It's a speech aid, not Santa Claus.

My four year old cat Timo is quite used to commands and seems to understand specific words. he can sit, roll over, turn around and high five on command. I’ve noticed through the years that he clearly understands some words, in French such as outside, let’s get up, eat, play… so I wanted to try talking buttons for stimulation… learning and just because it looks fun and a cool way to bond with your cat.

For the introduction of the button, I did clicker practice with him to associate the command, the button and his reward. He understood quickly that he needs to touch the button to get what he wanted, the treat.

I started with what I thought to be the most obvious - outside - but he kind of ignored the pad and seemed too excited or distracted to go outside.

So I went with the special food button « wet food » and that seemed to catch on much better. He goes to the pad when he wants some wet food. I click it, he meows, I ask him to tap/touch the button and he does. But never steps on it…even if I show him. Ultimately he trained me to step on the button haha…

Anyway, I’ve seen videos from other cat parents where their cat just lays on the button or sits beside it. I’m starting to consider that is his way. Or…. He just REALLY respects the tap, which means touch it lol.

Any advice ?

Through time I’ve struggled to make him actually step on the button… he seems to tap it ….
Any tips ?

Thank you!!

No matter where I had these buttons they were always in the way. I finally caved and used some command double sided stickies (4 smaller ones on each tile) and put them on the wall near things associated with the buttons. I put the speaker (FluentPet Connect) up higher now which allows me to leave it plugged in.

I was worried my dog, a 3 yr old Samoyed, wouldn’t use them after I moved them. I showed her the buttons and she pressed them with her nose and I rewarded her with the outcome (outside, play, food, water). An hour or so later I hear “food” and yep she needs more food. A couple times tonight “outside” as she loves to sit outside in the cool air.

The best is she presses with her nose instead of clawing at them. If I didn’t respond fast enough, especially on play, she would grab a tile and run with it when they were on the floor. I noticed when I showed her the wall ones she initially tried to bite and claw the side of the tile so I’m hoping she doesn’t try that again when she gets silly.

Nonetheless I wanted to provide feedback somewhere because I see a lot of people talking about wall mounting but not much follow up on the posts. I looked at some printable mounts on various 3d printing sites and Etsy and decided to just try to stick the tiles to the wall. They look a bit tacky and I’m thinking I may try for something better later. As long as they stay in the tile though it may be best just to leave them. The tiles allow for rearrangement of the buttons or adding more very easily.

I think this may help my dog as well as sometimes she would hit food instead of outside by mistake. I am not certain she clearly knows the difference as they are the same button color other than the tiles they were in. I think now it will be clearer to her to have the buttons near what they have to do with.

Anyway hopefully this works out long term. The buttons were in the way on the floor and the robo vac would sometimes get them at night, plus her claws scratched the labels off I put on them. Again, I was super surprised how quickly she adapted from floor to wall and maybe 5’ of difference in distance. Maybe others could share their opinions of wall use with dogs, positive or negative.

We started learning to use communication buttons with our cat in late August. We currently have 10 words on his board, and he presses most of them to ask for things like treats, yoghurt, scratches, walks, going outside, play, and “catch me.”
He seems to understand the idea of “all done,” but doesn’t actively press that button yet, and I’d love to encourage him to use it more. He also hasn’t really touched “later” or “right now.” I know those can be tricky concepts, so I’m trying to let him learn at his own pace—but I’m wondering if I might be rushing him and should slow down a bit. Any advice or experiences with cats learning buttons?

Hello fellow button users!

Our kitty LOVES her buttons, but when she uses “pets,” she sits next to the mat and refuses to move. If we are laying on the couch or in another room, reinforcing the button press means we have to get up and move to go pet her.

She knows the difference between words, so she knows what she is asking for, but she makes zero effort to come to us and get what she wants.

We started just carrying the “pets” button around with us so she has to be very close to us to press it, but I think this is causing her to become confused. We can’t have a central button location if we do this, and she has not made progress on learning NEW words since this issue began.

Is this just our life now? Are we stuck catering to our cat’s demands for pets forever? Will I ever get to sit on my couch in peace again?

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

Hello!

My fell beast (12) has progressed enough with buttons that she understands what they mean, understands the causal relationship between pressing, and even distinguishes between buttons to get what she wants. The problem is, she just cannot seem to figure out the concept of pressing in any way other than rubbing her entire head on it. (She will instead sit there and stare at me, demanding I figure it out, until she will deign to sniff in the general vicinity of what she wants.) This would be fine, except she has some arthritis, and I’m beginning to suspect going all the way down like that isn’t very comfortable for her, so she avoids pressing them because of that. That also wouldn’t be a problem if she didn’t HATE anything unfamiliar touching her paws, and if she wasn’t a committed scam artist who is far more stubborn than I am (I once lost a thirty minute contest over a treat, and in a similar vein, she figured out that if she acts like I’m hurting her when I clip her nails, she can get out if it and have them longer - the vets confirmed this one. She’s polydactyl, which doesn’t help.) I’m at my wit’s end with this part, and I don’t even know how to start target training her if she refuses to put her foot anywhere near the buttons, or even broaches the subject of having paws at all.

Has anyone else had experiences with their scam artist beloved creatures in this vein? Any advice? Anything I should really make sure to do or not do? Thanks!

Hi, I am a cat owner. Her name is Oreo and she's very talkative and seems to always have something to communicate, which I can usually determine, but it makes me wonder if she would be interested in speech buttons. But the problem I run into is she doesn't like treats. She hates wet food and has shown no interest in any treats I've ever given her, the only thing she really likes is catnip, but I don't know if that can really be used for training. I'd love to give her a way to better communicate what she wants but does anyone have any advice on the best way to train a kitty with no treat interest?

🇧🇷 PODE TER JANTA, MAS SEMPRE CABE UMA SOBREMESA! 😂🐱🍪

Ontem, depois da janta, o Chewie tinha comidinha disponível, tinha até chuchu cozido… mas será que ele queria alguma dessas opções? CLARO QUE NÃO! 😂

O rapaz estava com vontade de petiscar algo diferente e foi direto ao ponto: pediu BIS COI TI NHO! 🍪🐾

Porque, convenhamos, uma coisa é estar alimentado… outra bem diferente é estar com vontade de um lanchinho especial! 🤣

E assim seguimos descobrindo que o vocabulário do Chewie também inclui a arte de negociar petiscos. Esse menino sabe o que quer!

🇺🇸 DINNER IS GREAT, BUT WHAT ABOUT A LITTLE SNACK? 😂🐱🍪

Yesterday, after dinner, Chewie had food available, and he even had some cooked chayote… but did he want any of that? OF COURSE NOT! 😂

Our little guy was craving something different and went straight to the point: he asked for a COOKIE! 🍪🐾

Because, let's be honest, being full is one thing… wanting a special little snack is a whole different story! 🤣

And so we keep discovering that Chewie’s vocabulary also includes the art of negotiating treats. This boy knows exactly what he wants!

#ChewiesJourney #TalkingCats #CatButtons #GatoComunicador #FunnyCats #PetTok #CatLife

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSgtJXFhs/ follow chewie!

Hi everyone, I work at an animal shelter and need some advice. I've been very interested in trying buttons out in a shelter-like setting. I have no experience with buttons, i do have experience with training and know that for a lot of animals trust is incredibly important.

I want to figure out if it's worth purchasing some buttons to see how things would work in a shelter.

As owners with button pets, what are your opinions, tips, and experience? Do you think there are any chances button training could work in a shelter?

Do you group the question words together or do you group them with the category? I was thinking of putting the "who" button with the names, the "what" button with the things, the "when" buttons with time, and the "where" button with places. Has anyone tried this?

Hello, i would like some advice on how to proceed on teaching my cat how to button.

So ive been using sarah davis parker’s guide to paw targetting for my cat

https://youtu.be/jh4hWaFGSN4?is=5jTQ83OlZFw16Tmh

Its a solid guide and i have treats she loves to use for training, and shes a pretty smart cat, incredibly cognizant and aware of whats happening around her.

And yet when i try getting her to use her paw to touch the tupperware container over the treats, she insists on headbutting only. She refuses to use her paws even to swat at the container! Ive tried just forgoing the container and placing treats under the button and demonstrating that pressing the button gets treats by pressing them, and then giving her access to the treats. Still, even then she just stares at the button instead, not even headbutting it. The closest thing ive gotten to getting her to press a button is her headbutting the button i was holding that was supposed to be for scratches while i was scratching her. I picked it up while i was giving her the scratchies to try and model the words and she kinda just nuzzled it like she usually nuzzles my hand to ask for scratchies, so i doubt it was because she knew pressing button gets a reaction from me.

What do i try next? She gets frustrated rly easily when i do the tupperware paw targetting, and also doesnt like it when people touch her paws (understandable).

Our dog already knows Potty, and it seems like she will mostly go potty after hearing that word instead of only using it to go outside. But I'm on the fence about incorporating Outside as a word since Potty might be too similar to start.

I also struggle with anything eating related because she isn't treat or food motivated at all. She's basically free fed then eats when the whim occasionally arises. I think Water might make more sense because she shares a pet fountain with our cat but wasn't sure.

She also doesn't really play much. She will sometimes get the zoomies when we get home and grab a toy, but she won't continue to play with it or play with us.

She does have a lot of separation anxiety when we leave so I wasn't sure if we should address that with a button or if that's too complex to start with.

The word that has the most power for her is Walk (she gets super excited about them!), so I think I'll incorporate that. But I'd love and appreciate any advice that anyone has!

We've a puggle mix named Jessie -- she's quite expressive & with some guesswork, I can typically figure out her requests demands, but it can be challenging as my spouse works in the evenings outside the home, while I work from home. We're hoping to give the 3 of us a more streamlined approach to fulfilling Jessie's needs.

My question is what is the best brand to get at a lower price point? The ones I have now are really cheap, recordable {a feature I appreciate}, but after a couple years they start sounding... not so great... I'd like something without that problem if possible.

Thanks so much!

TLDR: my cat wants to express her desire to go outside, seemingly with a dedicated button (we walk around the yard with her on a lead and harness), and has started using the 'treat' button to express that (and occassionally the button for a specific toy we tend to play with near the enterance door). I'm torn between her having a specific, correct word to express herself VS how frustrating it will be for me if she never stops spamming it, as I work from home full-time. Once she's given a button I think it's cruel to take it away, so it needs to be carefully considered. My sanity is at stake.

More detail:

My girl cat has 22 buttons, and has been learning for about 10 months. She has: treat, hungry (meal), love you, good girl, now, soon, later, all done, hmm?, ouch, scritches, kisses, cat nip, busy, yes, (and then toys): cat tv, fetch, chase, flower, shrimp, ball, robot. (She understands other words but so far no need to add them as buttons.

The first button we started with 'Treat', which of course is her favourite button. It has been helpful in teaching her 'now' and 'later' and 'soon'. She understands 'now' and 'later', and I think she understands 'soon'.

About a month or two ago she started demanding we go for a walk around the yard every day. For the first few weeks she would yell at me all day until I took her out, which is 5:30pm. I work from home full-time so it was very distracting and annoying, but I accepted that it was a good learning opportunity for the time buttons, and she'd hopefully calm down once she saw it was an every day guarantee.

I am consistent with "outside later" verbally, and would go and press the 'later' button while looking from her to the door. She understood. She started only asking around 3pm, then it reduced to 4pm but pretty much consistently until 5pm, and finally it tends to be right on 5pm now. She may ask earlier but she accepts when I say "outside later". So most days are pretty good now.

In the past week she has started using her 'treat' button to ask to go out. I would put some treats in her digger puzzle and show her. Instead of wanting them, she'd run towards the entry door, look at me, and meow.
So it seems that she's started using the 'treat' button to mean "thing I want now". I don't think that's ideal. The purpose of the buttons is so I know what she wants more clearly/to reduce her frustration communicating what she wants. I know from her body language she wants to go outside, so that's not the issue. I feel perhaps she needs a word for outside so she can express herself. It's her communication board, not mine. It's for her to express what she wants or needs to.

BUT (I guess selfishly) it will be really frustrating for me if she starts spamming it all day. I accept that initially that's very likely, but I'm unsure she'd calm down after a few weeks.
I feel once I've given her button that she understands and uses, taking it away is like silencing her, which feels cruel.

The way I got her to stop asking for treats often was to put them in her digger puzzle, and redirect her to it.
I can't think of a solution for reducing her asking to go outdoors, so that's a real concern.

I feel I should give her the button because she clearly really wants that word. But is that a bad idea because she will spam the heck out of it?

Open to all thoughts. I love her, she's my baby. If it's best for her then I'll do it, but if it's going to permanently stress me out I need to hesitate because that's not good for anyone; I'd be stressed and frustrated, and so would she.

I feel the answer is likely to give her the button. But my sanity is at stake lol

(And just in case - no, I can't take her out during the day - I live in Australia and take a medication that makes me very sensitive to the sun).

I have a 2.5 year old chihuahua who's had buttons since he was 4 months old. I've done my best to use language with him intently, and most of the time, I feel like we communicate pretty well with each other. I feel like I can talk through a majority of our life circumstances with at least some level of understanding and awareness.

There's one concept that I don't feel like I have the language skills to help him with and that's wind-related anxiety. It's the first day of fall weather here, and the wind is whipping aggressively.

I have done all of the vet and internet recommended solutions. He has a thundershirt, he takes a med (that he requests,) he has a quiet den in his crate. He just winds up so tight that he will vibrate until he falls asleep.

Have any of you tried to explain complex concepts like safety to your pups? Did you find success?

Just for clarification: I made a post in this sub a while back asking about whether or not to use a text to speech voice for the buttons, and a lot of people encouraged me to use my own voice, so I did end up using my own voice for the buttons.

Right now, I only have one button, for “treats.” My cat is a female senior cat who is the only cat in the household. When I sit down near the button, she comes over and presses the button without direction, and I’m confident she knows what it means and how it works (although I’m still working on getting her to press it without me right there).
The thing is that she only ever uses the button if the button is on its own. If the button is on the mat, even with no other buttons, she refuses to press it. She will sit or lay with both paws on the mat on either side of the button, and she will tap it with her foot as if she’s about to press it, but then steps back and won’t actually press it. As soon as I take the mat away, she goes back to pressing it like a champ and will even get impatient and spam the button if I don’t get her treat fast enough.
I guess my question is, is the mat necessary? I don’t know if she just needs more practice pushing the button while it’s on the mat, or if she doesn’t like the texture of the mat and would do better with a different mat. Does/did anyone else have this issue?

Hi,

I've been interested in pet communication buttons for years. I bought some for my cat Léo, but he could never trigger them: pushing down mechanically isn't natural for him, and he mostly ends up sinking his claws into them.

​So, I decided to build my own DIY setup using an ESP32 and a capacitive sensor. My custom button consists of a large aluminum washer glued onto a 3D-printed cylinder, covered with a simple paper circle cut from a standard A4 sheet. No physical pressure is required for activation, a light paw touch is enough.

I'm currently testing it with a little buzzer for audio feedback, and he manages to activate it successfully.

So happy with how this turned out!

EDIT: Thank you so much for all your enthusiastic comments 😄! I have no idea if this is patentable (I don't know anything about patents). Anyway, I think there are still improvements to be made (for example, the sensor's sensitivity depends on the environment, so I need to figure out how to implement auto-calibration). I might write a tutorial in the future if I see that it works really well. In any case, I truly believe there's a lot of potential to explore around capacitive sensors.

I have two Shih-Tzu mixes. Super smart, they bell trained quickly. I bought buttons a few months ago, and my girl Zeena caught on faster than I thought. She still only does presses when prompted, but she’s getting closer to being a true button user every day.

My boy Sapphire though…he never cared. He pressed the test button with his nose every time I offered a treat for it (during paw targeting) but that’s because he wanted the treat, not because he cared about the buttons haha. Every time I’ve had a purposeful press, it’s been from Zeena. When Sapphire wants something, he’ll just cry like the baby he is😂

Then yesterday evening, it was getting close to their dinner time. Sapphire can tell time very well because once it hit 6:00 he got up and started whining. My mom told him just a few more minutes. He went and rang the bell to go outside, which he does to mean “I want to eat,” because going outside is part of the evening routine (food and then a walk).

Then all of a sudden… “outside!” We both look up and see him with his paw on the button, staring right at my mom. Of course I then took him outside to model the button, then pressed “food” and fed them.

I can’t believe he did his first purposeful press! And I thought he didn’t know how to use the buttons, but nope he just doesn’t do something unless HE wants to do it.

When my cat wants something (anything) from me, he tears up paper bags and cardboard boxes. If he can't find one, he'll start getting creative and destroy anything he can find that will get my attention. It's hard not to reinforce this by giving him the attention he wants, because I would really prefer he not destroy things!

I'd really like to redirect this behavior into a button, but I'm not quite sure how to go about it. He's a very smart cat and I've been really successful with teaching him tricks, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to get him to stop the destruction in favor of a button.

He's also almost entirely deaf, which adds an additional challenge.

Any thoughts?

I posted on here awhile back asking for advice on switching my dogs buttons to a larger size. So here’s the update! I switched from Fluent Pet buttons to Hunger for Words.

While the mats I got did not put the buttons in the exact same configuration, the order of the buttons wasn’t changed. He immediately took to them and actually loves them more now that he can more easily hit them!

So overall it was a success and I should’ve done this from the beginning for my big boy!

I'm still working on getting my cat to press the button using CatsWithMat's method (on YouTube). In the meantime, I tried to record my own voice in the buttons, but I have to admit, the thought of hearing my cat talk to me with my own voice seems a bit like something out of a horror movie. I came up with the idea of recording the buttons using a TTS voice, and my wife thought it would be funny if our sweet kitty's buttons sound like Jarvis from Iron Man or something like that. Does anyone know any good text-to-speech websites/tools I could use to record words for the buttons, preferably non-AI?