Cat Behavior Guidelines | Folies Félines

Guidelines

Mission

To help animals and humans to cohabitate in harmony,
while respecting the fundamental needs of each species.
To help individuals from different species, who do not speak the same language, to understand one another and to communicate in order to better live together.

Principles guiding our practice

To put the security of the public above all else.
To consider the best interest of the animal first, while also considering the best interest of their human in parallel.
To not put what would make us look good as professionals before the interest of the animal.
To consider the individual, their age, their physical abilities, their history, their environment, their needs as a member of their species and as an individual.
To not do to others what one would not want done to themselves. This is valid both for humans and animals.
To recognize when a case goes beyond our own skills and to refer the client to someone competent in the matter.
To adhere to the LIFE (Least Inhibitive, Functionally Effective) approach when modifying behavior. To make sure that the animal has their needs met (health, hygiene, diet, environment, etc.). To set the animal and the human up for success. To recognize that behavior has a function and to prioritize encouraging behaviors that we want to see more of instead of punishing those that we don’t like. Most animal carers punish because they lack the skills in the moment and in despair, not knowing what to do, they try to tell the other living being to stop what they are doing. As professionals, we have the tools to react more competently to behaviors that we want to modify. (For more information on the LIFE approach, click here.)
To prioritize the use of positive reinforcement in our approach and training, using treats, play or other things that the individual animal finds pleasant to modify their behavior.
To not use pain as a training tool. (Pain can however be involved in procedures relating to healthcare such as blood draws, but it is not used as a tool to get behaviors or to suppress others.)
To not use threat as a training tool.
When something unpleasant is incorporated our training, it’s with the goal of it losing its aversive quality by giving the animal control over it (such as when training for the use of a nail trimmer, for interactions with strangers, for medical injections, etc.), while also pairing it with positive reinforcement. We always aim to present the unpleasant item at a distance and in a way that induces the least amount of unpleasantness possible. Our goal is to make the process something the animal actively decides to participate in and enjoys. We listen to the animal’s “No” by stopping, not by punishing.
To re-evaluate the effectiveness of the method used and to adjust according to the data obtained.
A failure is an opportunity to improve one’s methods, to reconsider the way one presents the subject, to polish ones techniques.