I'm a little curious about this. Most cats I've known typically do not like to be ordered around, and it's not as if you can really get them to go where you want them to go. Like that old joke about "herding cats" and how impossible it is, heh. My kitty, Jackie, used to live with my parents and sister and their other cats, and she was always the same.
After moving in with me, we bonded pretty thoroughly, and she both got pretty clingy around me and attentive my verbal requests. And now, she actually does come when called, on a surprisingly consistent basis. It's funny, we've developed a little system, almost by accident. If I'm in bed, or sitting on a couch or something, *all* I need to is sing a few lines of a particular song, and without fail she will always look at me and hop right up and sit on my lap. She'll do it sometimes when I whistle or just say "Come here Jackie, c'mon" or something, but not consistently. However, if I sing, she will ALWAYS do it. These days I typically sing this: "When Jackie was in Eqypt-Land, let my Jackie go..." Which I got from Ferris Bueller's Day Off (heh, although I know it's also a hymn or something). And if she's on the other side of the apartment (which is semi-unusual given her clinginess) and I sing that, or even just semi-loudly ask her to come and whistle, she always comes as well.
Anyway, I'm curious how normal this is, because I've never known a cat to do that so consistently, and even Jackie has never done it before, and won't do it for anyone but me. I know some people clicker-train their cats, and I'm sure in that case they come when called pretty consistently. But I feel a little special, and proud, that Jackie will just jump right up onto my lap on command, without fail. She has other traits that would make you think she's been trained, even though she hasn't - for instance, in 7 months of living with me she has never even *once* scratched or bit me, or even come close to doing so. Even when I have to clip her claws, which she always used to scratch and bite people for so much that it used to be a 2-person job. It's amazing to me, because I've never known a cat to be as restrained as her in this regard.
So! Let me know about your cats. How open are they to commands? Are they consistent about it, semi-consistent, or ignore you completely? Most cats I knew prior to Jackie would just look at me like "Are you crazy? You're actually asking ME to do something?!"
After moving in with me, we bonded pretty thoroughly, and she both got pretty clingy around me and attentive my verbal requests. And now, she actually does come when called, on a surprisingly consistent basis. It's funny, we've developed a little system, almost by accident. If I'm in bed, or sitting on a couch or something, *all* I need to is sing a few lines of a particular song, and without fail she will always look at me and hop right up and sit on my lap. She'll do it sometimes when I whistle or just say "Come here Jackie, c'mon" or something, but not consistently. However, if I sing, she will ALWAYS do it. These days I typically sing this: "When Jackie was in Eqypt-Land, let my Jackie go..." Which I got from Ferris Bueller's Day Off (heh, although I know it's also a hymn or something). And if she's on the other side of the apartment (which is semi-unusual given her clinginess) and I sing that, or even just semi-loudly ask her to come and whistle, she always comes as well.
Anyway, I'm curious how normal this is, because I've never known a cat to do that so consistently, and even Jackie has never done it before, and won't do it for anyone but me. I know some people clicker-train their cats, and I'm sure in that case they come when called pretty consistently. But I feel a little special, and proud, that Jackie will just jump right up onto my lap on command, without fail. She has other traits that would make you think she's been trained, even though she hasn't - for instance, in 7 months of living with me she has never even *once* scratched or bit me, or even come close to doing so. Even when I have to clip her claws, which she always used to scratch and bite people for so much that it used to be a 2-person job. It's amazing to me, because I've never known a cat to be as restrained as her in this regard.
So! Let me know about your cats. How open are they to commands? Are they consistent about it, semi-consistent, or ignore you completely? Most cats I knew prior to Jackie would just look at me like "Are you crazy? You're actually asking ME to do something?!"