In my recent article, indoor cat or born to be wild, I discussed the growing trend for people to keep cats permanently indoors, and examined the justifications for doing so. Although I didn’t reach a firm conclusion for myself as to whether or not I would ever consider keeping an indoor cat, I did come to appreciate the reasons others do and, if you do, then I can also see huge justification for teaching the cat to walk on a leash so that you can safely explore a little of the outside world together too.

After some research I found this very comprehensive and seemingly practical guide on how to go about successfully training your cat to walk on a leash: Leash training your cat

The article makes what seems to me to be a very valid point about taking your time and showing endless patience – with a timely reminder that if you do enter into a battle of wills with any cat, you are almost certainly going to lose… I think maybe my dog has definitely got some cat in him somewhere!

It also makes a very good case for using a harness or a walking jacket rather than a collar to ensure your cat is not being pulled around the throat. We have come up with a couple of options for you to consider:

If you do decide to train your cat to go walkies, or you already have a cat who puts Fido to shame on the leash, please get in touch and tell us your stories.

Lungworm

Lungworm can also affect cats. Visit the link below for further information:

Feline Lungworm

I find it fascinating that this also goes on in many other areas of life, including dog training. For some years now, dog training has been ‘dominated’ – and I use the word deliberately – by the belief that you, your family and your dog must become a pack (just like a pack of wolves in the wild) and that, as pack leader, you must ensure your dog knows his place. Dogs, we have been told, need a leader and, if you are not up to the job, they will instinctively step in and take on the roll themselves. Since a dog does not fully understand the complexities of the human world, the role is impossible for him and he becomes unbalanced as a result.

More recently, however, we hear that modern day behavioural science has discovered wolves actually live in harmonious family groups and that your dog does not need to be ‘dominated’ by you in order to know his place. Modern dog training is all about positive reinforcement of good behaviour and withdrawal of attention for bad behaviour – on the premise that a dog craves human attention and will quickly learn that bad behaviour results in loss of that attention.

I was speaking with an elderly person recently who told me he had trouble understanding any of the current training practices and that, in his day, a dog was rewarded for being good and punished for being bad – what he described as the carrot and stick approach. Did this mean that he ever physically hurt a dog? Well, no, not really, although he admitted to me that he had been known to shout at his dog on occasion. Once, he had even tapped his dog on the nose when it tried to sniff an electric socket.

To many reading this, shouting and smacking will sound old-fashioned and cruel, and I am certainly not advocating these methods – although I suppose some people might say that a tap on the nose would be preferable to an electric shock…

Obviously, it’s great that modern behavioural science is teaching us more about dog psychology than we knew before and we should definitely take advantage of this wherever practical. Maybe it’s true, for example, that if we let our dog go out the door before us, he won’t immediately assume he’s the boss. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good idea because there might be a cat sitting on the path that he will chase into the road.

So, what I once discovered about system design methods also seems to be true for other methods too. None of them are totally correct or totally wrong. All have their good points and their bad points. What does seem crazy is to allow ourselves to be convinced by the ‘spin doctors’ that because someone has come up with something new, everything that has gone before is wrong and should be discarded. This is what my elderly friend would call ‘throwing the baby out with the bath water’ and it makes no sense at all. Never forget these new ideas are worth a lot of money to the people pushing them and that means they will go to great lengths to discredit the competition!

It seems to me that, no matter what you choose to call it, in the end dog training mostly comes down to motivation. When you are at home with your dog and there is nothing else going on, it should be fairly simple to convince him that putting his backside on the floor when you say ‘sit’ results in him getting patted/praised /given a treat. Positive reinforcement. The difficulty comes when you are in the park with six other dogs racing around and a squirrel is running up a nearby tree and you say ‘come’ and expect your dog to return to you. The positive reinforcement that worked at home is now far less motivating than everything else that is going on, and your dog is also now so excited that he isn’t listening to you anyway.

Maybe, if positive reinforcement isn’t working, you could still follow the latest practices and resort to withdrawal of attention by walking away. In fact, chances are, eventually, your dog will follow you if you do this because he will be motivated not to lose sight of his family/pack/best friend or whatever label you want to use. However, what if, while ignoring your recall, he also happens to spot something on the far side of the park – and on the other side of a busy road – and rushes off to investigate that instead?

So, where does that leave us poor, confused dog owners? Ultimately, I need to know that when I ask my dog to do something, he will respond. Ideally, I would like to think he will do it out of respect or trust or love but, realistically, I know he will only do it when he is more motivated to do it than not. The elusive trick is, how to achieve that positive motivation, no matter what the level of distraction and, when someone comes up with a training method which guarantees that, maybe it really will be time to throw the baby out with the bath water…

Adult cat's teeth

Kittens have 26 teeth which break through their gums at between 2 and 4 weeks of age.

At around three to four months old, 30 teeth (12 less than dogs) adult teeth start to come through, replacing the ‘temporary’ kitten teeth; 16 on the top and 14 on the bottom.

When I wrote my dogs’ teeth article, I said that I was shocked at first by the amount of blood there appeared to be when my puppy was teething, however with cats I found this to be quite the opposite. We have two cats which we’ve had from kittens, and I never noticed any blood when they were teething.

Also, unlike dogs, kittens don’t tend to chew or drool when teething, although their appetite can be affected. However, there are a number of products on the market to help sooth kittens’ teeth during this time. See our link to the Amazon pet shop for details on a number of teething products available: Teething Toys for Cats

Once those adult teeth have come through, similarly to people, cats can suffer from a number of issues with their teeth, such as retained baby teeth, gingivitis and tooth decay so it is important to regularly check your pets’ mouth. Shockingly, studies show that around 70% of cats start to show signs of gum disease by the age of three, so it is just as important that owners look after their cats teeth like they would their own, and many vets recommend getting cats used to having their teeth brushed from a very early age. Similarly to dogs, there are also a number of dental products available on the market to help maintain healthy teeth, and of course feeding a mostly dry diet will also help (always ensure that plenty of fresh drinking water is available at all times).

Did you know …? That the first symptom of a cat having a fractured upper canine tooth may be sneezing?

Did you know …? That symptoms of gum disease include yellow and brown build-up of tartar along the gum line, red inflamed gums, and persistent bad breath.

The only time my GSD has ever had a full bath was about 5 years ago, when we first brought him home as a puppy and he stank of the stable he had been living in with his brothers and sisters. Most of him has been washed down from time to time since then, especially around his head and neck after he has rolled in something that he thinks smells great but that we are not so convinced about, and he swims a lot, but bathing with shampoo – no.

Of course, he gets brushed most days especially if he has picked up a lot of mud – he will happily wallow in any mud puddle available if he thinks he can get away with it. He also needs frequent brushing when he is shedding, and a full grooming session can take a long time, but it does get the dirt out and keep his coat matt-free and fresh-smelling.

So, before you next lather up, ask yourself if your dog really needs a bath or if you are just doing it to make him smell nicer to you, a smell that may well be unbearably overpowering to him, with his much more sensitive nose.

If you do want or need to bath your dog, however, here are some guidelines.

Never use a shampoo designed for humans, as the detergents are often too harsh for a dog’s skin. Many pet shampoos also help rid your dog of fleas and ticks as well, which could be useful, although do remember that they can also contain toxins that might make your dog sick.

Use warm water, but make sure it is not too hot. Some dogs are afraid of a hose, and may prefer to be washed in a large tub. Right now in Berkshire and many other counties, a hose is not an option anyway due to the drought. However, you can still use a small bucket or watering can to pour water over his back to rinse the soap off.

Rub gently to avoid irritating the skin and make sure you remove all traces of shampoo thoroughly. Leave his head until last and be very careful not to get soap in his eyes.

As soon as you are finished, quickly wrap him in a large towel to stop you getting drenched when he shakes! Some dogs are happy to be dried with a blow dryer, while others hate it. If you do use one, be careful not to burn his skin with the hot air.

If you have any amusing stories about bathing your dog, or any tips for keeping your dog smelling fresh and clean, please do send them in.

There are an estimated 2 million plus strays and feral cats in the UK, although the true figure may be much higher. Feral cats live and roam in both towns and countryside, although feral colonies in towns are more likely to be found in factories, hospitals, derelict ground and around hotels rather than in areas of high housing. The cats usually have a communal meeting area such as a patch of open ground and these areas are non-territorial and are sometimes also a place where food can be found. However, in most towns and cities, there is a far higher population of feral cats than the available food will support so, if it were not for kindly humans who often regularly feed feral cat colonies, the cats would find food very scarce. Sadly, the average lifespan of feral cats is only a few years as most succumb at an early age to disease, exposure to the elements and/or a lack of food.

To what degree a feral cat is truly wild depends on several factors. Young kittens are more likely to accept being socialised and successfully re-introduced to domestic life than a feral adult, especially if the kittens are born to a mother who was herself formerly domesticated. The extent of daily human contact also plays an important role in determining how wild a cat will be. If the cats have regular interaction with people, such as in a community garden, they will tend to be more approachable than if they live in a derelict property where people rarely venture. It’s important to recognise, however, that if a cat is truly feral, then the kindest choice might be to allow it to continue to live outdoors. Trying to domesticate a feral cat, however well-meaning, is a bit like trying to domesticate a fox or a squirrel, and can often result in removing the cat from the only life it knows and understands in order to force it to live in constant fear and confusion.

For many years people have sought to rid themselves of feral cat colonies by trapping and destroying the cats. More recently, however, it has been realised that control through an understanding of the feral cat’s way of life is a more acceptable solution. If, instead of trapping and killing the cats, a proportion of them are neutered, vaccinated and then returned to the colony, the size of that colony is controlled without the need to destroy all the cats. Here in Berkshire, one charity, C.L.A.W.S. is taking an unusual approach in re-homing complete feral cat colonies with humans that run small-holdings, catteries, kennels etc and can take advantage of the benefits of having their feed stores protected from mice and rats in return for providing a safe haven and regular meals for the cats. If this is something you would be interested in participating in, why not check out their website for further details? C.L.A.W.S feral cats