Talk to Me Treatball

Hi everyone,

I just bought a red/blue small talk to me treatball. Now I know some of you on this site use these and I wanted to know the best way to get Stoli used to getting his food out of it. He has pushed it around with his nose and tried to stick both his nose and paw into the hole to get the treat out. i've tried showing him he has to roll it. . . . what has worked for you?

WHAT? no one has any suggestions????

Well, I've never used one personally for my cats. But I did have one for my dog. I don't think the point is for you to teach your cat how to get the treat out. I think the cat has to learn it on their own. It's used to help stimulate their brain a little. So they have to do trial and error to see how to get the treat out. My dog took a little while to get the treat out the first time (he picked it up with his teeth and walked around the house with it for a few hours). But now that he figured it out he just rolls it around until the treat drops. You just have to make sure the treat is tempting enough for your cat to want to get it that bad.

I think eventually your cat will figure it out. But she's gotta learn how to do it on her own. You can always give her a treat when she starts to roll it. If you ever thought of clicker training that would be the easiest way to get her to understand what you want her to do.

Good Luck!!

i saw that clicker training in a store but i wasn't sure what it was supposed to do. i thought it was a deterrent. That's a good idea about the treats. I'll try that. I am just worried that Stoli may give up. He knows it's in there.

Originally Posted by Renovia

i saw that clicker training in a store but i wasn't sure what it was supposed to do. i thought it was a deterrent. That's a good idea about the treats. I'll try that. I am just worried that Stoli may give up. He knows it's in there.

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Clicker training works as a deterrent as well as a reinforcement. I taught Bit to shake with a clicker. You'd want to click the clicker, roll the ball, then give a treat. You baby will eventually get it.

ooo, neat. Maybe I'll try it. I just ordered a collar from Lindsay Designs. Now I'm trying to decide what to put on his id tag.

I taught my cats to play with treat balls by actually showing them what to do. Some cats learn faster than others, so just keep repeating until they get it. Once they associate a treat falling out with rolling it around on the floor, you won't be able to get them to stop. I'm sure there's plenty of mental stimulation even though they didn't figure it out on their own. And I've noticed each cat has his own style: Rocket pushes it with his nose, Mellie rolls it back and forth with her paws, and Twinkie bats it like a soccer ball.

how long did your cats take??? Stoli seems like a pretty intellegent cat.

Rocket picked it up right away; Mellie a couple days; and Twink about a week.

well i guess i won't give up just yet.

ooo, what a good idea. i've seen boomerang tags. do they do tags that aren't the metal ''dog tags"

I got Anya's tag from there, a metal one that slides onto the adjustable collars.

And I got her collar from Lindsay Designs too! She has such a nice selection.

i just got my collar from Lindsay today, Stoli is slowly getting used to it. I'll check out Boomerang.