[A/S] Traveling Cats

[Terry Tyler <tylerbears@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Gang,

Below are several posts I've written about our cats during the last few 
years. We've traveled with cats all over North America in our 
Airstreams. They are strictly indoor cats. Their shots are always up to 
date.

Each cat has its own traveling crate which sits high enough in our Van 
so they can see out windows. Both crates are medium size (for dogs), 
thus there is sufficient space for them plus a small cat's pan and 
water dish. We use several layers of newspaper on the floor of each 
crate. The crates are used only for traveling.

We keep a roll of towel paper and plastic grocery bags handy for the 
occasional upchuck on winding bumpy roads. Both cats willingly go into 
their crate when I open the doors and usually sleep while we're 
traveling.

When we stop for a snack inside the Airstream, they come inside with us 
and have their snack, too.

Below are four old posts from years past and one new post I've been 
writing but hadn't posted until today,

Terry

------------

1 - Here's the latest update of our continuing saga about mice, our two 
cats (mother and son) and our '67 22' Airstream Safari.

While at the Mt. Washington Rally in North Conway, NH, we were visited 
by a
mouse at dawn on Saturday. Our two cats tipped us off to her presence 
with
their intensive staring (instead of their usual purring in anticipation 
of
getting breakfast). Then, we heard the scratching sound of a mouse as 
she
found an opening under the dinette and entered the room.

As I swung my feet out of bed, I disturbed the silence our cats had been
keeping.  With the movement of my feet, the mouse moved, the cats 
pounced across my feet, the mouse bolted over my bare feet and serious 
chasing began. Back and forth the three of them raced. My feet were in 
their way. The mouse was agile, quick and lucky enough to find her 
small opening under our dinette before either cat could catch her.  Had 
my feet not interfered, I'm sure the mouse would have been no more.

Afterwards, our cats sat at attention and stared at the opening under 
the dinette for the longest time. When the mouse didn't make any noise, 
they
assumed their usual pose of sprawling out, closing their eyes and 
twitching
their ears at every sound we made. The direction their ears point tell 
us
what they are paying attention to.  They may look inattentive, but their
senses are honed sharp and their reaction times can be deadly fast.

Because this was our day to drive to the top of Mt. Washington, we left
after breakfast. When we returned by early afternoon, the cats were 
still at
attention - but facing us as we opened the door. Directly in front of 
them
was a headless mouse. Apparently, the mouse tried to run the gauntlet 
one more time.  We praised our cats profusely before I took the mouse 
out to the trash can, then we gave our cats two dishes of their 
favorite kitty treats.

Later that afternoon, someone told me a mouse could squeeze through an
opening no larger than her nose. Now, I'm back to stuffing copper scrub 
wool into nooks and crannies. There are two places along the frame rail 
where the belly pan touches the axle housing. That's where a 1/4 inch 
wide gap exists.  Maybe this is where our mouse found her opening.  
It's blocked now.

------------------------

2 - Our Baja Buddies turned one of their twin beds into a sewing 
machine storage area that could be easily folded out and ready for use. 
They converted the other twin into a 3/4 double. They copied the 
general idea from our '86 and it's both beautiful and practical. They 
even made a hideaway spot for their cat so she could have a dark corner 
for snoozing.

---------------------

3 - IMHO, spray insulation has other benefits that aren't so evident.

One year we had a battalion (?) of mice try to set up house keeping in 
our
Airstream. Our cats had a ball every night for awhile.  Once I realized
where the mouse front door was located (under the Airstream), I used 
spray insulation to close it down.  Ants can't even get in that spot 
today.

Not only do we no longer have unexpected late night visitors, we now 
sleep
soundly all night. Our cats no longer do what they do best which 
includes leaving headless offerings beside our bed.  Yuk! Nevertheless, 
we encouraged them with "treats" each morning.

Lately, they've been getting treats for other things, i.e. rolling over 
to
our hand signal, using their special scratching post (carpet wrapped 
around
the table leg), coming when called (still working on that),  watching TV
when cats are the movie stars, etc., etc.

---------------------------------

4 - This morning when I went into the bathroom to shave, my left foot 
stepped on wet carpet. Gads, that wasn't my favorite way to start the 
day.

First things first. Unroll a yard of towel paper, sop up the water and 
get
the area dry. It took nearly an entire roll of paper.

What caused the wetness? I looked toward the living room and asked our 
cats which one of them left me a present. Neither paid any attention to 
me (no signs of guilt), so I gave the towel paper a quick sniff test 
(still not one
of my favorite ways to start the day). Smelled like ordinary water with 
a
carpet fragrance. What did I expect?

Next came the flashlight and dry paper towel inspection of all plumbing 
in
the bathroom followed by turning on and off each faucet while looking 
for
even the slightest sign of wetness. None of the faucets were wet, none 
of
the water lines under the faucets were wet, the toilet pedal wasn't wet 
nor
was there wetness on any surface anywhere near any of the plumbing 
lines.

Next came an inspection of the shower plumbing (with a mirror and 
flashlight I can see the plumbing in back of the cabinet). With fingers 
feeling around behind the cabinet I felt for dampness. None was found.

Both cats were still snoozing. By chance I touched the area where I'd 
just
dried and it was sopping wet. Right about then Sandie mentioned the 
trailer seemed low at the back and asked me to check it after I 
finished shaving.

Bingo! I knew the source of the water. It's funny how a simple comment 
can
right the bells. Sure enough, one of our spare gallons of distilled 
water was empty. I had stored it on the floor forward of the bathroom 
along with several cans of soup.

The rubbing of cans against the side of a plastic gallon jug had worn a 
small hole in the jug, it drained toward the back of the trailer and 
pooled in front of the bathroom sink.

A half hour later with another roll of towel paper and more wiping up 
of wet distilled water and we were dry (well almost - somewhat?).  A 
few more days of sunny weather like today with all windows open should 
do it.

Once burned -- I've learned,

-------------

TRAINING OUR CATS OR CATS TRAINING US
mailto:tylerbears@mindspring.com\
10/27/2005

Some cat owners say cats can be trained while other cat owners say cats 
train them. There is no doubt some form of non-verbal communication 
occurs.  For example:

1 - One of our male cats clued me into using food for training. Each 
morning when Sandie and I went to the kitchen for breakfast, he would 
follow us and meow as though asking for "his breakfast," too.  To keep 
him happy, I'd  put a few pieces of his dry food in a dish and lower it 
to his tray on the floor.

One morning, I noticed him watching the dish closely and following it 
with his eyes as I moved it from the counter to the floor. No matter 
which way I moved the dish in the air above him, he watched it and 
pranced around directly beneath the dish.  Ahaa!! says me. I'll train 
him to walk in circles when he wants food.

Using the learning principle of "Immediate knowledge of results is more 
effective than delayed knowledge of results," I decided to see if I 
could teach him to walk in circles when he wanted food.

The next morning, after putting food in his dish but before putting it 
on the floor, I moved the dish in circles over his head. As soon as he 
began to walk in complete circles beneath his dish, I put his dish 
down. This went on for a few weeks with the number of circles 
increasing to three before his food was put down. Was successful 
learning achieved? Now to find out if he could communicate with me.

One afternoon while in the kitchen, I noticed him sitting in front of 
the refrigerator door. When I looked over at him, he looked back and 
meowed. Then, he surprised me by walking in three circles, stopping, 
looking up at me and meowing.

I looked over at his two dishes on the floor (one for water and one for 
dry food) and saw both were empty. Who had trained whom?

2 - We now have two orange tigers (mother and son). Every morning at 
breakfast time,  the son (Rusty) trots ahead of me (not behind me) to 
the kitchen while simultaneously looking over his shoulder to make sure 
I'm following closely. He knows there's a small can of tasty moist cat 
food in the refrigerator. He knows I'll scoop out 1/2 teaspoonful of 
food into his and his mother's dish and put them on the floor - one on 
the right and one of the left of their automatic water dish. This 
routine occurred daily for several months .... until ....

One morning before giving them their "breakfast treats" I made coffee 
for Sandie and me first. Where was Rusty? He was sitting on a small 
step stool under the kitchen counter. Ahhaa! thought me, I'll train him 
to sit on the stool when he wants his breakfast treat. While he sat on 
the stool, I spooned out his food and put it down on the floor for him. 
Then I rinsed off the spoon and laid it on the counter.

The next morning, what happened? Rusty led me to the kitchen in his 
usual fashion and immediately sat on "his" step stool. I gave him his 
treat immediately. This went on for a week or so, always the same 
scenario which included me rinsing off the spoon and laying it on the 
counter.

Then, one afternoon I saw him sitting on his stool. That's odd, it's 
not breakfast time.  You're right, his dry food dish was empty. Was he 
trying to talk to me? Did I train him or did he train me?

3 - But there's more. One morning after dishing out his 1/2 tsp of 
breakfast treat, I noticed him sitting up especially tall on the stool 
and looking as though he was about to rise up on his hind feet to reach 
up and touch me with his front paw. It looked like he was trying to 
tell me something.

Ahhaa! thought me, he is already trained to sit on the stool when he 
wants his treat and now he's sitting up tall on the stool. I'll expand 
his lesson and teach him to rise up on his hind feet to lick the spoon 
(instead of me rinsing it off first) before I put his dish down.

I'll use the learning principle of "New learning that's related to what 
has just been learned is more effective than new learning that's 
unrelated to what has just been learned" or some such wording to that 
effect.

The following morning, instead of rinsing off the spoon and laying it 
on the counter, I lowered it toward his furry face but kept it slightly 
higher than his head. True to form, he sat up on his haunches and 
licked the spoon. When I put the dish down, the old routine continued.

This went on for a few days with me lowering the spoon less and less 
until he had to rise higher and higher on his hind feet to reach and 
lick the spoon. This is now part of his daily morning routine at our 
house or in our Airstream. I realize this training is nothing 
spectacular. Regardless of who trains whom, it is an enjoyable part of 
each morning's routine.

4 - Recently while sitting on our couch in the living room, we noticed 
him rolling over several times and then looking up at us quizically (if 
such a thing is possible).  Maybe we can do something with that 
behavior ...  in future training sessions .....  maybe we'll try to 
teach him to .........

For us, cats are fun; they learn easily and their affectionate nature 
is a real pleasure for both Sandie and me. Fortunately, we've never had 
a skitterish cat. All of them have been friendly and approachable as 
anyone who has come into our Airstream knows.

Over the years, we've also had Shelties and trained them for 
competition. Our daughter even won a silver goblet for the "Best 
Trained Dog" at a local competition. Right now, we have cats. Who knows 
what the future may hold?

Terry
10/27/05