Can cats be led astray by other cats?

Will

Become more likely to be led astray

Cats learn in five ways: habituation, sensitization, conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning. Among them…

Cats are very good at observational learning.

1.The person most likely to teach a cat bad habits (or good habits) is their mother.

A 2017 study published in Nature found that many of the behaviors of young cats are influenced by their mothers. Skills like hunting, grooming, and burying feces are learned by observing and imitating their mothers. Therefore, if a mother cat has bad habits, she is very likely to pass them on to her kittens through her words and actions.

2.Cats that grew up with their mother are more likely to learn bad habits (good habits).

A Texas State University study found that a cat’s learning speed is related to whether it grew up with its mother. Cats that grew up with their mother or other adult cats tended to have stronger learning and imitation abilities.

3.Besides cats, humans can also teach cats bad (or good) things.

A study published in the journal Science in 2010 showed that cats can “map” human body parts onto their own anatomy and imitate movements like flapping and opening objects. (Currently, only dolphins, parrots, apes, and killer whales have been shown to imitate humans.)

However, cats vary greatly in their willingness and ability to imitate. Fortunately, besides demonstrating in person, we can also use four other methods to teach cats good or bad habits…

Desensitize your cat through habituation/sensitization

Sensitization is when a cat becomes increasingly sensitive to a stimulus after repeated exposure; habituation is its opposite.

For example, an inexperienced kitten might be frightened by a noise and might hide, hiss, or retaliate. However, with proper guidance, after a few hearings, it might learn, “That’s none of my business,” and gradually become accustomed to it.

Help your cat develop habits through conditioned/operant conditioning.

Establish a behavioral habit in your cat: “When X happens, if I do X, I’ll get X back.”

For example, many kittens have learned the habit of “If I scream and scratch at the door early in the morning while I’m in bed, they’ll get up and get me a treat (and do it again next time)” or “If I stay quiet, they’ll get up and get me a treat.”