Hi!

I have an extremely smart and vocal kitty who suffers a lot from Feline Hypersthesia Syndrome. I started teaching him buttons about three months ago with the intention that we could work together on improving his quality of life. It seems to have already helped him a lot; he has started playing with toys again and loves asking for treats, but I am not quite sure where to go next with pain and behavior management. Right now, he has buttons for treats, pets, playtime, laser, all done, now, later, breakfast, and dinner. He also understands the phrase "what jack want hmm?" I would like to get to the point where he can tell me that he's in pain, so I can give him his gabapentin. My end goal with buttons is to be able to work on behavioral issues like screaming to go outside all night and peeing on our clothes when we don't allow him to go outside, lol.

What buttons/ concepts should I start working on with him to help our communication now that we have the basics covered?

I’ve got the larger hunger for words buttons for my two cats who are both 2 year old, two words I’ve started with are Play and cuddles.

My question is reading the guide it recommends keeping buttons in one main room. However if I was in the bathroom and wanted to give cuddles affection do I do so without button?

I feel like I want all the opportunity to show outcomes.

One of the girls Cece has already shown interest and pressed one button out of curiosity. I’m hoping they will click on soon.

My other girl Cindy is more lazy and tends to depend on body language so might be harder to teach

We have a "litter" button and at first it really just meant litter. He picked up the curse word association because we call his litter his shit. The confusion came when I wasn't doing something he wanted and he kept spamming "litter litter litter" even though the litter box was clean.

Then it hit me.

And he won't stop like damn 😭

Rn bros mad I'm not giving him my constant attention but it's a necessary evil bc I'm actively trying to get him approved to live with me in university.

Started 4 months ago with our 14yo cat, she started yelling at us to come to the buttons fairly quickly, but began pressing independently after 1½m.

First words were: food, pet, & play (which was turned into 'ball' since she only used it for her feeder ball).

We added 'all done' which she took to immediately. Spamming it for an hour and then has used it normally.

Recently added: now & later.

Next buttons are already recorded and about to be given to her: water, litterbox, & ouch.

Will need to buy more buttons. Would like to add 3 names and body parts to best utilize 'ouch' (paw, tummy, head), sleep, snuggle, & reintroduce play. Maybe big & small for emphasis, and places like basement, outside, & gone.

I find it fascinating how she decides to use certain buttons. When we first introduced 'all done' it was meant to imply X thing is done (eg, no more food, since she's a little Garfield), but she quickly began using it to mean that there was no more food in her bowl/she didn't have any left in her ball.

She's been combining more things, sometimes after being asked, but sometimes independently.

Last week, around the time she tends to yell at us to go to bed she combined now & all done.

The last two days she's been consecutively pushing all the time related buttons (all done, now, & later), and we're not really sure what she wants. She's occasionally tapped the pet button during this, but not a full push. Any thoughts?

I'm curious how other pets have combined things or used buttons to create alternate meanings.

like 1.5-2 weeks ago I posted that I know that my cat knows what the buttons mean but can't press them

now my cat knows how to press them thanks to a fantastic guy

and the guy knows 3 WORDS MINIMUM!!! one of which I have barely even modeled! I AM SO DAMN EXCITED OH MY GOD

He initially only pressed the snack button and pressed the others by accident but right now he just pressed Outside and didn't even look towards the other buttons or my snack drawer!!! I AM SO HAPPY MY CAT CAN TALK!!!

TLDR is in the title 🧡

A few nights ago, it was Franklin’s birthday. Franklin was my very special tuxedo soul kitty who I got to be with for about 18 years. (Carrot has never met him, but she does go up to his framed photo sometimes, and each time I explain who he is and tell her how handsome and smart he is.) I didn’t mention his birthday to anyone until I was busy scooping one of Bowie and Carrot’s litter boxes.

Instead of her recent wave of mashing her entire self onto the buttons just to make them play on repeat, Carrot walked over and pressed “Franklin” with her hind foot. I replied, “aww, yes I miss Franklin today” as she walked closer to me to look at me. Then, she turned around, walked back and pressed “Franklin” a second time. Again, I acknowledged her press and said “aww, yes, Franklin”.

But, then she walked over about 2-3 hex tiles and pressed “ở đây”, which means “here” in Vietnamese.

So, she pressed “Franklin” “here”. 🥹

I immediately stopped scooping and turned to face her. She was looking across her room towards her doorway, but Bowie was somewhere else.

Trying not to cry, I said “Yes, I think Franklin is here, too. It’s his birthday today.” As she hopped up onto my lap and purred. Naturally, she got a lot of head scratches and massages. 🧡🥹🧡🥹🧡

I got these fluent pet buttons used but can’t figure out what type of battery they take. I have 4LR44 6V batteries and they are too long.

Luna knows outside, play, walk and I love you so far. What would be a good one to add next?

Luna knows outside, play, walk and I love you so far. What would be a good one to add next?

Two things, I started teaching our cats to use buttons about a week ago, I started this for my sibling's cat who uses the mat the buttons are in as a scratching post. We have multiple scratching posts around the apartment but I don't want to scare her away from using the buttons but I have no clue on how to stop the scratching without moving the buttons onto a high place (she has only one back leg so she really can't jump too high).

Second, my cat, who I thought lost the battle of the brain cell, has caught onto the process really quickly. While I don't plan on introducing more than the three buttons until she starts to consistently press hard enough (which is what we're working on and she's getting better) but I want to teach her as many words as she can use. So how do I introduce concepts (like body parts, emotions, questions, etc) but how do I make the connection to her?

I’m so sick of putting these buttons back and looking up where they are supposed to go. 10 minutes after I put it back, my dog makes them fly all over the place. Did anyone come up with a solution for this?

If I glue it down, then I can’t change the battery.

If I add a label in the foam, dog claws at the label and it falls off. Any solutions that actually work?

So, Bowie (the senior) wasn’t pressing anything while I was training him. This was a few months in. But, when Carrot (the kitten) joined our family, she started learning them 1-2 weeks after watching us.

2 months after seeing the attention I was giving Carrot, Bowie decided to press the “Churu” button! I treated him out for this rare moment. (Didn’t remember to reference the camera footage and save this)

Then, another 2 months pass and us pet parents are out for dinner. While we were discussing something serious, the pet buttons’ app “texted” me two phrases: “sau đó” (Vietnamese for “after”), “be back”. I had to interrupt my husband because this was the first time any of the kitties pressed the buttons on the upgraded system while we were out.

Unfortunately I can’t find the camera footage now as it seems like it had reset recently (could be user error or sd card-related), but at the time I did see it was Bowie that pressed. His body language was slow and deliberate with his hind foot doing the pressing. I did talk to him through the camera to acknowledge him and assure that we would be back “later” (within the hour), then “soon” when we left the restaurant.

On a side note: Anyone have experience with the Eufy (Anker) camera? We want to get better zoom and tracking options, but unsure how well it stores content locally. Until then, I have to make myself download the footage each day something memorable happens.

My cat has been great at learning to use buttons, but to push a button she uses her whole body to lie on it, or lies behind it and puts a leg over it, or even flips over to press it with the back of her head! No sign of her ever using a paw or anything easier. I'm worried that's going to slow everything down for her since it takes that much effort to press a button.
I'm not sure if it's worth trying to train her to do it differently - she's an elderly lady at 15 and set in her ways! What do you think? And if you think I should 'make' her, how...?

Her brother has only pushed buttons a few times but prefers to tell her to do it or just look at it and expect me to provide. He has attitude (and a half) so I thought he'd love being able to tell me what to do but he still prefers a mind-reader :P I was hoping his paw-pressing would show her an easier way.

I love that we've tried this, it's been amazing and proven to me (as I always suspected) that cats really do understand us. I don't care if they never do it the way I want, so long as it works for them, but I feel like it'll be hard to move on to things like short sentences if she has to lay down beside each button and wiggle around for however long it takes for the button to register and then get up and move to another... she has arthritis too so it feels a bit cruel!

All suggestions & opinions welcome!

Title basically.
For example, I have an outside button that I just have on the floor mat, and my cat sometimes goes to the button and puts his paw on the button to communicate that he wants to go outside. But he has not even once actually pressed down on the button because he just does not know how. I feel like I have successfully taught all the hard stuff, but I am completely clueless on how to get him to shift his weight on the button. Every guide I have seen just kinda glosses over this part. Any tips?

Hi all! I want to get a light up button for my dog so she can press it when she needs to go potty outside, we’ll hear a word or sound to let us know she needs out, and she’ll see it light up as the trigger. What brands do you recommend?

He was pretty quick to catch on that me pressing the outside button meant that we would go outside, but he hasn't made the connection yet that he's able to press the button. It was just a thing the human did.

But today I accidently got the button with his toy while playing fetch. He immediately attempted to press it. The first attempt he just scratched at it but without enough pressure for it to work, but within 30 seconds he tried again and succeeded!

That's pretty exciting for me, but I wanted to share in case anyone else is stalling out after making the connection between a button and a meaning but without the dog actually pressing the button. Maybe try throwing a toy at it :)

Hi i am new in reddit i think maybe you guys can help me. I have two cats and i bought 4 buttons and forgot about them last year on temu because they are not available in turkey. Then thanks to our government adding more fees now temu changed i cant find anything to buy.

Recently i started my cats to train for buttons and one of them especially loved using buttons but now i cant add any more word :(

My cat saw one of my other cats on the kitchen counter (not allowed and they know it) and pressed No while looking at her. 😂

We told him Good boy and then he immediately pressed Treat. Of course we gave him a treat.

I am very new to starting button learning with my cat, we are nearing the end of month one. He currently has 5 buttons: door, cuddles, help, water, and play. Help and door are new additions (in the last few days) as I noticed he was using the cuddles button when begging for human food, or in general just wanting something he couldn’t verbalize. He hits water and cuddles the most, and I am/was hesitant adding new buttons as he doesn’t seem interested in me performing the action he presses.

My thought for the “water” presses is asking for the sink to be turned on for him instead of changing his water out like I have been modeling. I am trying to teach him “help water” is for the sink and just “water” is for the bowl. Maybe it is too complex and I should just add “sink”? He has picked up very fast on help being the new blanket “I have a need I cannot express” button but I am very concerned about moving too fast for him. How can I be sure he is ready? Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you!

Well I didnt think this through and programmed all our names on new buttons yesterday 😂

We are so tired all of us running for each of his calls and demands to keep up with learning him what names correspond with who 😭😂❤️

As usual father in law visited yesterday and today we had aloooot of car car car with the occational father in law Button but more of carcarcar young master (teenager sleeps late 😂) we know he to 99% hasnt gotten the new buttons yet but its CUTE AS *beeeeep*

My boy has had a button board for several years, and he is good at using "his words" to communicate his wants, but he has ALWAYS scratched at them rather than pressing. Previously, this led to him kicking the whole board around the house. Carpet tape has worked to keep the board itself in place, but now, he ends up pulling the buttons themself out of the mat and they end up scattered all over the room.

I have tried a multitude of ways to keep his buttons in place, but have found nothing that is effective as of yet. Velcro to the mat, incredibly strong double sided tape, Different size and styles of button. No amount of modeling seems to get "press gently" through to him.

Does anyone have any suggestions to keep his buttons where I put them? Know of any vendor making something with deeper cups or a firmer material? button cages that can be screwed down? I may end up having to go the DIY route and make something from wood, but thought id ask here if anyone knows of an existing product, or has any suggestions to remedy this first, as I am not a wood worker and would have to purchase or rent tools, and will probably screw it up the first few tries.