Your completely free online-book to action animal rights.

FREE! pdf version of How to Do Animal Rights. Copy the text for your non-profit private use. Disseminate the whole file to promote animal rights worldwide! 100k words, 186pp, 1.7mb.

Animal Rights Paintings & Prints

Free Use You are welcome to use these on your not-for-profit web site.

Traffic Training Your Cat
Not to Be Run Over by Motor Traffic

More free graphics.

 Animal rights begins at home. This means we have a moral duty to look after our pets. But do you go as far as traffic training them? Motorists kill many cats every day. Yet it is simple to teach your cat to be weary of motor traffic. A few short lessons will last a long time and increase the probability of your cat's survival.

This technique is most effective on kittens because they are more impressionable. You can traffic-train older cats. But some older cats may be a little blasé, so the technique may be somewhat less effective with them. However, you can make up for the older impenetrable cat by going about their training thoroughly.

Do not let the motorists get your cat, whatever car they drive. Car merry-go-round, Museum Maurice Dufresne, Indre-et-Loire, France. Photo: Duch.seb.

Before you start, ensure your cat has explored the ground between house and road so that he knows his way back indoors. Then you can begin.

1. Encourage your cat to go to the road when there is little traffic, perhaps early morning or late evening.
   
   
2. Leave the front door of the house open and go with him equipped with a large saucepan and big spoon.
   
   
3. Wait for a vehicle to come along (a particularly noisy one is best) and get between it and your cat.
   
   
4. When the vehicle is about to pass, repeatedly bang the spoon on the saucepan and yell to make a startling din next to your cat.
   
   
5. Immediately rush with your cat to safety indoors. Ensure you drive him in front of you. You do not want him to seek refuge under a parked car or something else.
   
   
6. Act as a model for him to emulate. Look and feel scared. You have both had a narrow escape, almost caught by a terribly dangerous predator, but now you are safe indoors and can begin to relax.
   
   
7. Carry out this procedure once or twice a day for a few days.
   
   
8. Before you start try a silent full dress rehearsal without your cat to make sure all will go smoothly.

By pairing the approaching vehicle with a loud startling noise and by setting your cat an example to follow, he will perceive oncoming vehicles as objects to stay clear of. Cats keep an eye on others around them and act according to what others do. So always be a good role model - very important. Try to get the other members of your household to do the same - consistency is crucial.

As time passes your cat will be less inclined to run. He will become more accustomed to vehicle noise and realise he can safely sit by the road. So from time to time show him for the rest of his life that the danger still exists. Should you be with him by the road when a vehicle comes along, get between him and the vehicle, shoo him homewards, clap your hands and yell. Never stand in the road and look relaxed or you will be undoing his training by showing him that motors are not so bad.

Have a dog? See the entry Dogs - Communication & Control.

More free graphics.

›› To Entries & Home