How Do I get my kitten to enoy car rides & Tv ?

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Steve Black - 09 Aug 2003 16:37 GMT

My kitten Odie,is kept indoors all day for his own saftey & my peace of
mind.Now,when I get car,I want to take him out for drives,so he can get
out(but only in the car or on his leash).How do I go about getting him to
enjoy car rides?Also,does anyone recommend any good Tv shows to show Odie?He
doesn't seem to watch Tv much,if any.I would like to know what type of
programmes cats watch.

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Tom - 09 Aug 2003 18:34 GMT

I recall learning in one a physical psychology class that some animals can't
see in 2d, but this makes me wonder why my one cat went through a period of
being fixated to the tv.
Quite possibly he saw something completely different that what I saw.
You could research this a bit more and share it here.
Had something to do with their eyes and brain communication.
I know cats cannot see a vertical line or object until it becomes off
vertical, especially if that object is moving up and down.
Sort of like how things eventually disappear in our periferal.

> My kitten Odie,is kept indoors all day for his own saftey & my peace of
> mind.Now,when I get car,I want to take him out for drives,so he can get
> out(but only in the car or on his leash).How do I go about getting him to
> enjoy car rides?Also,does anyone recommend any good Tv shows to show Odie?He
> doesn't seem to watch Tv much,if any.I would like to know what type of
> programmes cats watch.

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m. L. Briggs - 09 Aug 2003 21:04 GMT

>I recall learning in one a physical psychology class that some animals can't
>see in 2d, but this makes me wonder why my one cat went through a period of
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>> doesn't seem to watch Tv much,if any.I would like to know what type of
>> programmes cats watch.

I have two videos for my cat: National Geographic "Cats: Caressing
the Tiger" and "Cat Adventure Video" purchased through Publishers
Clearing House. Tootie will watch them occasionally for a few
minutes, but once she decides she cannot get at them, she loses
interest. She will occasionally watch a fast, colorful commercial --
but, again, short attention span.

The most important thing she will lik to watch is YOU!---what you do
and where you do it. Or, an interesting bug might take precedence.

When the Olympic skaters were on TV, those fast-moving pictures
fascinated her for a while.

BTW, I doubt she will learn to love a car ride. MLB

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bewtifulfreak - 10 Aug 2003 01:47 GMT

My mom used to always leave the TV on for Precious when she went out, and he
would usually be curled up on the recliner in front of it when she came
home! But all cats are different, so it's hard to say if yours will take to
either TV or car trips over time. If you can slowly acustom him to the
harness near home, then even if he doesn't particularly enjoy the car trip,
you can take him for a little adventure to a park or around a lake somewhere
or whatever, and he will probably enjoy the destination, and at least learn
to appreciate the car trips in that they mean he will be exploring someplace
nice. As far as TV, I think there are videos specifically aimed at cats
that you might want to try (I think there are similar websites, for that
matter)!

Best of luck in finding ways to keep kitty occupied. :)

All the Best,
Ann

--

http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bewtifulfreak

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whayface - 09 Aug 2003 20:17 GMT

>My kitten Odie,is kept indoors all day for his own saftey & my peace of
>mind.Now,when I get car,I want to take him out for drives,so he can get
>out(but only in the car or on his leash).How do I go about getting him to
>enjoy car rides?Also,does anyone recommend any good Tv shows to show Odie?He
>doesn't seem to watch Tv much,if any.I would like to know what type of
>programmes cats watch.

I leave the animal channel on whenever I am gone plus I usuaky watch
it when I am home and I have found Rascal (6 weeks old) setting in
front on it several times when I am home. My year old Margie loves
the commercial where the squrriels (SP) run the car off the road.
Whenever she see it come on she runs for tv and trys to bat the
squrriels!!

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Soft Kitten Co - 31 Aug 2003 20:10 GMT

My Jessie likes the BBC Life of Mammals especially the 'Shrew Train' on the
Rodents episode.
I have a LCD projector and she tried to catch the shrews against the wall.

Marie of http://www.kittens.co.uk

> >My kitten Odie,is kept indoors all day for his own saftey & my peace of
> >mind.Now,when I get car,I want to take him out for drives,so he can get
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> Whenever she see it come on she runs for tv and trys to bat the
> squrriels!!

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bewtifulfreak - 01 Sep 2003 01:37 GMT

> My Jessie likes the BBC Life of Mammals especially the 'Shrew Train'
> on the Rodents episode.
> I have a LCD projector and she tried to catch the shrews against the
> wall.

Oh, no, that's great! I have that on DVD, and my hubby and I loved that
part, but never thought to show it to the cats....I bet they *would* get a
kick out of something like that.... :)

(What a brilliant series, by the way!)

Ann

--

http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bewtifulfreak

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JM - 12 Sep 2003 13:29 GMT

Hi,

don't know 'bout the car thing, but concerning TV: My cats like to
watch sports with a ball!

Snooker (or pool I guess) is way up there, strong colour contrasts and
hey, it's balls rolling around! It's especially funny when a ball gets
pocketed, the cat is like "where did that ball go?"

I also noticed they like soccer, I believe they are actually /aware/
of the fact that they are watching humans playing with a ball! :-)

Like most cats (I think), they usually ignore the TV but sometimes
they suddenly 'get' it.

JM

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studio - 18 Sep 2003 01:56 GMT

This thread may be a bit messed up, I couldn't see how to respond to
the original post.

The car rides are tough one. Some don't mind too much, most just can't
stand it. It would help if she was just a small kitten to get her
accustomed to the idea. Baring that you could try lots of short trips,
but don't get your hopes up.
The TV is easier. Tune to a channel that has wildlife that they can
see fully. In other words, extreme close up's of wildlife may not
interest your cat. They like to see a "bigger" picture, i.e. the other
animal's whole body walking. Yes, another would be games with a ball
in action, tennis is great for this. You might want to tap your finger
nail against the screen so they know what to look at.

For cat videos or computer games check out, http://www.kittyshow.com/
or http://www.cyberpounce.com/

The Kittyshows producer has researched how cats see and makes
adjustments to the color within the video.

I had a cat (Chocolate Mitted Rag Doll) that drove with me all the way
from Alaska to New Jersey, nearly 5,000mi. Including a 1 month stay at
a motel. She was great. She let me know when she wanted to use the
bathroom by acting strange. I would open the passenger door, she would
hop out for about 5-10 minutes, do her thing, and ten hop back inside
the vehicle...all by herself! No leash. I don't know where/how she
learned that though.

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