Another friend falling incident......not good recovery so far.

[Koolau]

I had ACL and meniscus repair in 2012, and was on crutches for a few weeks. I had to be especially careful on stairs. The two cats I had used to race by me like that, so I trained them by whacking them with my crutches, not too hard, but not a tap either. They learned! They wouldn't pass unless I looked back and stopped and told them it was ok to go. And for the rest of their lives, even when I didn't have crutches, they would pause behind me, and make a noise that they were coming by. Every time. Those two were great cats.

That's amazing. You hate to do it, but cats understand food and whacking. Otherwise, they ignore their "staff."

 

[Teacher Terry]

That's amazing. You hate to do it, but cats understand food and whacking. Otherwise, they ignore their "staff."

A spray bottle will accomplish the same
thing and is kinder than hitting.

 

[Koolau]

A spray bottle will accomplish the same
thing and is kinder than hitting.

Never a spray bottle when you need one.

 

[badatmath]

Cats can only be taken for a drag on a leash. Don't ask me how I know.

Ha. I tried to train my last cat to do that and he always acted like his legs were broken. . . I'm sure if we'd started when he was a kitten he'd have done better but I rescued him as an adult. He was really food motivated so easy to train in some ways.

 

[Joseph]

Only 61, some of my friends starting to have some stuff happen to them already
My Dad had dementia turn into Alzheimer’s ( 4 yrs in nursing home). He always had some cognition when I was around. Made it it a bit easy when I saw him. On a lighter note , I would mess around with him. Was motivating him to try to do some rehab. Pulled the belushi from animal house bit re: it ain’t over till I say it’s over. Alluded to the line” was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor”. He just laughed at me, called a nice expletive while saying the Japanese bombed pear harbor. Had a good laugh at that

 

[RunningBum]

A spray bottle will accomplish the same
thing and is kinder than hitting.

In my case, being on crutches and going up or down stairs, there's no way I was also carrying a spray bottle. Plus I wanted them to associate my crutches as something to stay clear of.

 

[RunningBum]

I play pickle ball with guys ranging from age 60s to early 80s. One of the 80 yr old guys lunged for a ball and lost his balance and fell. Fortunately he knew how to fall and rolled on his shoulder. He got right up and continued playing. He was a small college QB and remained pretty fit his whole life. That helped a lot.

 

[aja8888]

I play pickle ball with guys ranging from age 60s to early 80s. One of the 80 yr old guys lunged for a ball and lost his balance and fell. Fortunately he knew how to fall and rolled on his shoulder. He got right up and continued playing. He was a small college QB and remained pretty fit his whole life. That helped a lot.

All three of my 75 - 80 year old friends that took falls recently and really hurt themselves, fell at night getting out of bed to go to the bathroom. Two hit nightstands, one hit the toilet. All three were hospitalized, one seriously.

 

[Texas Proud]

Cats can only be taken for a drag on a leash. Don't ask me how I know.

Nope... I had one that would walk with you on a leash... she loved going out and we would only let her go on a leash...

Our BOG (big orange guy) would walk a bit but liked to try and hide in the bushes and get tangled up...