Acro-Cats and More! Pic Heavy!

[CoyCoyote]

Soooo for those of you who I haven't had the pleasure of meeting (I've been in the dog threads mostly), I thought I'd drop a line and share some pictures with you all. opcorn:

I used to work as a trainer for a company that provides all kinds of critters for films and production works, and these are some of the cats that I worked with every day...they are known as the Amazing Acro Cats. They live at home with the company's owner and only perform if they want to, and they're all rescues. Cats that wish to retire get to lounge around all day and snuggle with mom and feline friends, or go home with staff members. My two cats are retired workers and know a wiiiide array of tricks that they'll do at home when they wanna beg for food. Currently, they know sit pretty, roll over, bang bang you're dead, head tilting, shake, spin, and raising a paw at the verbal cue "Who's the prettiest kitty ever?"

Dakota the drumming cat!

Pinky on guitar, Dakota on drums, and Darby on piano!

More coming!

 

[CoyCoyote]

Clive (now retired) pushes his cart

The brilliant Tuna, with a vocabulary of over 40 commands

Oswald loves jumping! That's me on the left!

More coming!

 

[CoyCoyote]

Agility for cats, with Tuna

Nue loves Piano playing too!

Pics of my cats to follow

 

[CoyCoyote]

Pandora with her ball

Xena loves yoga

Pandora demonstrates "Who's the prettiest kitty ever?"

 

[Punkygirl0101]

What great pictures! That looks like so much fun! I should teach my cats to do things like that! (I had a very smart cat. he fetched, he could lay and sit on command!

 

[CoyCoyote]

What great pictures! That looks like so much fun! I should teach my cats to do things like that! (I had a very smart cat. he fetched, he could lay and sit on command!

You should!

Its great enrichment for them, if you have a motivated cat. Pandora will ignore a plate full of tuna or broiled chicken put right in front of her in preference of working with me for just a sliver.

Course...some cats will give you the you must be joking stare, lol. For the right cat, though, its great fun

 

[noludoru]

I love the pics! Is there a reason most of the cats are white, or is that just a coincidence? I think it's awesome that you guys rescued cats and gave them jobs, though. It gives me the warm fuzzies.

Mine only know a few things.. I have one extremely food-motivated cat and one that for the most part ignores food and only wants to be petted while we're training, and that was getting frustrating so I pretty much stopped with her. My older kitty I stupidly taught to rear up on his hind legs and put them on my thighs for treats, and that was nearly the dumbest thing I've ever taught considering I usually wear shorts and hate clipping his claws. :yikes: He really loves to offer that behavior.

 

[skittledoo]

My cat currently know sit, up (the sit pretty trick), on, off and turn around. I really need to get back into training him. I stopped teaching him new stuff when I adopted Bamm. oops... Goober is EXTREMELY food motivated and easy to teach. I use the clicker training method with him and does great with it.

His biggest trick that I didn't teach him... opening the freezer door... he sits on the counter... sticks his paws in the crevice where the freezer door closes and pushes it open. Then he jumps into the freezer to find a tasty snack...

 

[CoyCoyote]

His biggest trick that I didn't teach him... opening the freezer door... he sits on the counter... sticks his paws in the crevice where the freezer door closes and pushes it open. Then he jumps into the freezer to find a tasty snack...

LOL

I've heard of cats opening many kinds of doors, but the freezer? What a talented young man!

 

[CoyCoyote]

I love the pics! Is there a reason most of the cats are white, or is that just a coincidence?

We find that female white american shorthaired cats work better than most others. We aren't sure why, either. Its widely accepted in the feline performers' world that girls work far better than boys, but everyone seems to have their own breed/type preference.

 

[skittledoo]

ya he opens all the other doors as well and opens cabinets because he likes to sleep in pots and pans... we're getting childproof locks for everything, but knowing him he'll find a way.... he always does. He's a master at getting into the trash can too... and he does a wicked karate chop on the dog... lol. Ask anyone who knows my Goober... he's an odd kitty.

 

[noludoru]

I haven't been asked, but I can tell you that he is definitely one odd little cat. I love him, though.

 

[Romy]

Awww. You guys are making me miss my old Cadleos. He was the most awesome ever. He had a perfect tuxedo with a bow tie and cummerbund.

He didn't "perform"...but he would sometimes help me out in the most awesome ways when I needed it. One time the stupid neighbor let her cocker spaniel into our yard and it busted open a pen full of baby chicks with their mother. We chased the dog away, but only found three dead chicks. They were pheasant hybrids, so instead of cheeping they would freeze like statues whenever there was danger. The mother hen clucked frantically forever, but none of them came back. We looked forever, but they were the size of bumblebees and striped like chipmunks, it was impossible.

Then super Cadleos came along, acting all cool and shiny. He meowed at me, and I just said to him in plain english, "that dumb dog lost all the baby chicks, and now we can't find them." That was all. He just started sniffing around, and after a few minutes he came up to me and opened his mouth, and sitting on his tongue was a slightly damp but totally unharmed chick. He spent the next 20 minutes collecting the rest of the chicks for us. We were pretty floored because normally he killed anything smaller than himself, including mink.

So yeah, he was pretty aloof, but wicked smart and did things to help out when we needed it. I miss that cat. He was irreplaceable. Your performing cats are soo beautiful though! I love the one pushing the cart.

 

[Romy]

and he does a wicked karate chop on the dog... lol. Ask anyone who knows my Goober... he's an odd kitty.

lol! I think we need a video of that.