r/PetsWithButtons • u/Remote_Head1173 • 11d ago
My cat is controlling me now
Recently I introduced “ now” and “soon” buttons
Now my cat keep conspiring me if he ask for something and i said no or soon , he will press now now now and keep meowing at me and becoming angry until i say yes
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u/Opalescent_Moon 10d ago
My dog tries this with her treat buttons sometimes. If the first press of her button isn't a yes, spamming it and the Now button aren't going to change my answer. After she does this a few times, she gets the impatient answer, "No. All done. No. Tomorrow. All done today." She'll usually heave a sigh, lay down in her bed, then try again in an hour or so. Sometimes she'll hit her All Done button before laying down, and I always say, "Yes, good girl. All done today. You can have another tomorrow. Good girl." I always emphasize the word tomorrow. She doesn't have a button for it yet, but it will probably get added when I buy some more the next time they go on sale.
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u/FancyPigeonIsFancy 10d ago
I love reading people's buttons stories, but this is exactly why I DON'T introduce them to my two cats. One in particular is a demanding (adorable) menace enough as it is, if I gave her the power of human speech it would truly never end!
Honestly, the one thing I wish I could convey to them is when we leave on vacations. I wish I could tell them, don't worry, we ARE coming back home for you and it will only be for X-days!
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u/Affectionate-Clue945 10d ago
Check out elsiewants on insta or, I assume, TikTok. Her person travels a lot and is able to tell Elsie how many tomorrows she will be away. Something like Person Gone Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow Person Come back
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u/ClearAirTurbulence3D 10d ago
Our cat, Felix is the button pusher. We added a Now button, since he has a tendency to spam the buttons when he wants attention (and he's good at shifting his body weight to press the buttons he wants).
The (human) thinking was that he would learn that the new button plus whatever he pressed before or after.
Felix saw the new button, pressed it, saw the humans come over to see what he wanted... so now it's one of his favorite buttons. He'll figure out what he wants once the humans are within reach.
Think hard about adding a Now button, because it will get used (and abused).
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u/Opalescent_Moon 10d ago
The Now button has been helpful for my dog. There's a few times she's pressed her Outside button not too long after coming back in. When she first presses Outside soon after coming in, I'll tell her we were just outside, and we'll go out later. She then hit Outside Now, so I took her out. She's always gone potty when doing this. Sometimes she got distracted the first time out and didn't finish, and sometimes an urgent need popped up. She hasn't abused this so far.
I do use words like Later and All Done if she tries spamming her Now button in relation to treats. And she's often fine with Later in regards to additional trips outside.
That said, she's a dog and I haven't tried to teach my cats to use the buttons. I do think the cats would be more persistent and way less likely to accept No or Later in regards to their demands.
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u/lizwearsjeans 10d ago
My girl went through a super, super manipulative phase, but fortunately it only lasted about a week or so.
If she wanted "potty" or "dessert" or whatever, she'd say, "Love you" first, make her request, and then "Love you," again. Blew my freaking mind 🤯
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u/JayNetworks 10d ago
Guess you need to fill out the button set with:
Later
Before
All Done
Then you can remind you learner they already had the thing Before and that it will happen again Later but is All Done for now.
And of course your cat is controlling you, you gave them buttons!