Training a Cat to Fetch

Our cat Kate loves to have her toy mouse thrown for her and she will chase after it. Sometimes she will bring it part way back for me to throw again. Does anyone know if a cat can learn to fetch and return things? I know its good excercise for her and for me, but sometimes its frustrating and would be great if she would bring it back and place it at my feet! Thanks. BTW I'm new to the site.

Actually I trained Buddy to bring a string to me without meaning to.

What happened was that Buddy noticed if the string was on the floor, I wouldn't play with it but if he put it on the couch near me, I immediately picked it up and started waving it around so that's how he realized if he brought the string to me then I'd play with it..

Maybe you can do that- reinforce it- whenever Kate brings you the mouse, immediately reward her with throwing it and so forth. It might take some time..

Be careful though cuz it can start driving you crazy! Now whenever I lay down on the couch to relax, watch tv or whatever, Buddy will CONSTANTLY bring the string to the couch, drop it on my face and wait for me to wave it around. He also has started dragging the string over to me while I'm on my computer and will drop the string on top of the keyboard on top of my hands..

Saki plays fetch
He will pretty much fetch anything I throw for him, but his favorites are the mice. He will bring it right back to me every time, and if I'm not paying attention to him, he will meow at me until I throw it again. lol.







lmao

Tazz and Squirrel both play fetch. Tazz brings us odd things to throw- old washers, and bolts, leaves from the walnut tree (those are hard to throw though) Squirrel just brings us walnut shells- she thinks those make the best toys. But as far as training them to fetch, I think it just comes natural and it would take a long string attached to a desirable toy, a lot of patience and a lot of treats to train a cat to fetch.

Sicy love the pics!

Great Pics! Are those for real? That is a very talented cat!

Yep I agree that it comes natural. He just started doing it one day.. I didnt teach him or anything. I was literally amazed. As I threw it again and he brought it back I was practically screaming, I couldnt believe it LOL. I have tried to teach Zoey.. sometimes she will bring it part of the way but usually she just runs off with it.

Originally posted by crazymaisie
Great Pics! Are those for real? That is a very talented cat!

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LOL!! Yes those are real. I do photoshop some pics but no these are definately the real deal lol Thanks, I think he's pretty talented too. I am thinking of trying to find a way to share a short video of him fetching with this board. I do have it on video tape already.

I agree with others, it came naturally with Buddy. I wasn't THINKING of training him to fetch the string but he figured it out on his own. Now Pepper is starting to follow in his steps.. She is starting to bring the feather teaser to me for me to wave it around for her but I didn't give them treats when they do this.. It just happened I guess.

I agree, I LOVE the pics Sicy posted!

Amber will play fetch. Her favorite toy is a big stuffed frog. I throw it for her and she will pick it up and bring it back, most of the time. My other cats however, will chase things, but then sit and look at me like, well, come here and throw it again

Yep!!! Cosmo will play fetch with a little rubberjack ball ...He is so crazy about that little rubber ball. We throw and he will bring it back every time ..It really freaks me out... He meows the whole time Newman looks at him... like what the heck are you doing... It is a blast. Cosmo will even bring it to you on the chair ,jump in your lap and set the ball down if you aren't paying attention . One cool cat.....

Here's a short video

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...threadid=32991

One of my Birman babies plays fetch too. Her favorite item to fetch is her toy mousie, and sometimes she will bring two or three toy mousies at one time! It's quite funny to watch her pick up all three in her mouth, drop one and then pick it up again.

She has played fetch since she was a kitten and we have always encouraged her. We've expanded the game now so when she brings the mousie to us, we say "sit" or "roll over" or "lie down" and she has to obey before we will throw it. It works! I am now trying to teach her "stand up" which is when she stands on her hind legs.. it's hard work.

Friends and family are always amazed at Cleo's skill but it's something she started herself and we've just made the game harder as we go along. She loves it and will insist on playing at all hours, convenient or not!

Vickie

PS. The saki video is so cute!

Mosely plays fetch with a pop bottle cap. She came to me already doing this so I can't take any credit! If I put the cap away for the night (otherwise she'll pick it up and drop it on my arm over and over to wake me up) or if she can't find one, she'll bring me just about anything she wants to play with. Most of the time it's a stick that used to have a feather on the end and when she drags it to my room she often gets stuck in the doorway cause it's too wide to fit through when she carries it like a stick! You can imagine how funny this is I'm sure!!!!!!

She'll also just about back flip off the couch to catch the cap (literally!). Sometimes she actually catches the cap between her paws mid jump. No joke!! Or she'll hit it back to me.

She's learned to drop the cap in my hand for me to throw it again. For my boyfriend, she'll drop it on the floor a few feet away, cause she knows he'll go get it for her! Smart kitty!

What a clever kitty Saki is.

Rosie loves it when i throw her sponge balls up the stairs and she chases after them. But theres times when i've thrown them to far and they stay at the top and Rosie will look round at me as if to say 'Well go and get them!!'.

She carries downstairs in her mouth what i call her 'baby' to me.It's a small grey furry cat which meows 3 times when you press it. Half it's face is now missing because she licks it as if it were a kitten!.

Originally posted by LDM
Mosely plays fetch with a pop bottle cap. She came to me already doing this so I can't take any credit! If I put the cap away for the night (otherwise she'll pick it up and drop it on my arm over and over to wake me up) or if she can't find one, she'll bring me just about anything she wants to play with. Most of the time it's a stick that used to have a feather on the end and when she drags it to my room she often gets stuck in the doorway cause it's too wide to fit through when she carries it like a stick! You can imagine how funny this is I'm sure!!!!!!

She'll also just about back flip off the couch to catch the cap (literally!). Sometimes she actually catches the cap between her paws mid jump. No joke!! Or she'll hit it back to me.

She's learned to drop the cap in my hand for me to throw it again. For my boyfriend, she'll drop it on the floor a few feet away, cause she knows he'll go get it for her! Smart kitty!

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Your kitty Mosely made me laugh ....with the stick and the door I surely can see that..lol... and they are quite good at catching with there paws...

My cat Louie loves for me to throw him furry play mice. One day he just started retrieving the mouse and bringing it back to me. No one believed that the cat was playing fetch, but he does. No matter what room I am in, he will return the mouse to me. I didn't train him, he just does it. Now Vinnie will run for the mouse and then look at me to pick it up and throw it again. Go figure. fran

My cat who just recently passed away used to play fetch ALL the time. I never trained him, he just did it on his own. When we were playing on the floor, who would bring back the soft balls I threw after chasing them. His favorite, though, was chasing balls on the stairs. I would throw one up and he would run up to catch it. Then he would swat the ball back down to me from the top, to start over again. I thought he was extremely clever