet! 3 years ago

I have started with one of the thick hairbands that she loves stealing from me. Its fun to flick across the room but she still hasn’t figured out how to bring it to me. She runs after it every time tho.

We are only on day 2 so I will keep working on it. 3 years ago

i finally caught a photo of Gusty fetching his favorite game piece—the plastic ring off of a juice bottle.

And unlike his brother, Sunny Jim, Gusty took absolutely NO training to learn to fetch. He watched me & Jim playing this toss game for a couple of months, looking somewhat bored (as if to say “Yawn. How lame-!) Then suddenly one day, he walked up to me as i sat at the computer, dropped a plastic ring at my feet & looked up at me expectantly. I tossed it across the room, he dashed after it, and promptly brought it back to me. Further, no matter where i throw it, or how “challenging” of a place i throw it to,,,,he is Totally Persistent in locating and retrieving it to me. (It’s pretty interesting to watch him flip pillows over to get at the ring) He has never once forgotten how to play, and instigates a game Wherever i am. Like i said before, he mustve hogged all the brain cells from James in utero…

Ah, but he’s such a Puddin’. No wonder he was the one that talked me into keeping them all….

:) 4 years ago

I always thought this was impossible. But when my cat who is now 4 was a kitten, he would fetch a string - until our much older cat interfered with this game - literally took him aside and said “We don’t do this, it’s a dog thing.” Then that kitten stopped.

However we did teach him some dog tricks, such as coming when we whistle.

This spring, after the very oldest cat died, we got a new kitten, about 7 weeks old. She loved to dash after small objects when I tossed them, and soon learned that I would throw them again if she returned them, producing more excitement for her than if she just batted it around herself. You should have seen how excited she got when she figured this out! I got her to retrieve a wadded up ball of paper tossed down a flight of 15 stairs, 20 times in a row. She also retrieves wine corks. It is adorably cute. Fortunately the older cat - the one who fecthed a little himself when young- has not interfered. Kitten is now 6 months old and still plays this game.

I would suggest starting young, using small light objects that mimic prey, can be carried in the mouth, and will not tire the kitten; have some backups handy if they don’t “get it” with the first one; after they chase the object, ask them “Where’s the _?” repeatedly; rewarding the kitten with praise when she brings it back, and letting her/him know that if they don’t bring it back, it doesn’t get tossed again (otherwise they will train you to be their entertainer). 5 years ago

When I was in high school we had a cat the we taught to fetch. It was very cute! 5 years ago

But its along the lines of “Becareful what you wish for….”

_{ok,,,,,this requires some explanation…}

There’s a photo of lovely pud James (aka “Sunny Jim”). Sunny Jim is an incredibly sweet, trusting, handsome, atheletic, yet incredibly dense kitty. He means well. He really really does. Unfortunately, his brother Gusty apparently hogged all the brain cells in utero, in lieu athletism and looks. James would make a great mouser if he was a barn kitty: he has powerful reflexes, energy to burn, is very restless and Easily bored. When his brother is 99% content of the time, eating, sleeping, playing, cuddling….James HAS TO be getting into something. He’s been twice as difficult to train as Gusty, mainly because he’s got the attention span of a gnat.

So when i noticed he had a perchant for picking up the little mouse toys i bought him, and enjoying chasing them, i decided it would be a short step to teach him to “fetch”: i.e.. I ‘d throw a mouse, he’d chase after it & return it to where i was sitting, he’d get the entertainment he wanted, i could get work done at the computer & play with him at the same time…

It took weeks. He was more difficult to teach than any animal i’d ever worked with (& i’ve trained a few animals in my day). When i thought he’d caught on, the next day he’d completely forgotten everything we worked on. Finally, after much praise, coaxing, reward and encouragement, he learned the routine… “At Last!” I thought…..

....and then he’d forget once again. He’d go after the tossed item, pick it up, then drop it once i called him over. I continued working with him, tho, and finally finally Finally! he learned.

Now the problem is, he wont leave me alone… He bugs me ALL the time to play. I cant sit down at the computer without him bringing me a toy to toss & fetch. He’s so happy doing, i really hate refusing his sweet innocent face. But then i rarely get anything done on the computer (like writing 43T entries) [he’s sleeping at the moment -Whew!]
;D

The photo is one of the few i caught of him returning with his “prey” (usually when i pick up the camera, he’s instantly distracted & drops whatever). Tho his Real favorite is a frayed red mouse…i know he’s really serious about wanting to play when he brings That One to my feet…..

:D 6 years ago

We have two cats, Cody and Frisco. Frisco is the most likely candidate (Cody is much too sensible).

A previous cat we had, Ben, used to fetch the plastic tops from inhalers. Just the right size to grab in a cat’s mouth.

I feel a project coming on :-) 6 years ago