Can you train a cat? NC shelter boosts adoptions with ‘My Cat From Hell’ host’s help

Kamala was almost completely feral, hissing any time someone got close, when she was trapped and taken to the Orange County Animal Shelter in Chapel Hill.

“She wasn’t aggressive, but she just didn’t want to have anything to do with humans,” animal care supervisor Tifani Schifano said.

The 18-month-old black cat was put in the feral cat area, where she gave birth to her first litter of kittens five days later. For the next eight weeks, Kamala nursed her babies until they were ready to be socialized and adopted.

Shelter staff didn’t want to euthanize Kamala, so they put her in the Cat Pawsitive Pro program four days a week, working with her for 10 minutes twice a day. Whenever she interacted with them in a positive way, such as flicking her ears forward, her trainers pressed a “clicker” and gave her a treat.

“She was running away from us every time we would open her kennel, and eventually, she would stay still and she’d look at us,” Schifano said. Then, “she let us touch her and pet her.”

Last month, Kamala went home with a new family.

Reinforcing positive behavior

Cat Pawsitive Pro, a Jackson Galaxy Project program, was developed in 2016 by a team of feline behavior experts and Jackson Galaxy, a cat behaviorist who hosts Animal Planet’s show, “My Cat from Hell.”

Cats who miss out on early connections with humans can be shy or fearful around them, while other cats are easily overstimulated or have excess energy that leads to negative behaviors. The Cat Pawsitive behavioral modification training program uses positive reinforcement to improve shelter cat lives, increase adoption rates and educate the people who care for cats.

Over 168 animal-welfare agencies and 1,600 staff members and volunteers have participated in Cat Pawsitive programs, Galaxy said in an interview with The News & Observer. They may interact with a cat for a short time but can have “really incredible results,” he said.

“When I started working in that exact environment, and I started learning cats and trying new techniques, it was the same thing,” Galaxy said. “In my shelter, I had cats, they were in cages and I had 20 minutes — what can I get done so that this cat doesn’t get killed today and, instead, he or she goes into the adoption area and has a good chance of being adopted.”

Orange County Animal Services had just started the Cat Pawsitive Basics program last year, when it was cut short by COVID-19, Schifano said. The county was among 13 agencies chosen for the 2021 Cat Pawsitive Pro program, and the only one in North Carolina.

This year, a Jackson Galaxy Project feline behavior expert is training weekly for three months with the county’s nine-member team. The training program, which ends April 30, is an exciting opportunity to help cats “come out of their shell quicker,” said Schifano.

“The last time we did it, it helped decrease their length of stay with us, because it makes them more adoptable,” Schifano said. “One, they’re doing cute things, and two, they’re behaving more because they’re getting that energy out and showing off the best side of their personality. Some of those cats would possibly hang out with us for far too long.”

Building a bond with cats

Despite cats’ reputation for being aloof, a series of Oregon State University studies found in 2019 that roughly two-thirds of kittens and cats formed a secure attachment to their owners that is key to developing human-like socio-cognitive abilities.

Most of the remaining third showed an ambivalent relationship with their owners in stressful and unfamiliar situations, while others avoided their owners altogether, the researchers reported. The attachment styles were similar to those previously observed in children and changed very little as the cats grew up or underwent training and socialization, they said.

Similar studies with dogs showed only 58% formed a secure attachment to their owners, they said.

Cats of all ages can benefit from activities that reinforce their ancestral “mojo,” Galaxy said, even if people are sometimes afraid of the level of commitment required. Mojo, he said, is that “inexplicable inner flame” that gives pets and people confidence to keep going.

The fact that over 80% of Americans see their pets as family members is a step in the right direction, he added.

“You know your relationship with your cat. You know your cat like you know your partner or your children. That’s the point,” Galaxy said. “They’re family members, and the more you get to know them, the more you’ll get to bring out their best.”

Methods to try at home

The Pawsitive training starts by evaluating a cat to determine which positive reinforcement works for it, whether that’s a treat, a head scratch or a favorite toy. Trainers share notes and pair randomly with cats to get them used to different people.

When they first started last year, some volunteers and staff members were a little skeptical that cats could be trained, Schifano said. Since then, they have trained nine cats and are working with three more.

“It’s amazing the progress you see,” Schifano said, describing three basic training methods:

▪ Capturing a behavior and rewarding it. A trainer working with a very shy cat, for instance, might click and treat as soon as the cat makes eye contact.

“It’s a vulnerability thing. If they don’t see you, then you’re not there,” Schifano said. “For fearful cats, it’s a big deal when they finally make eye contact.”

▪ Targeting, which rewards the cat for brushing, touching or bumping their nose, paws or body against a human or a puffball on the end of a “target stick.”

▪ Luring them with a treat to do something, such as sit or jump through hoops

If a cat’s tail starts twitching, its ears lay back or its pupils dilate, or if the cat refuses a treat, the training stops, Schifano said. Less shy cats sometimes just walk away when they’re done.

“You just end it right at that. You don’t even try anymore, because you don’t want to make it a negative experience for them,” she said.

The shelter has adopted out four cats so far, each of which went home with a clicker, information about positive reinforcement training, and instructions so the owner can teach the cat how to do a high five with its paw.

Schifano and Galaxy urged cat owners to check out Cat Pawsitive and other free, online resources. There are many things that people can do at home to improve the bond with their cat, keep their mind and body sharp, and have fun at the same time, Galaxy said, like the Cat Pawsitive National High-Five Day Contest.

The deadline for entering a video in the contest is April 4.

“I think that there’s an incredible misconception that cats can’t be motivated to do things, and that creates a lot of harm in the general perception of cats as a whole, because they’ve always had to walk in the shadow of dogs, and in our relationships, they’ve always been second place to dogs,” Galaxy said.