i want a little buddy not an obedient kitten. I wanna have conversations with my cat through our actions not tell him to do everything i say. I would love for him to think for himself and learn. but hes sooo stupid guys i know he’s young (a year and 8 months i believe) but im also not speaking his language. he’s smart im sorry. but he keeps biting me even though im like heyy stop!!! and he’s been knocking over his water dish. and eating our roomates plants! he has so much spark and when i teach him sit/stay it breaks my heart because i don’t see any of his personality, just a cat who is really in want of a treat. im his only source of food!!! of course he’ll sit/stay but he KNOWS hes better than that! maybe i should hide little bits of food around the kitchen living room and bedroom (all the rooms i and him have access to) so he can feel like hes hunting and he’ll eat the food instead of wrecking plants? or would that just encourage that behaviour. even know as i type this up i ignore him and he scratches at me. he wants my attention so bad! i don’t wanna be an absent mother!!! he deserves stimulation and attention and praise and patience !!! sit stay is bullshit!!! hes really cute but hes cute regardless. sit stay is to show off! how well trained he is! i don’t wanna train him just teach him what I prefer he does ! im kinda high and i love my cat please share cat tips/advice

edit: added an image of him!!

  • Moghul@lemmy.world
    141·
    1 year ago

    i don’t see any of his personality, just a cat who is really in want of a treat.

    That’s also part of his personality, isn’t it? He’s food driven, nothing wrong with that. He’s going to learn and adapt to his environment, and if that environment includes you teaching him tricks, he’s going to learn and adapt to that. If you teach him tricks, he might do them on his own in hopes of getting food instead of eating plants, or he might not.

    PS, he’s cute as fuck

  • Yuki@kutsuya.dev
    12·
    1 year ago

    Dude, just love your cat and he’ll love you back. I taught my cat the meaning of “food”. As in, even I say FOOD?! he comes sprinting in hope for food. Same goes for when I say OUTSIDE?! he knows what it means and sprints to the door.

    You can definitely learn them things and they will also love you unconditionally!

    • slowwcore@lemmy.fmhy.mlOP
      4·
      1 year ago

      sorry i just get worried cause ive never had a cat or even a dog before. this is my first ever pet and its scary!

      • Linssiili@sopuli.xyz
        4·
        1 year ago

        I recommend binge-watching Jackson Galaxy on youtube, he helped me immensively to understand my first cat. He also has videos for pretty much all issues one might have with a cat.

  • dragonfly@lemmy.world
    12·
    1 year ago

    Teach him high five, it’s pretty easy and super cute. Also, if you haven’t already, get a harness and start training him for that so you can take walks together safely. Hiding treats is a great activity, it helps satisfy the hunting urge. You can even do this with regular food, hide small amounts in various changing locations around your space, so he has to go hunting.

  • Apytele@sh.itjust.works
    6·
    1 year ago

    Part of loving your cat for who they are is understanding his wants and needs and how his cognitive level factors into him meeting them. It also sounds like you need to better understand the type of stimulation he needs to be happy. Cats are often food motivated, but they also need to chase and murder things (even if they’re not actually alive) and scratch and feel their tendons in their arms stretch (serves multiple functions ultimately but that’s the stimulation they need). They need those things the same way people need to sing and dance and make and view art and tell and listen to stories. They don’t do it to be good at it they just kinda… gotta. If they don’t get to do enough of that they will go a little stir crazy.

    Personally I prefer a cat OR dog to jump away from something if I tell them to, and I will move them somewhere less stimulating or even spray the cat with water if they don’t. From my perspective it’s my job to keep them safe and if they’re trying to get at something that’s going to hurt them like chewing on an electrical wire or trying to eat something toxic I need them to stop right away, not five seconds later when I make it across the room and they’re already hurt or going to be very sick. And I need to be able to teach them not to do it even when I’m not looking (but like I said the biggest trick to that is making sure there’s other stimulating things that are WAY BETTER anyway).

  • skyler@lemmy.worldMEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    Teaching a cat tricks of any kind isn’t inherently mean. Forcing a cat to do them against their will would be mean. If your little guy is willing to sit and learn tricks for treats then you’re not being mean. If he wants nothing to do with the tricks but you keep forcing him to try, or start only giving him food for tricks, then that’d be mean.

    A surprisingly easy trick to teach him is jumping through an arm hoop. It might be a more fun for him. Here’s a pretty good video on how to teach it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-my7J_8gcE.

    Just make sure to keep training sessions pretty short. 1 to 5 minutes is how long my cat’s training sessions tend to be. But you’ll have to figure out what your cat can handle. If he seems uninterested or tired then it’s time to stop.

    Is he biting when you’re playing or just spontaneously? If it’s during playtime you can try making a pain noise and then stop playing with him for a bit. He should pick up that getting too rough equals no more fun.

    Hiding treats is a great way to give him some stimulation, but I’m not certain it will help keep him off the plants. Some cats just really like shredding up plants. Maybe getting him some cat grass to destroy instead could work?