Taming – Shaping affection
The cat world unfortunately once promoted techniques for taming that involved forcing the cat to be touched and/or forcing them to eat while being touched, labeling it as “socialization”. These techniques lack consideration for the cat’s well being, demonstrate lack of skill in training, take more time and present risks of injury to the person. Fortunately, it’s never too late to learn to do better. There are now multiple sources of information to help you.
Friends for Life Animal Shelter & Melissa Taylor
This article explains the process used at Friends for Life Animal Shelter in Houston to transform fearful cats into engaging and adoptable cats using techniques that rely on giving control to the cat over the interaction. – by Melissa Taylor from Friends for Life Animal Shelter
This older article by the same author also explains the process. – by Melissa Taylor and Alese Zeman from Friends for Life Animal Shelter
This video shows an example of a cat going through the first phases of the Fraidy Cat Program.
This video explains to visitors how to interact with the cats. – by Friends for Life Animal Shelter
This video shows approximations in training for contact and hand rubbing. – by Friends for Life Animal Shelter
This video shows another possible approximation to hand rubbing. – by Friends for Life Animal Shelter
This video shows steps to shape for petting. – by Friends for Life Animal Shelter
This video shows shaping of head bunting on a cage door. – by Friends for Life Animal Shelter
This video shows a cat’s progression over one week. – by Friends for Life Animal Shelter
This video shows a cat meeting a new friend with a ritualized introduction process – by Friends for Life Animal Shelter
For more videos on this topic from Friends for Life Animal Shelter, consult their YouTube playlist.
Maryland SPCA
This video shows how to shape for approach by throwing the treat away from you, past the cat, giving them a treat as well as reassuring distance from you. (Starting at 4:06) – by Maryland SPCA Behavior & Training
Beth Adelman
This video explains how to give cats control over your proximity. – by Beth Adelman
ASPCApro
This video shows how fly-by-treating can help cats in a shelter setting form new associations about people. – by ASPCApro
This video shows how to use petting consent when interacting with a cat in a cage. – by ASPCApro
Caroline Crevier-Chabot
This article shows video examples of what a cats experience when some of the outdated taming techniques are used on them. – by Caroline Crevier-Chabot
This video shows how control over the monster’s proximity can be much more powerful than any treat the monster might have. – by Caroline Crevier-Chabot
This video shows how a family cat with a more fearful disposition reacts under forced petting by her familiar caregiver, getting us to reflect on the fact that forced petting of unfamiliar cats is inappropriate. – by Caroline Crevier-Chabot
This video shows you how your own body language can feel more or less threatening to a cat. – by Caroline Crevier-Chabot
This free webinar shows examples of how to give control to fearful cats to make you leave. The video examples are a bit outdated, but the information is still valuable. Please look at Melissa Taylor’s work above for more up-to-date and skilled videos. She is a great resource. – by Caroline Crevier-Chabot
This short clip shows a few repetitions of a cat controlling the person’s departure. – by Caroline Crevier-Chabot
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