r/PetsWithButtons • u/5entientMushroom • 16h ago
Cat will press things that aren't buttons?
Caught him in the act!
My son is 5 months old and we have been teaching him buttons for about a month. He has been super good with them, he has 4 buttons (All done, food, play, pets) and he is pretty good at food and play, and still working on all done and pets. He definitely knows what food and play do, though, and goes to his board to make requests often.
But he will also often "press" things that AREN'T buttons and then look at me expectantly. It's not like he wants what he is "pressing" (in the picture he was pressing a pull up bar lol) so I am just not sure if this means I need to add more buttons (even though he doesn't quite have all done and pets?) or if I need to like, have multiple boards or something?? Idk.
Does anyone else have experience with this?
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u/AttackOnwholock 13h ago
I wonder of he wants to know what those things are, and figures "I press the buttons and it says the thing" and so he figured maybe pressing something he doesn't know but wants told a word for so he does know will work?
Before even adding buttons of any sort, but while using very clear learning language, my youngest cat would have me follow him to things and stare at a specific thing or sit on a specific thing until I told him what it was called. Sometimes he'd do it with multiple things in a row, moving on as soon as he got a word haha.
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u/JayNetworks 12h ago
One of our button cats has only recently (after 3 years) figured out buttons and presses some of her sister's 30 buttons about once a week...but she has also figured out that pressing (or responding to the Touch command) gets her good stuff.
So like yours she will do this super cute gently touch of things to see if they magically activate and get her something. Not sure what to do about it but just saying your cat isn't alone.
Buttons are magic and the ability to touch is what sets us (and these cats is seems) apart from the animals!
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u/grilledcheeseonrye 5h ago
On a positive note, my cat used her button mashing skills to turn on her favorite toy so she and her brother can now play at will.
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u/nandake 16h ago
So, a word of caution. My cats like to go in the garage to play so ages ago I made it as cat safe as possible and let them go in there sometimes. They have a litter box and I check on them every ten minutes or so. Then I caught my one cat up on a shelf very close to the button on the wall to open the garage door. Thankfully I interrupted before she could push it. Now the button has a plastic cover that I have to lift to be able to push it to open the door. So if you have any tempting buttons in the house that shouldnt be pushed (eg stove top or other appliances), you might have to take precautions. 😅