It’s actually incorrect to say that cats do not obey commands although in comparison to dogs they are less ready to do so. I think that’s a better way of putting it. And the reason is because dogs are descended from gray wolves and gray wolves are pack animals and pack animals look to their alpha leader for leadership and therefore, they receive instructions and comply with the instructions in the interests of pack survival and therefore the survival of individual members.
Conversely, cats are essentially solitary creatures as inherited from their wild cat ancestor and therefore it is not in their DNA to seek leadership and receive commands from their leader.
That said, 10,000 years of domestication has dramatically modified the inherited traits of the domestic cat. They’ve become social animals and far less solitary.
They have great connections with good cat caregivers and under these circumstances they will follow commands from their caregiver. In fact, there are many instances of cats being trained to perform tricks or do all kinds of things.
The basic command is a call to bring her into the home. Cats often do this. Or you might call them over for breakfast and they come. Or you can request that they come onto your lap or sleep by your side. They will do that. It doesn’t require any particular training just a routine and a consistent method.
I call my cat over and tap my leg, side or the bed in a rhythmical way. He then knows that that tapping sound is a request to come. It’s a bit like using a clicker to facilitate training a cat. The clicker acts a bridge between the command and the reward. It is positive reinforcement training as all training ultimately is.
In fact, cat caregivers will have to admit that if you live in a close relationship with a domestic cat there is mutual training going on all the time. Some even say that cats are more effective at training their humans and vice versa. It’s true.
This sort of training is what I call ad hoc, informal training, which takes place through routines and habits. It doesn’t take formal training to get cats to do things.
However, as Bruce Dyer, states on the quora.com website, cats tend to obey commands “if and when they feel like it, especially if you and your cat are closely bonded.” Bruce is a well-known animal advocate who helped rescue animals to be transported out of Kabul when the Taliban took over.
There is a point to be made here which is that sometimes cats take a little while to process a command. What I mean is on a cognitive, purely intellectual level they may take a little while to process it and then decide to come.
And let’s be honest, cats don’t have to obey your command. In a way it’s nice that they can sometimes be selective. It means that they have their own thoughts and opinions if you like. We like our cats to be like that.
Bruce Dyer provides an example of how his cat, Peach, obeys his command. He takes Peach out on a lead for walks which is great. And his cat likes to eat leaves sometimes. Some leaves are toxic and it makes him vomit. When Bruce sees him about two bite into a leaf says that he tightens his grip on the leash and says a firm “NO!” And he won’t do it.
Bruce uses the same command to stop his cat walking onto his neighbour’s yard. It works and he stops.
And interestingly, Bruce uses a very similar form of command to me when he’s in bed. He says this: “If I want Peach to get up on my bed, I simply tap the sheets and up he comes.”
And he will ask Peach if he wants to go for a walk. I think he uses an ordinary English question but because of the circumstances and of the routines that they have, Peach understands the question and if he wants to go for a walk he heads to the back door where Bruce keeps his leash and harness! That is how it works.
Don’t believe the news media when they say that cats don’t take commands. It’s untrue. Cats are trainable but you will need a little bit more patience compared to training a dog.
There is not a lot of difference between cats and dogs in terms of intelligence. Dogs can be better at certain tasks and far more studies are conducted with dogs than cats because they are more manageable. Dogs are almost always trained as it is the convention but cats are trainable.
Yes, the article was written for newcomers to cat ownership or those who are observers of pet behavior. A lot of people still believe that cats are solitary and don’t accept commands. They are incorrect.
Cats can. Most cat owners just don’t bother to work with their cat like we do our dogs. We have all seen trained cats on youtube. We cat owners prefer to leave our cats as the are. Many of my cats come when I call but only because they are hoping for a treat but when they see I don’t have one they walk away and ignore me, lol.
Cats Rule Dogs Drool.