This is about cats trained to do tricks. It is simply about training cats.
People will see this as amusing and fun. It certainly is for many people. Certainly the trainer finds the task stimulating. She has wanted to be an animal trainer all her life it seems and does a excellent job. Of course she does it for herself. The reason why she trains cats to perform circus-like tricks is to occupy herself and make some money.
I don’t want to be critical but it is nice to ask what the cats might get out of this. Do we think that the cats enjoy it or don’t they mind one way or the other?
Although, personally, I don’t like to see cats being trained like this for entertainment, that does not mean it is necessarily a bad thing. We all have personal views on these things.
As long as the cats are well cared for and as long as the stunts they are trained to do don’t result in the odd injury, it would seem to be OK. The trouble I have is that we can’t find out if a cat likes doing it or not. We have to assume the cat is OK with this. He may not be. Then there is the travelling. I am sure Martin travels a lot to get to venues. Cats aren’t normally very fond of travelling.
Although, if I am honest, I don’t find much particularly entertaining in it. This is probably because I am thinking about the cats and their welfare.
One thing for sure; Acro-Cats tells us is that cats are very trainable. Some people think they aren’t. Samantha Martin has trained 14 cats to do stunts including playing in a rock band. It took her many months. She employed clicker training, which is a reward based training. The clicker is a tool which helps to link reward with doing the task well. It is more precise and fast compared to simply handing a food treat to the cat after completing the task. All clicker training is food reward based. It is what motivates cats and dogs.
Through observing her cats Martin selected certain cats to do certain tricks as cats have tastes and preferences just like people. For example she says:
“Some cats like to be high up. Others like to be on the ground…..”
I thought it was horrible, it was, to me, like one of those grotesque Victorian circuses that featured freaks. I just don’t like, or agree with, cats being used in this way (or any animal but this discussion is about cats)as for men, the one I had was quite domesticated and only needed a bit of fine tuning when I took him on 😉
Excellent unbelievable video where the cats perform tricks akin to normal dogs.The Russians were the first to start a commercial circus of performing cats which is still a huge success in the country.This breaks the myth that cats are untrainable for performing tricks on human commands.
Good points Cass. Thanks for your input. I think the difficulty that some people have with training pets compared to training people is that animals are vulnerable and essentially they have little in the way of rights. This lends itself to exploitation. I am sure cats don’t mind doing the tricks but it would be nice if we able to get consent.
Interesting… cats get to be cats….its pretty much the same here in the States, at least at my house and those of my friends… but there is always going to be someone in every country that exploits an animal. Go to Thailand and see how they react to someone bringing a baby elephant to a party – outrage!! violence!!…. yet they think nothing of letting their cats starve or fend for themselves.
At least these “entertainment” cats are being taken care of.
Ever been to a professional cat show?? Those babies are fairly catered to but there’s always a few show cats that violently hate the indignity of being manhandled and put on human money-making and glory seeking display.
We’re all entitled to our opinions, thankfully.
I am of the same opinion as you. I wonder if people who accept and like cats being trained would approve of a person training a mentally disabled person or vulnerable young person to do tricks. Ultimately it is about seeing cats as lesser creatures.
LOL. We are not going to get into men vs women debate 😉 It would never end.