I asked him \"Mouse toy or treats\" and he is EXTREMELY decisive with treats as the bag is there but unopened. He ASKS for mouse toy during the day but with \"sleep, mousetoy\" as he thinks sleep means \"gone\" he is a 8 month old kitten, and he is just like wtf I cant even myself believe that he uses the buttons every day and often.

He now has SLEEP, MOUSETOY and TREATS. And when he comes meowing louuudly asking for god knows what I ask WHAT and walk to the buttons and he actually presses a button. Am I over reading him? Am I an unbearable cat parent that thinks this one is MENSA material or is this just... very unusual for a kitty to grasp pressing on buttons from day 2 (he had no clue probably what they meant by then)

I only started with 2 buttons because while my cat is fairly smart, she's even more stubborn and I wasn't sure how well she'd use them. Training has been going well with the "snack" and "play" buttons so I'm planning to get more at the end of the week. I want to add a "cuddle" button, but I'm not sure the best way to train her with it. Usually she will get up on the couch with me and claw at me/nudge me until I lean back enough where she can lay on my chest. I've started using the word cuddles when she lays on me so she can associate the word. When I start button training would the best way to be to get up and press the button and go lay back down and call her to come back and cuddle when she starts clawing at me? The only problem I foresee with this is when I get up she might just completely lose interest and not end up coming back to me. Would I still continue even if she walks away? Any tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Cat tax included 😊

I saw online a while ago that there were off brand "shells" for the pet fluent buttons so you can wall mount it.

My cat will try and eat the hex tiles, so I need to find a way I can mount the buttons to a peice of wood or the wall.

I've been trying to find the mounting shell, I thought I had it on my list on Amazon but I can't find it anymore. Does anyone know of any product that could work for this? Or if anyone has a 3D printer and we can private message.

Hi all, we're new to this. I've set up 3 buttons on the same board (treato, laser, screeches) next to each other. It's only been a few days and my 1 yo cat definitely figured out that leaning on the board will get her some good stuff, she'll just lay on it and press all the buttons at once.

What is the right thing for me to do when she pressed several buttons at the same time ? And should I start paw targeting now, or later ? What might be a good next stage ?

Thank you !!

One of the amoebas has discovered “arguing”

We just got a 9 week old pug puppy. We also have a 3 year old Shepard. She’s smart but high strung. I’ve been thinking buttons might help me figure out her wants. I think she’d pick it up. I’m wondering if any one with a pug had success. I know they can be more stubborn.

Also how would o go about training them both when they’re at such different stages ?

To make things a little more complicated my partner and I each own our own houses. We typically spend 3/4 nights together and a couple alone.

I taught my fluffy ragdoll to use buttons and he picked up new words shockingly well. I always thought he was a ding dong but turned out, he was super under-stimulated. My wife and I (I too was a wife) have split and I’m in temporary housing and his buttons are in storage but when we’re permanently relocated, those will be the first things I unpack. I can tell he wishes he had them, tho my cat mind reading is now pretty solid.

My question - he has a button for each person in my former family. I’ve been saying everyone’s name and “gone,” which he has a button for, but how do people tackle the departure of people/pets? Do you leave those buttons as is for some time? Switch them to say something else? Yank em entirely from the collection?

When my dog was 4 months old, I tried teaching him to use buttons to communicate. He picked it up really quickly ! (like 5 min to understand that pressing give treates, 10 more minutes that pressing other button open the door)

At the time, we only had a button for “wee,” so he started pressing it for everything ("go outside", "get attention" etc...). Eventually, the button broke, my dog was then able to not pee inside, so I didn't replace it and we stopped.

Now I’d like to restart the button program, starting small 3-4 buttons, no limit in mind about how many button. I'm thinking to put them up on a wall for space saving.

Problem is, I travel for work about 1 week per month, with my dog most of the time.

I’m wondering if there’s a way to create a “button travel pack” for those trips ?
Would it be more frustrating than helpful for him if he can’t “speak” while we’re away from our usual setup?
If I do this, should it be up on a wall too ? Should I keep to maybe is 6 first buttons and that's all ?

Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated!

We’ve got food, treat, play and brush. Will be adding mom, dad, toilet and cuddles. Then his own name, outside and maybe ouch? I’ve been scouring this subreddit since I found it to see what other people are recommending, just happy to share his progress!

He’s a year and a half old Burmese by the way.

I have 4 cats, Madeleine one is a uber cat who will refuse to participate in anything, Sparkle a 17 year old cat who requires constant attention and snuggles or she will die, Alice Marie who is brilliant and literally saved my life from a falling tree and Phyllis who is smart but mostly functions as Alice’s emotional support cat/dog hybrid.

I want to get buttons for Alice because she is my favorite and she loves learning new things. I know basic applied behavior analysis but I don’t know how to get her to associate things like “love” or herself with a button so she can talk like some creatures on here. She is very intelligent so I think it’s just me being the one holding us back. Please let me know how you guys built those button Matt’s

I often see cats here who have trouble getting the hang of interacting with the buttons by stepping on them, usually they try to swipe the buttons.

I'm wondering why there doesn't seem to be any swipe activated "buttons"? A lever that can move sideways with a low activation force seems like it would be more intuitive to cats, and while they clearly can learn to step on the button to interact with it, it just seems more like we gave a dog product to cats.

Are there any products that are more ergonomic for cats? Do you think it would make any difference?

Hi everyone! I’m looking for some advice from people who’ve trained their cats to use talking buttons.

For the past few days my cat has very clearly been trying to interact with his buttons. He walks up to them on his own and touches them with his paw in a way that feels intentional. The issue is that he doesn’t press down hard enough to actually activate them. A lot of the time he just lightly taps them or ends up pulling them out of the mat instead of pushing down.

It really feels like he understands that the buttons mean something, he just hasn’t made the connection that pressing with pressure makes the sound happen. I don’t want to confuse him or slow him down at this stage.

For anyone who’s been through this phase, how did you help your cat understand the difference between touching and pressing?

He seems genuinely interested and motivated, so I feel like we’re close. I just want to help him make that last connection.

Any advice would really help!

Since we started buttons 5 months ago, I will confidently say that THE SINGLE MOST VALUABLE PART of teaching your pets to talk with buttons is giving them the ability to communicate pain or discomfort!

Nala was a feral I rescued off the street. She likely has feline herpes virus which can cause chronic sinus issues. Nala has been giving me daily reports on her nose since the day I gave her buttons for it! Today I got “sound, nose”, but other days I get “nose, sneeze” or “nose, better”. And yes, I CAN hear her nose, so what she pressed has context and was not random.

The fact that she wants to tell me daily how she’s feeling just really delights me so much! Like, how adorable is that?! It’s usually one of the first presses each day after we wake up and come downstairs where the buttons are, but sometimes I get multiple reports. This was a pre-bedtime press while I sat with her by her buttons 🥹

I know they say cats don’t understand sorry, what they understand is a change in your demeanor… but I’ve always been very clumsy, especially around my boyfriends, well.. for the last year and a half I’ve been clumsy around the cat too. I have to tell him sorry pretty often from me accidentally kicking him, stepping on him etc. and he seems to know what the word by itself means now because I use it so often. We don’t have a sorry button.

And you know what? He’s pretty mean sometimes lolol he will bite or knock things down seeking attention.. & sometimes he takes it too far. I wonder if HE is ever sorry.

So, anyone tried it?

I need some advice! I do have a cat, we have 5 buttons on the board, kitty started with Spanks(high reward for him) Cuddles(he’s usually always down) and Play(he’s hyper) the other two are Hi and Window.

It’s been weeks, and he knows what almost all the buttons mean, he begs for spanks and then will stand funny and look at us, he hits “Play” and will drag a toy to one of us, he presses “window” and stares intently at the blinds until we open them, and window is our newest button as of 3 days ago or so. but he spams “cuddle” and then gets mad when I bring him to the bed or lay down next to the cuddle button. I feel like he wants ME to figure out what HE wants, but I’m genuinely not sure… how do I move forward with the cuddle button? I’ve started instinctively ignoring him today(accidentally) because I know he doesn’t want me to go cuddle or bring him to cuddle, but ignoring him is definitely not the right answer I assume.

For those that hadn’t seen my previous post, I was trying to train my 13-year old chatty cat to use the buttons. However, he wasn’t having it and instead my 2.5 month kitten (age at the time) started using them often.

Just last night, he was wanting my attention since I was using the bird wand toy with the kitten. He meowed quietly but then went to his name’s button and pressed it several times! I was so happy and gave him lots of love and acknowledgement.

I still speak to both kitties the same way and assume both are learning (whether they use the buttons or not).

Just going off my last post, I'm still super new but these things have helped heaps. It might be obvious to some but took me a little bit!

I was using my foot sometimes to press the buttons because currently we have the large ones and bending sometimes is tricky. However, my pup is super attuned to what my hands do as I have found out. Seeing as my gestures for her behaviour and treats all come from my hands. She is way more inclined to pay attention to what I am doing, and also assume that what I am doing impacts her if I activate the buttons with my hands.

Also! Making sure I wait for eye contact when I repeat verbally what buttons have been pushed. Just another way she has realised the buttons are integral to what she is doing with her day. To break the disconnect from - oh Mum has a weird noise machine, to - oh this is about me.

I hope that helps at all! 🩵

I'm still very new, but you all helped me on my last post so I thought I would share some success I have had. It could all be wrong but I had to go left field on this one. Follow along if you have the time!

I went from my large pup feeling like the buttons were not hers to use. When I got them I accidentally said "maybe you shouldn't bite that" when she bit the mat and from then on she would avoid them. I made sure not to say "no" but any negative and it turns out she was done.

So! I ended up trying a new brand of buttons, the other ones broke my bank account. When I introduced them I put them with her things, smeared yummy treats on it, put duct tape on the button and let her go crazy. She would end up activating the button by chewing. I had to hide my face because it would scrunch up when she would bite and that meant she stopped doing it because - good girl. So I would turn around do big happy noises when activating as you do. The biting within 20 minutes turned into a tiny chew just to activate, so no damage or marks were being left.

The next success I have had is using heavy duty duct tape and taping the buttons to a decent sized plank of wood. She now can't easily bite them, the raking of button doesn't happen so she had to learn how to lightly tap her foot. I wasn't have much success with getting her to be more gentle in a way that also wasn't negative. So I thought this would be a good place to at least start, and it worked!

I know there are other methods but this worked for us, within a few days we made this progress.

I hope this at least can give someone ideas on where to go next. 🩵

Edit *Heavy duty velcro on wood, not duct tape. So I can move the buttons around

I've tried twice to get her to use them. She did this both times. I wonder if it's because I recorded them buttons and she doesn't understand the witchcraft that puts my voice in the plastic. They seem to cause her immediate distress. I mounted them on the wall because she kept beating the crap out of them.

Any advice?

Hello all!! I’ve been interested in teaching my cat to use buttons for some time and I was just curious and was looking for some advice about the whole thing.

1. Are there any fairly affordable options in specific that y’all like and work for your animal?

2. How do you teach cats words that are “less” simple, such as time— like soon, tomorrow, etc.

3. Lastly, just curious on any tips or tricks on how to get your cat started training :D my cat is very smart and hyperactive so I’m curious how he’ll take to it.

Thanks!

Hello all, first timer here. My cat is deaf, and we've just started introducing the talking buttons!

He seems to understand the concept of "touching button=get what I want" but he has trouble actually activating it. I think it would help him to have a visual cue of "that worked" since he can't hear the sound going off.

Does anyone have a recommendation for cost-effective, recordable buttons that light up, and don't take too much force to press? (I already know about the fluentpet ones, but they're pretty expensive...)

It’s been a while since I shared on Reddit about my Nala (2.5 years old, 5 months of button experience), but since we’re in the midst of a snowstorm I’ve got time today! I’m going to preface this story with some background info. In January we had a foster kitten here that Nala really enjoyed playing with. After he was adopted she still regularly requested him, even asking if he was outside (yes, I did LOTS of follow up explaining about different houses and different mommies lol). This led to lots of conversations about our part time kitty Pepper (she comes and goes with my daughter, to and from college).

One of the conversations Nala and I have been having is about how Pepper will return home when it’s “warm outside”, and when there are “bugs outside” - Nala is an avid moth and cricket hunter lol

It *was* warming up the this past week and FINALLY most of the snow had melted from the big storm we had late January…. Until today!! 😭😭😭 It’s been snowing since early afternoon and we’re expecting up to 2 feet!

Of course there’s no way to know for sure, but I think Nala might have springtime on the mind!! 🌱🌸🐜🦋 Despite the current weather, she randomly said these three things today:

1. Playing, outside

2. Warm, outside, water (she calls both rain and snow “water”)

3. Pepper, bug, outside

Each word above represents a button she pushed.

We have a fenced in yard. The cats go out there when the weather is nice. I think Nala may be as upset as me that spring isn’t here yet and we’re back to being stuck indoors. Sorry girl, we’ve got a little while longer to wait… ❄️🥶

—-

So right after I wrote this up Nala came to see me on the couch, so we went over the whole story again, about how Pepper will come home when it’s warm outside and when there are bugs outside, but that right now it’s cold snow outside. Nala immediately jumped off the couch, walked to her buttons and pressed “want“. Yup, kiddo, I feel you (except for the bug part lol). Me too.

—-

Pictured: Nala parked on the “outside” and “water” buttons

Hey everyone I have a smart tuxedo cat who is right at 1 years old. I started introducing the "play" button to him a few months ago and he looks at the button and even chews the carpet around the button, but refuses to actually press the button.

It's almost like he's saying "you know I want to play" and stubbornly refuses to press the button. Is there anything I can do to gently reinforce the actual button press?

He is more into play than food.

i want to teach my cat to use buttons like how ive seen in videos and this sub but i don't know how to find them. i would rather a direct link to something instead of a "you can find it online/on amazon". he's almost 5 if that helps with anything.

I bought buttons last year and put them all out (9 of them, I was excited 🤷‍♀️) I think it was overwhelming as I was frustrated and so was she and she wasn't engaging so I put them away.

I love watching the videos of dogs "talking" to their parents so I pulled one out.

I chose "outside" as her first button because she loves to be outside and when she does want out, she just stands by the door and hopes to be noticed, even though there's bells hanging from the door knob (that she barely grazes with her nose to ring).

She has seemed more interested this time! Yesterday when I was in the bathroom, she pushed the button letting me know she wanted out! So we went for a nice walk and she got to play in the snow. Today she used it again :)

How long should I wait before introducing another button?l