Lost Cat Returns After 8 Years!
Lost cat returns after 8 years; found 165 km away! Only 10 % of lost cats get returned to their owners (compared to 60% of dogs) so please microchip, tattoo and put id tags and collars on your cats. Why do you need a kennel or crate for every pet no matter how well behaved? Are cats smarter than dogs? Can cats learn tricks? See a rescue kitten bottle feed on YouTube and watch Deb Wolfe’s cat and dog training videos at DebWolfe-PetExpert on YouTube. If your cat is aloof, he’s given up on paying attention to you, and if your cat ( or dog) is destructive It is probably something you taught him! Deborah can help!
Please send your voice clip or typed cat and dog questions to deb@petliferadio.com and you’ll get your pet answers on a future show.
Listen to Episode #191 Now:
Transcript:
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Announcer: This is Pet Life Radio.
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Announcer: Let's talk pets.
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Deborah Wolfe: Hello, you're listening to Animal Party on Pet Life Radio with me, your host, Deborah Wolfe.
00:00:21.265 --> 00:00:24.025
Deborah Wolfe: And today we're gonna talk about dogs and cats.
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Deborah Wolfe: Of course we are, the usual.
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Deborah Wolfe: And a few other animals too, including, gonna start with this, a very rare shark was spotted and videoed, and there's footage of it swimming around, right near here, near Vancouver, off Vancouver Island, near Salt Spring Island.
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Deborah Wolfe: And it's called a basking shark.
00:00:45.525 --> 00:00:49.385
Deborah Wolfe: And they were interviewing all these scientists on the news, and they were so excited.
00:00:49.385 --> 00:00:57.065
Deborah Wolfe: These guys are saying it's like seeing Sasquatch or a unicorn to them, because there used to be hundreds and hundreds of these sharks.
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Deborah Wolfe: And now there's only about 100 left in the world, they think.
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Deborah Wolfe: And this thing is huge.
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Deborah Wolfe: The average is about 26 feet.
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Deborah Wolfe: They normally grow to 26 feet long.
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Deborah Wolfe: And they have a big giant open mouth that never closes.
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Deborah Wolfe: So, they just kind of swim through the water, and everything goes in their mouth, and the plankton is what they eat.
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Deborah Wolfe: So, they're not a threat to people.
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Deborah Wolfe: But this lady, she's out on a boat kayaking, of course, you know, couldn't be a big boat, small boat.
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Deborah Wolfe: Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun.
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Deborah Wolfe: And she spots this thing floating in the water, enormous shark.
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Deborah Wolfe: So, it's pretty exciting.
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Deborah Wolfe: And they've got the footage, and it just shows you that if you stop hunting a species to extinction and stop killing it, mistakenly thinking it's competing for your fish, if you stop doing all that, maybe, eventually, they can come back.
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Deborah Wolfe: So, it's pretty exciting for people around here.
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Deborah Wolfe: So, I wanted to start with that good news story.
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Deborah Wolfe: And there's also some panda bears now at the San Diego Zoo.
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Deborah Wolfe: First time in over 20 years that there's pandas in America from China.
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Deborah Wolfe: So, that's pretty exciting stuff.
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Deborah Wolfe: And in a few days, the public will be able to meet them, but they've given the press a little look ahead, a sneak peek, and it's a boy and girl panda, and they look absolutely content.
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Deborah Wolfe: So, good news on that score too.
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Deborah Wolfe: All right, now we're going to dig into some cat and dog facts and information.
00:02:24.245 --> 00:02:33.485
Deborah Wolfe: And I told you a little while ago about a cat called Indy, who's now 13 years old and went missing eight years ago.
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Deborah Wolfe: Eight years ago.
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Deborah Wolfe: I mean, if you lost your cat, you go out looking, you call its name, you post on Facebook, you call the vets, you hope that if you're lucky enough to have a microchip or a tag on it or an ID tattoo, you hope that someone will find it.
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Deborah Wolfe: You hope a coyote didn't get it.
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Deborah Wolfe: You hope it didn't go missing.
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Deborah Wolfe: You hope it didn't get hit by a gar.
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Deborah Wolfe: You hope someone didn't just grab it and keep it forever.
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Deborah Wolfe: You hope all that stuff.
00:02:58.285 --> 00:03:01.345
Deborah Wolfe: But at some point, you start to give up, right?
00:03:02.165 --> 00:03:04.765
Deborah Wolfe: Well, Sonar had given up.
00:03:04.765 --> 00:03:15.725
Deborah Wolfe: And then Indy, the 13-year-old cat, shows up at a vet clinic where they, you know, someone found Indy and brought him and brought Indy the girl cat to a vet clinic.
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Deborah Wolfe: And they checked her out and she had a chip.
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Deborah Wolfe: So they were able to find the owner.
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Deborah Wolfe: Eight years later, he's reunited with his cat.
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Deborah Wolfe: So the cat had been friendly and cared for probably the whole time, had no evidence of being stray or on the loose, which is lucky.
00:03:34.145 --> 00:03:56.225
Deborah Wolfe: But obviously, if it ended up escaping and then being found at least once and then escaping and being found a second time, there was much opportunity for things to go very wrong for this little cat in the world, especially cars that, you know, and it went missing in a city and it showed up in a different city, 165 kilometers away.
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Deborah Wolfe: So that's a lot of travel for a cat and extremely dangerous.
00:04:02.505 --> 00:04:08.185
Deborah Wolfe: So I just wanted to point out this is a really happy ending, and it's only a happy ending because of the microchip.
00:04:08.185 --> 00:04:10.805
Deborah Wolfe: Otherwise, this guy never would have got his cat back.
00:04:10.805 --> 00:04:16.285
Deborah Wolfe: So the cat had a nickname prior to its big journey eight years ago.
00:04:16.285 --> 00:04:17.965
Deborah Wolfe: The nickname was Houdini.
00:04:17.965 --> 00:04:22.445
Deborah Wolfe: So I think they had some idea that this cat might escape.
00:04:22.445 --> 00:04:29.965
Deborah Wolfe: And if you have a cat like that, you definitely want to microchip it and ear tattoo it because not everybody has a microchip reader.
00:04:29.965 --> 00:04:35.505
Deborah Wolfe: And you also probably want to have a collar on it, teach to wear collar with tags.
00:04:35.505 --> 00:04:38.265
Deborah Wolfe: And then you might even put a GPS tracker on it.
00:04:38.265 --> 00:04:39.485
Deborah Wolfe: They're tiny.
00:04:39.485 --> 00:04:41.145
Deborah Wolfe: Just stick it on the collar.
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Deborah Wolfe: No big deal.
00:04:42.345 --> 00:04:44.185
Deborah Wolfe: There's a lot of ways you can keep your cat safe.
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Deborah Wolfe: But what we don't want to do is have our pet cats escape and become feral cats, outside cats, with a shorter lifespan and all the risks that go with that.
00:04:55.945 --> 00:05:03.305
Deborah Wolfe: So when cats go missing, only 10 percent are found and reunited with their owners.
00:05:03.305 --> 00:05:05.305
Deborah Wolfe: That's a terrible number.
00:05:05.305 --> 00:05:07.805
Deborah Wolfe: Dogs do way better, 60 percent.
00:05:07.805 --> 00:05:10.725
Deborah Wolfe: Part of it is that people can't tell one cat from the other.
00:05:10.725 --> 00:05:11.565
Deborah Wolfe: I understand this.
00:05:11.565 --> 00:05:17.665
Deborah Wolfe: Especially if you look at black and white photos of a black cat, very hard to tell if that's your cat.
00:05:17.665 --> 00:05:19.585
Deborah Wolfe: So you want to have a lot of photos for sure.
00:05:20.085 --> 00:05:23.465
Deborah Wolfe: But also, more importantly, ID, ID, ID.
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Deborah Wolfe: Tag those animals, get them, so anyone will recognize their own and return them to you.
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Deborah Wolfe: Okay, we're going to go to break and come back, talk a little bit more about cats and dogs, as we do on the Animal Party on Pet Life Radio.
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Deborah Wolfe: Stay tuned.
00:05:40.605 --> 00:05:45.145
Deborah Wolfe: This is Deborah Wolfe, host of Animal Party on Pet Life Radio.
00:05:45.145 --> 00:05:48.205
Deborah Wolfe: You know the expression, cats have nine lives?
00:05:48.205 --> 00:05:50.525
Deborah Wolfe: Well, what if you can give them one more?
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Deborah Wolfe: The Give Them Ten Movement is on a mission to help give cats an extra life.
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Deborah Wolfe: How?
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Deborah Wolfe: With spay and neuter.
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Deborah Wolfe: Spaying or neutering your cat helps them live a longer, healthier life, and it helps control free-roaming cat populations too.
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Deborah Wolfe: Learn more about the benefits of spay and neuter and meet Scooter, the neutered cat, at givethemten.org.
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Announcer: Let's talk pets on petliferadio.com.
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Deborah Wolfe: Hello, you're back on Animal Party Pet Life Radio.
00:06:37.686 --> 00:06:42.326
Deborah Wolfe: And for those of you regular listeners, you may notice my voice is very low today.
00:06:42.326 --> 00:06:46.326
Deborah Wolfe: That is because we have smoke warnings over here.
00:06:46.326 --> 00:06:50.946
Deborah Wolfe: Our area is really suffering from wildfires.
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Deborah Wolfe: And right around where I live, there's no fires, but the smoke is blowing this way, and it's in the air, and it's affecting everybody.
00:06:57.746 --> 00:07:02.006
Deborah Wolfe: And it's kind of a good reminder that every pet you have needs a carrier.
00:07:02.546 --> 00:07:08.626
Deborah Wolfe: It doesn't matter that your puppy is already house trained or your cat doesn't need it except to go to the vet.
00:07:08.626 --> 00:07:11.946
Deborah Wolfe: You need a carrier for every animal you've got.
00:07:11.946 --> 00:07:16.306
Deborah Wolfe: You might have three cats, and the likelihood of all three of them needing the vet the same day isn't that great.
00:07:16.306 --> 00:07:18.386
Deborah Wolfe: So you might have only one carrier.
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Deborah Wolfe: Okay, sounds good for the vet trip, but not for an emergency, not for an evacuation, not for when like some of the people just north of Hope had 15 minutes to pack up whatever they had and get out because the fire's on its way.
00:07:34.726 --> 00:07:36.786
Deborah Wolfe: And when the fire's on its way, there's no fooling around.
00:07:36.786 --> 00:07:37.986
Deborah Wolfe: You don't know what's going to happen.
00:07:37.986 --> 00:07:40.546
Deborah Wolfe: The winds can change, it can shift, it can jump.
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Deborah Wolfe: You got to get out of there.
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Deborah Wolfe: You got to grab your pets.
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Deborah Wolfe: So what do you do?
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Deborah Wolfe: Do you throw cats into a loose car?
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Deborah Wolfe: Really?
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Deborah Wolfe: And then you can't open the windows at all ever and you can shut the door, shut the door.
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Deborah Wolfe: No, that's not the way to go.
00:07:52.826 --> 00:07:56.026
Deborah Wolfe: Besides which, where are you going with these loose cats?
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Deborah Wolfe: Even a calm, well-trained, easy cat is going to be panicking in a situation like this.
00:08:01.946 --> 00:08:07.966
Deborah Wolfe: There's smoke in the air and people panicking all around and unfamiliar, loud noises.
00:08:07.966 --> 00:08:10.026
Deborah Wolfe: Most cats aren't used to car rides.
00:08:10.026 --> 00:08:13.746
Deborah Wolfe: And on top of everything else, you're stressed, like really stressed.
00:08:13.746 --> 00:08:16.006
Deborah Wolfe: So you need your cat in a carrier.
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Deborah Wolfe: You just do.
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Deborah Wolfe: Okay, so dogs, what if you got a bunch of dogs in a minivan?
00:08:20.826 --> 00:08:23.686
Deborah Wolfe: You don't need to put them in the carriers in the minivan.
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Deborah Wolfe: If they all love the car and they all have microchips and tags and they all are wearing collars and they're all trained to come when called, and you got a leash for every single one of them and they're wearing it, then you're okay.
00:08:35.926 --> 00:08:38.026
Deborah Wolfe: But you need the crates anyway.
00:08:38.026 --> 00:08:39.606
Deborah Wolfe: You need the crates with you.
00:08:39.606 --> 00:08:46.466
Deborah Wolfe: Now, lucky for us, they designed them so well that you pull the door off and they snap apart, and you can stack them all.
00:08:46.466 --> 00:08:49.146
Deborah Wolfe: So you basically just have an empty box, right?
00:08:49.146 --> 00:08:59.686
Deborah Wolfe: You can put them all together and have an empty box and fill it with whatever, dog food, water, supplies you need, first aid, medicines, vet information, proof of vaccines, whatever, all the stuff you need.
00:08:59.686 --> 00:09:01.546
Deborah Wolfe: You could use it as a storage box.
00:09:01.546 --> 00:09:07.726
Deborah Wolfe: But the thing is, when you get to wherever you're going, if you're lucky, it might be a hotel room.
00:09:07.726 --> 00:09:09.766
Deborah Wolfe: It might be, but it might not be.
00:09:09.766 --> 00:09:20.386
Deborah Wolfe: Your pets may end up in some makeshift shelter that sort of looks like the show on MASH., a big canvas tent with kennels and kennels and kennels and kennels and crates and crates and crates.
00:09:20.386 --> 00:09:23.626
Deborah Wolfe: And if you don't have one for your dog, they've got no place for him.
00:09:23.626 --> 00:09:26.886
Deborah Wolfe: If you don't have one for your cat, where's your cat going to go?
00:09:26.886 --> 00:09:28.486
Deborah Wolfe: It's just not practical.
00:09:28.486 --> 00:09:34.286
Deborah Wolfe: So everybody, please keep your kennels, keep your crates, have them handy, make sure they're working.
00:09:34.286 --> 00:09:37.486
Deborah Wolfe: You know, some of them have like the pop off screws and stuff.
00:09:37.486 --> 00:09:41.626
Deborah Wolfe: So if you don't have the screws, OK, have the zip ties to replace them.
00:09:41.786 --> 00:09:43.986
Deborah Wolfe: Be at the ready with this stuff, right?
00:09:43.986 --> 00:09:47.106
Deborah Wolfe: So you can quickly construct your crate and throw your dog in there.
00:09:47.106 --> 00:09:59.306
Deborah Wolfe: When the sirens are going and the smoke is happening and you finally make it to the shelter at the end of possibly a very long trip, and you're all thirsty and hungry and tired, if you've got kids with you, you got to take care of them.
00:09:59.306 --> 00:10:00.706
Deborah Wolfe: You need to put your dog in a kennel.
00:10:00.706 --> 00:10:02.506
Deborah Wolfe: You need to put your cat in the crate.
00:10:02.506 --> 00:10:05.206
Deborah Wolfe: So I really strongly recommend that.
00:10:05.206 --> 00:10:09.126
Deborah Wolfe: And I also recommend some basic obedience for everybody.
00:10:09.126 --> 00:10:13.246
Deborah Wolfe: The people who brag about their cat, oh, he hates everyone.
00:10:13.246 --> 00:10:14.726
Deborah Wolfe: You can't touch him.
00:10:14.726 --> 00:10:18.466
Deborah Wolfe: That cat's not going to do very well in a rescue situation.
00:10:18.466 --> 00:10:23.126
Deborah Wolfe: A stranger can't go into your house and grab him, stick him in a crate and save his life.
00:10:23.126 --> 00:10:29.586
Deborah Wolfe: Other people can't care for him while you're unavailable at a shelter or a makeshift shelter.
00:10:29.586 --> 00:10:34.826
Deborah Wolfe: So your cats and your dogs should be reasonably social, right?
00:10:34.826 --> 00:10:42.566
Deborah Wolfe: And they should be able to be touched and handled, fed, spoken to, come when called, listen, know their name.
00:10:42.566 --> 00:10:43.506
Deborah Wolfe: Cats come when called.
00:10:43.506 --> 00:10:46.366
Deborah Wolfe: I know people are probably listening saying, what's she talking about?
00:10:46.366 --> 00:10:51.786
Deborah Wolfe: Well, go to my DebWolfe-PetExpert YouTube if you want to see how to teach a cat to come when called.
00:10:51.786 --> 00:10:53.646
Deborah Wolfe: It's really quite easy.
00:10:53.646 --> 00:11:04.306
Deborah Wolfe: And I got to tell you people, when I work with cats, and I was skeptical initially all those years ago, I thought I got hired to train a cat for a cat food commercial.
00:11:04.306 --> 00:11:06.386
Deborah Wolfe: And I thought this is going to be difficult.
00:11:06.526 --> 00:11:11.066
Deborah Wolfe: The same day, I was doing dog food commercials, and I had the dogs and the cats, and everybody ready to go.
00:11:11.066 --> 00:11:15.886
Deborah Wolfe: And I thought, oh my God, I hope they do the dog commercial first, which they did.
00:11:15.886 --> 00:11:18.966
Deborah Wolfe: Got that in the can, all done, ready to go.
00:11:18.966 --> 00:11:20.926
Deborah Wolfe: And I thought, okay, here we go.
00:11:20.926 --> 00:11:26.546
Deborah Wolfe: And actually, it was quicker to teach the cats what they needed to do and do the cat commercial.
00:11:26.546 --> 00:11:29.006
Deborah Wolfe: So cats are super smart.
00:11:29.006 --> 00:11:35.606
Deborah Wolfe: They can learn just as fast as dogs, and they can learn commands just as quickly as dogs, and they can definitely come when called.
00:11:36.246 --> 00:11:41.686
Deborah Wolfe: Now, if you're sitting there listening to me right now and you're thinking, my cat is not a cat who comes when called.
00:11:41.686 --> 00:11:43.346
Deborah Wolfe: Oh yeah?
00:11:43.346 --> 00:11:57.466
Deborah Wolfe: If your cat's ever had canned food, and you turn the noise of the can opener, even a manual can opener that hardly makes any noise, if you just grab the can opener out of the can opener drawer, your cat comes when called.
00:11:57.466 --> 00:11:58.706
Deborah Wolfe: Look at him, he's right below you.
00:11:58.706 --> 00:12:02.066
Deborah Wolfe: He's sitting at your feet, wrapping around your legs.
00:12:02.066 --> 00:12:03.546
Deborah Wolfe: Cats come when called.
00:12:03.546 --> 00:12:05.646
Deborah Wolfe: So I'll probably talk about that next show.
00:12:05.646 --> 00:12:13.326
Deborah Wolfe: I'll do a little obedience thing on how to train a cat to come, and maybe shake paw, and you probably need some more serious things coming up.
00:12:13.326 --> 00:12:15.566
Deborah Wolfe: How to train your cat to use the litter box.
00:12:15.566 --> 00:12:17.926
Deborah Wolfe: How to train your cat to stay off the counter.
00:12:17.926 --> 00:12:21.566
Deborah Wolfe: There's a lot we can do with cats, but I do like the fun stuff.
00:12:21.566 --> 00:12:28.366
Deborah Wolfe: I like teaching them tricks, and I like watching people get blown away when I teach their cat a couple of simple dog tricks.
00:12:30.066 --> 00:12:40.026
Deborah Wolfe: When you teach a dog, an average dog, it might take five or six, maybe even ten repetitions before the dog truly knows the trick, and you mix it up a little.
00:12:40.026 --> 00:12:47.206
Deborah Wolfe: Once he gets it right, you reward him, and you move on to something else, and then you go back to it, and repeat, repeat, repeat until he's really got that trick.
00:12:47.206 --> 00:12:54.746
Deborah Wolfe: Well, with a Border Collie or a Doberman or a Standard Poodle, you need a few less repetitions than the rest of the dog world normally.
00:12:54.746 --> 00:12:56.886
Deborah Wolfe: Some dogs like terriers, they love tricks.
00:12:56.986 --> 00:13:00.266
Deborah Wolfe: So if you're teaching tricks, they're really fast to learn tricks.
00:13:00.266 --> 00:13:06.906
Deborah Wolfe: Well, I've yet to find a dog who learns faster than the fastest cat.
00:13:06.906 --> 00:13:10.046
Deborah Wolfe: So chew on that while we go to break, dog lovers.
00:13:10.046 --> 00:13:13.226
Deborah Wolfe: All right, stay tuned on Animal Party Pet Life Radio.
00:13:13.226 --> 00:13:14.146
Deborah Wolfe: We'll be back.
00:13:20.045 --> 00:13:22.445
Announcer: Take a bite out of your competition.
00:13:22.445 --> 00:13:27.265
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00:13:27.265 --> 00:13:34.465
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00:13:34.465 --> 00:13:41.345
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00:14:03.105 --> 00:14:07.465
Announcer: Let's Talk Pest, on Pet Life Radio.
00:14:07.465 --> 00:14:09.685
Announcer: petliferadio.com.
00:14:19.931 --> 00:14:24.811
Deborah Wolfe: Hello, you're back on Animal Party Pet Life Radio.
00:14:24.811 --> 00:14:34.291
Deborah Wolfe: And I was thinking about, when I do radio, I'm kind of isolated in an office with all my equipment.
00:14:34.291 --> 00:14:40.551
Deborah Wolfe: And the cats have figured out that this is the one time when there's no dogs around, and I'm still.
00:14:40.551 --> 00:14:41.951
Deborah Wolfe: I'm not moving target.
00:14:41.951 --> 00:14:46.791
Deborah Wolfe: I'm not moving from room to room, from barn to kennel to, you know, all around the farm.
00:14:46.791 --> 00:14:47.671
Deborah Wolfe: I am still.
00:14:48.251 --> 00:14:50.871
Deborah Wolfe: And so they all want to be with me when I'm on the radio.
00:14:50.871 --> 00:14:52.471
Deborah Wolfe: This has been going on for years.
00:14:52.471 --> 00:14:58.611
Deborah Wolfe: Many, many cats over the years have lived long lives, died, and, you know, the next one does the same thing.
00:14:58.611 --> 00:15:05.811
Deborah Wolfe: And what they like to do is sit on the back of my chair above my head, on the back of my chair while I'm on radio.
00:15:05.811 --> 00:15:15.211
Deborah Wolfe: And one day, years and years and years ago, when I was doing radio, I think it was in the late 90s, I was doing a show, and I accidentally locked my office door.
00:15:15.331 --> 00:15:16.271
Deborah Wolfe: It closed.
00:15:16.271 --> 00:15:29.071
Deborah Wolfe: So my cat, Tang, who was this big orange cat, Orange Tabby, he was so frustrated that he was meowing and meowing, but I didn't hear him because I was, you know, plugged in and couldn't go to him anyway.
00:15:29.071 --> 00:15:30.911
Deborah Wolfe: It was a live show back then.
00:15:30.911 --> 00:15:33.131
Deborah Wolfe: And I was on the air for quite a while.
00:15:33.131 --> 00:15:35.131
Deborah Wolfe: It was a 59 minute show.
00:15:35.131 --> 00:15:44.991
Deborah Wolfe: And I was able to see from my office window, this cat leaves the house, walk outside, walk down the deck, climb up a fence, climb over the fence.
00:15:45.391 --> 00:15:48.751
Deborah Wolfe: Climb up a tree, all the way up the tree.
00:15:48.751 --> 00:15:58.891
Deborah Wolfe: So he was exactly even with me on the second story of a house and just watch me for the whole show, making me feel so guilty.
00:15:58.891 --> 00:16:00.331
Deborah Wolfe: That's what he did.
00:16:00.331 --> 00:16:07.111
Deborah Wolfe: But you know, sometimes people think cats are aloof or unaffectionate.
00:16:07.111 --> 00:16:09.831
Deborah Wolfe: And part of that is what we create.
00:16:09.831 --> 00:16:14.731
Deborah Wolfe: Now I'll probably go into this more in a future show because it's a big topic and we're nearing the end of the show.
00:16:14.911 --> 00:16:17.611
Deborah Wolfe: But if you, this is the same with dogs.
00:16:17.611 --> 00:16:26.631
Deborah Wolfe: If you enjoy something about an animal, you appreciate and you reward it and it makes you happy, you're going to see that thing from the animal again.
00:16:26.631 --> 00:16:33.991
Deborah Wolfe: So if that's a dog being cute or being loving or you know, you're going to see that again.
00:16:33.991 --> 00:16:43.331
Deborah Wolfe: But it could be something like he scoots across the floor because he has worms and everybody laughs and they thinks it's funny and you give him his worm medicine.
00:16:43.331 --> 00:16:48.091
Deborah Wolfe: He doesn't have worms anymore, but now he still scoots across the floor because everybody laughed.
00:16:48.091 --> 00:16:50.591
Deborah Wolfe: Well, you get stuff like that with cats.
00:16:50.591 --> 00:16:53.091
Deborah Wolfe: Okay, so one day the cat was pissed off.
00:16:53.091 --> 00:17:00.671
Deborah Wolfe: Someone was irritating it was too heavy with it or crowding it or it just didn't want to be dealt with and it maybe it swatted someone.
00:17:00.671 --> 00:17:04.391
Deborah Wolfe: Well now everybody thought that was funny and they laughed and they encouraged it.
00:17:04.471 --> 00:17:05.951
Deborah Wolfe: You're going to see that again.
00:17:05.951 --> 00:17:22.491
Deborah Wolfe: So sometimes people think cats have these negative traits when really they've taught them and the thing about aloof cats, I've often, you know, I used to do cat training in people's houses and they'd have me come in and they'd, so don't bother with, you know, Joey, he's not very friendly.
00:17:22.491 --> 00:17:23.891
Deborah Wolfe: We want you to look at mittens.
00:17:23.891 --> 00:17:25.331
Deborah Wolfe: Mittens doesn't use the litter box.
00:17:25.331 --> 00:17:27.011
Deborah Wolfe: We need help with mittens.
00:17:27.011 --> 00:17:28.171
Deborah Wolfe: Joey doesn't like people.
00:17:28.171 --> 00:17:29.851
Deborah Wolfe: Don't, don't bother with Joey.
00:17:29.851 --> 00:17:35.311
Deborah Wolfe: Well, during the course of working with mittens, by the end of the thing, almost always Joey would be on my lap.
00:17:35.311 --> 00:17:36.671
Deborah Wolfe: Joey who doesn't like anybody.
00:17:37.151 --> 00:17:38.291
Deborah Wolfe: They forecast that.
00:17:38.291 --> 00:17:40.091
Deborah Wolfe: They've put that into him.
00:17:40.091 --> 00:17:41.711
Deborah Wolfe: You know, Joey does like people.
00:17:41.711 --> 00:17:49.271
Deborah Wolfe: He's just used to people not messing with him anymore, or messing with him in a way that irritates him because that's the reaction they're used to getting.
00:17:49.271 --> 00:17:55.331
Deborah Wolfe: So when I meet an aloof cat, it's usually an indication that it's tuned out.
00:17:55.331 --> 00:18:03.651
Deborah Wolfe: It is decided that people aren't worth paying attention to, that they never have anything worthwhile to listen to, that they don't mean anything they say.
00:18:03.651 --> 00:18:06.291
Deborah Wolfe: They don't say anything of significance or consequence.
00:18:06.831 --> 00:18:08.671
Deborah Wolfe: So why pay attention to them anyway?
00:18:08.671 --> 00:18:10.131
Deborah Wolfe: There's nothing in it for me.
00:18:10.131 --> 00:18:13.331
Deborah Wolfe: I'll go to them when I want something, and that's it.
00:18:13.331 --> 00:18:15.271
Deborah Wolfe: They've written you off.
00:18:15.271 --> 00:18:16.371
Deborah Wolfe: Why is that?
00:18:16.371 --> 00:18:18.811
Deborah Wolfe: Because most of us don't communicate to them at all.
00:18:18.811 --> 00:18:24.551
Deborah Wolfe: If you show a cat when you walk in a room that you're greeting it, it will greet you back.
00:18:24.551 --> 00:18:29.771
Deborah Wolfe: If you don't force yourself on a cat, but you let it come to you, it will come to you.
00:18:29.771 --> 00:18:31.471
Deborah Wolfe: They're very curious animals.
00:18:31.471 --> 00:18:34.531
Deborah Wolfe: They want to know what the new person smells like.
00:18:34.531 --> 00:18:35.211
Deborah Wolfe: Check them out.
00:18:35.331 --> 00:18:40.251
Deborah Wolfe: If they want to check out your bag, what you brought, your shoes.
00:18:40.251 --> 00:18:45.051
Deborah Wolfe: They're very curious animals and they have amazing sense of smell and hearing and sight.
00:18:45.051 --> 00:18:49.051
Deborah Wolfe: We always talk so much about dogs and how great they are at everything.
00:18:49.051 --> 00:18:51.551
Deborah Wolfe: But cats are pretty fantastic too.
00:18:51.551 --> 00:19:00.311
Deborah Wolfe: And if you think of the ability to defend oneself, if you make a cat the size of a dog, well, that's a pretty serious opponent.
00:19:00.311 --> 00:19:05.311
Deborah Wolfe: So there are no slouches in terms of the defenses that Mother Nature has given them.
00:19:05.311 --> 00:19:07.811
Deborah Wolfe: They really are an amazing animal.
00:19:07.811 --> 00:19:18.451
Deborah Wolfe: So I know most of my shows are kind of skewed toward dogs because I've been training dogs so long, and I live at Camp Good Dog, and I do have a lot more training clients that are dogs than cats.
00:19:18.451 --> 00:19:22.531
Deborah Wolfe: But I think a lot of that is because people have given up on their cats.
00:19:22.531 --> 00:19:28.791
Deborah Wolfe: They don't realize that whatever annoying thing their cat is doing, it can be stopped.
00:19:28.791 --> 00:19:29.931
Deborah Wolfe: Their cat doesn't have to do that.
00:19:30.411 --> 00:19:39.531
Deborah Wolfe: Their cat doesn't have to scratch the furniture, doesn't have to soil the carpets, doesn't have to wake them up in the middle of the night, doesn't have to be ornery with children.
00:19:39.531 --> 00:19:43.071
Deborah Wolfe: Like there's lots of things that you can work on with your cat.
00:19:43.071 --> 00:19:48.451
Deborah Wolfe: So if you're listening to the show and you've got a cat problem, oh my, please send it to me.
00:19:48.451 --> 00:19:50.551
Deborah Wolfe: Send me your cat problems.
00:19:50.551 --> 00:19:57.011
Deborah Wolfe: You can send it to debatpetliferadio.com and you can send a voice clip or just type it out.
00:19:57.011 --> 00:20:00.771
Deborah Wolfe: Either way, I will read it on the air and I will solve your cat problem.
00:20:00.771 --> 00:20:05.491
Deborah Wolfe: Okay, so I should cover some dog information before we go today.
00:20:05.491 --> 00:20:12.231
Deborah Wolfe: Well, I was telling you about that music festival and was talking about how these people had a puppy.
00:20:12.231 --> 00:20:22.471
Deborah Wolfe: And they had the puppy, they had a very, very, very young puppy, probably seven weeks out in a very crowded place with many, many animals.
00:20:22.471 --> 00:20:24.811
Deborah Wolfe: So the puppy could not have been properly vaccinated.
00:20:24.811 --> 00:20:26.231
Deborah Wolfe: That's the first problem.
00:20:26.231 --> 00:20:27.411
Deborah Wolfe: Could have picked up anything.
00:20:27.891 --> 00:20:34.631
Deborah Wolfe: I didn't see if they used the communal bowl provided, you know, with water for all the visitors to the park.
00:20:34.631 --> 00:20:36.231
Deborah Wolfe: But I think they probably did.
00:20:36.231 --> 00:20:37.271
Deborah Wolfe: And that's a no-no.
00:20:37.271 --> 00:20:42.451
Deborah Wolfe: When you have an unvaccinated dog, you don't want him drinking from a bowl everybody's been sharing.
00:20:42.451 --> 00:20:44.151
Deborah Wolfe: They could have Bordetella, Cantocoff.
00:20:44.151 --> 00:20:47.091
Deborah Wolfe: They could even have Parvo, be carriers or something really nasty.
00:20:47.091 --> 00:20:48.031
Deborah Wolfe: Give it to your dog.
00:20:48.031 --> 00:20:50.691
Deborah Wolfe: So I stay away from those communal bowls anyway.
00:20:50.691 --> 00:20:58.071
Deborah Wolfe: I always take a little, you know, the foldable bowls that you can just, they expand and they collapse and you can pour water in them.
00:20:58.071 --> 00:20:58.951
Deborah Wolfe: They're made of material.
00:20:58.951 --> 00:21:00.011
Deborah Wolfe: I always have those with me.
00:21:00.011 --> 00:21:01.331
Deborah Wolfe: They come with a little hook.
00:21:01.331 --> 00:21:03.711
Deborah Wolfe: That way, I don't need to worry.
00:21:03.711 --> 00:21:06.611
Deborah Wolfe: I mean, would you share a bottle with random strangers?
00:21:06.611 --> 00:21:07.451
Deborah Wolfe: Put your mouth on it?
00:21:07.451 --> 00:21:07.871
Deborah Wolfe: No.
00:21:07.871 --> 00:21:10.151
Deborah Wolfe: So don't do that.
00:21:10.151 --> 00:21:13.491
Deborah Wolfe: But they had this dog exposed to so many kids and people.
00:21:13.491 --> 00:21:15.851
Deborah Wolfe: Some of the kids were not gentle.
00:21:15.851 --> 00:21:19.631
Deborah Wolfe: It could have easily sparked long-term fear in this dog.
00:21:19.631 --> 00:21:24.251
Deborah Wolfe: When you get a new puppy, you definitely want to expose it to all the things in your life.
00:21:24.731 --> 00:21:26.591
Deborah Wolfe: You want it to know what's normal.
00:21:26.591 --> 00:21:33.251
Deborah Wolfe: And you want it to be afraid of only what it should be afraid of and comfortable with all the things that are normal in your life.
00:21:33.251 --> 00:21:34.971
Deborah Wolfe: But you can't do it right away.
00:21:34.971 --> 00:21:37.871
Deborah Wolfe: The puppy needs it in little itty bitty bits.
00:21:37.871 --> 00:21:40.211
Deborah Wolfe: A little taste of children.
00:21:40.211 --> 00:21:44.771
Deborah Wolfe: One or two children invited over to be calm and supervised.
00:21:44.771 --> 00:21:51.391
Deborah Wolfe: Not a blanket with ten of them running around wrestling when he's only seven weeks old.
00:21:51.391 --> 00:21:53.091
Deborah Wolfe: So you will kind of want to steer things.
00:21:53.811 --> 00:21:57.111
Deborah Wolfe: So every encounter is a positive encounter.
00:21:57.111 --> 00:21:58.831
Deborah Wolfe: There's nothing that hurts him or scares him.
00:21:58.831 --> 00:22:01.291
Deborah Wolfe: Nothing that frightens your new little puppy.
00:22:01.291 --> 00:22:03.691
Deborah Wolfe: Everything is controlled and calm.
00:22:03.691 --> 00:22:06.371
Deborah Wolfe: And you work up to the Folk Festival.
00:22:06.371 --> 00:22:10.511
Deborah Wolfe: There's a dog I know, big white dog, who is an adult dog.
00:22:10.511 --> 00:22:12.111
Deborah Wolfe: It's very unpredictable.
00:22:12.111 --> 00:22:17.911
Deborah Wolfe: And when I see it, it's awfully shit at places where there's music and people and children and other animals.
00:22:17.911 --> 00:22:22.791
Deborah Wolfe: And whenever I see it there, it's always got like a little red flag from me where I'm watching it.
00:22:23.251 --> 00:22:27.251
Deborah Wolfe: And there's other people who don't bring their dogs anymore because of this dog.
00:22:27.251 --> 00:22:39.271
Deborah Wolfe: And, you know, I didn't know it when it was a puppy, but I've learned that when it was a puppy, the owner brought it to this music situation as a very, very young puppy off leash and just left it.
00:22:39.271 --> 00:22:42.591
Deborah Wolfe: And her idea was that, well, it's got to learn.
00:22:42.591 --> 00:22:45.411
Deborah Wolfe: I'll just throw it into the situation and it will learn.
00:22:45.411 --> 00:22:46.631
Deborah Wolfe: Well, yeah, it did learn.
00:22:46.631 --> 00:22:51.451
Deborah Wolfe: It learned its own way of coping, which is not the way everyone wants.
00:22:51.991 --> 00:23:04.831
Deborah Wolfe: The meet and greet dog who's nice to all other dogs, nice to all other people and is never an issue and would never nip or bite anyone, doesn't get that way from just being thrown into things to figure out how to work it out.
00:23:04.831 --> 00:23:07.311
Deborah Wolfe: That's not really the way you work with animals.
00:23:07.311 --> 00:23:13.331
Deborah Wolfe: You want to teach them what you expect from them in your situation and then reward that.
00:23:13.331 --> 00:23:18.391
Deborah Wolfe: And if they're doing naughty attention getting behaviors, you got to put a lid on that, right?
00:23:18.391 --> 00:23:20.491
Deborah Wolfe: You don't scold those and give those lots of attention.
00:23:20.671 --> 00:23:22.651
Deborah Wolfe: You stop them, so they can't do that thing.
00:23:22.651 --> 00:23:24.791
Deborah Wolfe: If they're jumping all over you, you stick a leash on them.
00:23:24.791 --> 00:23:26.231
Deborah Wolfe: So, and you step on it.
00:23:26.231 --> 00:23:27.391
Deborah Wolfe: Now they can't jump.
00:23:27.391 --> 00:23:29.911
Deborah Wolfe: And you tell them how good they are for not jumping.
00:23:29.911 --> 00:23:36.031
Deborah Wolfe: If your cat is attacking you on the stairs, will you give it way more playtime?
00:23:36.031 --> 00:23:43.091
Deborah Wolfe: At a time it can count on, so that it's not having to rely on ambushing you when you're going up and down the stairs.
00:23:43.091 --> 00:23:46.991
Deborah Wolfe: And then when it does try to ambush you, you stop that activity.
00:23:46.991 --> 00:23:48.011
Deborah Wolfe: You don't play with it.
00:23:48.011 --> 00:23:53.451
Deborah Wolfe: You don't play footsie with it, so it gets wilder and wilder and wilder until eventually you're bleeding coming down your stairs.
00:23:53.451 --> 00:23:59.731
Deborah Wolfe: No, you grab a toy that it's allowed to play with, one that it loves and you initiate play that way.
00:23:59.731 --> 00:24:02.011
Deborah Wolfe: So you're replacing the cat's idea.
00:24:02.011 --> 00:24:04.311
Deborah Wolfe: I'm going to attack these legs going down the stairs.
00:24:04.311 --> 00:24:07.531
Deborah Wolfe: This is fun with I'm going to attack my cat toy.
00:24:07.531 --> 00:24:08.651
Deborah Wolfe: This is fun.
00:24:08.651 --> 00:24:14.591
Deborah Wolfe: And you can actually get your cats to bring you their toys when they want to play, just like retriever dogs.
00:24:14.591 --> 00:24:17.691
Deborah Wolfe: So let's not underestimate our cats, everybody.
00:24:18.371 --> 00:24:22.071
Deborah Wolfe: And let's get some good idea on them, please.
00:24:22.071 --> 00:24:38.511
Deborah Wolfe: Even though your cat may always stay home and never wants to go out, there's going to be that one time where there's a thunderstorm or a break-in, maybe next door, and all kinds of sirens and weird things going on, or back doors left open, or a screen door gets cut.
00:24:38.511 --> 00:24:42.111
Deborah Wolfe: There's going to be something where there's a chance your cat could get out.
00:24:42.931 --> 00:24:53.331
Deborah Wolfe: So, to make sure yours is one of that 10% that gets returned to you, please microchip, tattoo, and give it a caller with an ID tag.
00:24:53.331 --> 00:25:03.551
Deborah Wolfe: Alright everybody, this has been Animal Party on Pet Life Radio with me, Deb Wolfe, and from me and Animal Party, be good to your animals.
00:25:03.551 --> 00:25:09.551
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