Learning, Training and Behaviour 115
Health and cognitive abilities
Learning can be significantly influenced by the cat’s physical and mental health.
Cognitive dysfunction syndrome (see Chapter 6) will reduce an affected cat’s ability
to learn, while pain, discomfort or just feeling unwell can make a cat less willing and
able to engage in training. Intended reinforcements will also be less attractive and
rewarding for a cat in poor health. Internal pain or discomfort can also become asso-
ciated with unrelated stimuli or behaviour.
Practical feline examples
● A cat with cystitis may experience pain when attempting to urinate in the litter
tray and learn to associate the litter tray with pain, leading to a breakdown in
house training.
● A cat may be less willing to ‘come to call’ if it is in pain or discomfort and does
not want to move, or if it has no appetite or interest in the food treat that it may
get when it goes to the owner.
References
Bradshaw, J. and Ellis, S. (2016) The Trainable Cat: How to Make Life Happier for You and
Your Cat. Basic Books, New York.
Davis, M. (1974) Sensitization of the rat startle response by noise. Journal of Comparative
and Physiological Psychology 87, 571–581.
Ellis, S.L.H., Thompson, H., Guijarro, C. and Zulch, H.E. (2015) The influence of body region,
handler familiarity and order of region handled on the domestic cat’s response to being
stroked. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 173, 60–67.
Lieberman, D.A. (1993) Learning, Behavior and Cognition, 2nd edn. Brooks/Cole, Belmont,
California, USA.
Pavlov, I.P. (1927) Conditioned Relexes. Oxford University Press, London. Cited in:
Lieberman, D.A. (1993) Learning, Behavior and Cognition, 2nd edn. Brooks/Cole,
Belmont, California, USA.
Teigen, K.H. (1994) Yerkes-Dodson: A law for all seasons. Theory & Psychology 4,
525–547.
Weingarten, H.P. (1983) Conditioned cues elicit feeding in sated rats: a role for learning in
meal initiation. Science 220, 431–433.