Cats are often thought to be stubborn and independent, with a reputation for ignoring commands and doing their own thing whenever they please. This has led many people to believe that training a cat is nearly impossible. However, a Toyger cat from Finland named Nipa is proving that this assumption might be outdated.
Nipa’s owner, Tiina, works in a nursing home, where the residents enjoy the company of therapy animals. To brighten up the day for the people at the nursing home, Tiina decided to bring Nipa along. But first, Nipa had to learn how to behave appropriately.
“I saw @cat.school‘s videos on how Julie, the cat school teacher, has taught her cat tricks, and I got inspired so I signed up for cat school and learned the basics in clicker training,” Tiina shared.
With daily practice and dedication, Nipa successfully graduated from cat school after a few weeks! Now, every morning starts with a short training session, lasting anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes.
Tiina uses a combination of treats and a clicker to teach Nipa tricks. Over time, Nipa has mastered more than 50 tricks. His favorite trick is called “cop cop,” where he walks up the stairs on Tiina’s feet.
Tiina explains that while teaching Nipa the tricks wasn’t too difficult, the difficulty can vary depending on the trick and how consistently they practice it. “Some tricks are harder to teach than others. The most challenging trick was probably skateboarding, I think he could still improve his skateboarding talent,” she admitted.
Now that Nipa is well-trained, he joins Tiina at the nursing home, where he’s a huge hit with the residents. One resident even shed tears of happiness when Nipa sat in his lap.
“Nipa is like an ‘ice breaker,’” Tiina explained. “The seniors immediately light up when they see him and start talking to him and me. Even seniors that don’t want to join in other activities or talk to me individually welcome me when I have Nipa with me at work. Nipa brings a lot of joy to seniors, and to see them happy makes me happy.”
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Tiina lovingly calls Nipa “the talented cat,” and it’s easy to see why. He’s smart, eager to learn, and, of course, loves his treats. For those of us with older cats, Nipa might just inspire us to teach them some new tricks too!