Redditor’s Story Of How He’s "Lying" To His Cat By Luring Him With Treats Causes Heated Debate Online

"Ask literally anyone else see if they think you're being fair"

Maryjane

• Published in Animal Stories
• October 26, 2022

Cats are one animal that adores crunchy treats because flavor enhancers create an addiction. Cats' increased appetite is also influenced by the high carbohydrate content of cat treats.

Giving treats daily can be hazardous due to the fact that it can result in weight gain. But through the process of operant conditioning, behavior is changed by using both positive and negative reinforcement.

Cats find attention to be a powerful reinforcer. The fundamental idea behind operant conditioning through positive reinforcement is that if the cat receives reinforcement after behaving in a certain way, the likelihood of the activity occurring again rises.

When your cat understands that a particular activity garners its attention, it will continue to exhibit that behavior in order to receive additional reinforcement. You didn't start this, but the cat is continuing it because they're getting something they appreciate in return, which is your attention. 

The OP in today’s story applied this trick as he used treats to lure the cat out of the kitchen so he could close the door. This is because if the cat is left in the kitchen, he could get his "less-than-average-intelligence paws on something he shouldn’t."

That the OP does this doesn’t mean that the cat will get a treat, so his GF was of the opinion that the OP was mean to the cat. 

The Headline...

I shake the little bag to get him out and close the door

isn't creating problems between us but...

The Reddit thread got more than a thousand comments and we've gathered some of the most upvoted replies from Redditors for you below.

The most predictive training method for long term results

For this Redditor, no a**holes in this story

This Redditor says that the cat is at fault

This Redditor is annoyed the OP isn't a slave to the cat

This Redditor wants to see a picture of the cat

The little furry guy is happy with the attention

This Redditor chose to ask the three cats and here are their replies

Intermittent reinforcement is a valid technique

A hug can also be a positive reinforcer

The OP added in the comments that his gf loves the replies so far

Think of the little guy getting excited

It's not a crime to make use of partial reinforcement

Maybe try a different stimulus for your cat

As long as the cat is fine, who cares!

She's an indoor cat but hides in silly places

There is no harm in fooling the cat a little

I don't want to mess up what works

This redditor did something similar to train a pet rabbit

We love to see it

This was achieved by existential projection

I always valued a trusting relationship with my cats

By going through the comments, you could already tell that the Redditors were having fun there. Even though the OP got the @**hole tag, he still managed to give Redditors a good time in the comments.

It’s now over to you to tell us what you think about this story. Is the OP really lying to the cat?

Drop your comments below.

Maryjane