NEW: THE BACK TO SCHOOL EXPERIENCE IS HERE. New year. Fresh start.
We recently happily stumbled across a video on Instagram of a young girl, named Mary, who had apparently taught her kitten to paint. It immediately caught our heart, and was a wonderful opportunity to examine, “Can a cat really do that?”
The short answer is yes, absolutely.
The Girl Behind the Painting Kitten
The kitten video also led us to a beautiful project we wanted to share. Its creator, Mary Peters, is behind I Made a Promise, a book inspired by the heart-melting bond between Mary and her first dog, who very sadly has passed. The book is a promise she made to her dog, and a portion of book sales supports canine-cancer research. You can follow Mary here.
Whether a kitten understands “painting” in anything resembling the way a human does is another question. But the behaviors involved in what we call a trick, from touching an object to manipulating it on cue, can be learned. And once we started looking into the science, the painting kitten became a gateway into a more interesting subject: just how much cats are capable of learning about us and the world we share.
Your Cat Probably Knows Their Name
Researchers in Japan tested whether domestic cats could distinguish their own names from ordinary words. The cats responded differently when they heard their names, even though their reactions were often subtle, such as moving their ears or turning their heads rather than running toward the speaker.
That’s an important distinction: recognition isn’t the same thing as compliance. Your cat may know perfectly well that you’ve called their name without deciding that coming to you is the most interesting option available.
Research has since produced an even more intriguing finding. In one study, cats heard the name of another familiar cat and were then shown a photograph. Household cats looked longer when the name and face didn’t match, suggesting that they had formed an expectation about which face belonged with which name.
Nobody taught them with flash cards. They appear to have learned simply by living with us.
Cats and Dogs Speak Different Dialects
Dogs and cats both became extraordinarily successful at living alongside humans, but they took different evolutionary routes to get here.
Dogs are particularly adept at attending to human gestures and social information. Cats communicate with us, too, but their signals can be subtler. Research has shown that cats can recognize familiar voices and respond to aspects of human communication, while feline body language relies heavily on posture, gaze, ears, tail and distance.
For a cat parent, becoming a better communicator often means becoming a better observer. A cat moving six inches farther away may be saying something every bit as clearly as a dog standing at the door with a leash in its mouth.
Yes, Cats Can Learn Tricks
The basic principles of learning don’t belong exclusively to dogs. AAHA’s veterinary behavior guidelines address both dogs and cats and note that behaviors followed by rewarding consequences become more likely to occur again.
Cats can learn to come when called, sit, offer a paw, touch a target, jump onto a designated surface and enter a carrier voluntarily. Training can have practical benefits, too. Teaching an animal to participate willingly in routine handling can make carrier use, grooming and other aspects of care easier and less stressful.
The key is motivation. Some cats will enthusiastically participate for food, while others may prefer play or another reward. Sessions should be short, voluntary and designed around the individual cat rather than our expectations of what training should look like.
So, Could a Kitten Learn to Paint?
We can’t independently reconstruct exactly how the kitten in the Instagram video learned to paint, but the behavior is entirely plausible. And, …. well…. it’s just so dang CUTE, isn’t it? What looks amazingly “simple,” when broken down, actually does track.
Animal trainers frequently use a process called shaping, in which small steps toward a desired behavior are progressively reinforced. If the eventual goal involved interacting with a paintbrush, simply approaching the object might initially earn a reward. Later, touching it could be rewarded, followed eventually by manipulating or moving it.
A complicated-looking trick can therefore be built from a series of very simple lessons. It’s also a useful reminder for everyday training: reward progress, not just perfection.
Try It With Your Cat
You don’t need an easel to find out what your cat can learn. Try a simple target-training exercise.
In a quiet room, present a target such as a target stick, wooden spoon or your closed fist within comfortable investigating distance. Don’t push it toward your cat. When your cat voluntarily approaches or touches the target with their nose, mark the moment with a clicker or a consistent word such as “yes,” then offer a reward.
Once your cat understands the association, move the target slightly and see whether they follow. A behavior that begins as “touch this object” can eventually help guide a cat onto a scale, toward a designated location or even voluntarily into a carrier.
Keep the experience voluntary. If your cat walks away, becomes tense, flattens their ears, lashes their tail or stops accepting a reward they normally enjoy, that’s information. Your cat gets a vote in the training session, too.
Your Cat Is Already Learning From You
So, can cats be trained? Absolutely. But perhaps that’s not the most interesting question.
Cats learn our routines, recognize meaningful sounds and words, form associations and communicate through a rich collection of signals. Science is giving us a clearer picture of feline intelligence, but pet parents have the privilege of watching an individual mind at work every day.
You don’t need to teach your cat to paint. Try teaching one simple behavior, or simply spend a little more time noticing the signals you’ve overlooked before.
Communicating with our pets is a special experience we’re lucky to have. We don’t share a spoken language, yet through observation, repetition, trust and thousands of ordinary moments together, somehow we create one of our own.
And if your cat happens to become an artist along the way, please send us a picture!
Sources:
I Made a Promise: Official project/book page
Nagasawa et al.: research/review on gaze communication among dogs, cats and humans
