Talking Buttons for Cats: i can haz language?

Talking Buttons for Cats!

DISCLAIMER: We removed the original video at the request of one of the TikTok users included in this video. Any footage of actual cats is there just to illustrate how the buttons are used. I am not criticizing anyone who chooses to train their cats!

[Reupload]

Related Videos

History of Cats Part I

Cat Vocalizations and What They Mean

Clicker Training Your Cat is Easy and Fun!

Clicker Training Cat Bundle

Training Support

0:00 Intro - Chips
0:44 Button Background
2:28 The Story of Cats and Us
3:26 Human Tinted Glasses
5:51 Relationships vs Buttons

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and ring that bell! 🔔

Join this channel to get access to perks:

😺😺😺😺😺😺😺😺😺😺😺😺😺😺😺😺😺😺

🐈‍⬛ Calling all pet parents! 🐈‍⬛
Share your video moments with me...and maybe the world!

😺 My Favorite Cat Products (naturally!) 😺

🐈 Follow Me Here! 🐈

😻 The Jackson Galaxy Project 😻
We make a difference for at-risk animals and the people who care for them. Join us!

#JacksonGalaxy #Cat #training
00:00 Introduction
00:44 What are Talking Buttons for Cats?
02:34 Cats and Humans
03:31 Human Tinted Glasses
06:02 Relationships vs Buttons

[yourlocaltoad]

My cat has found a way to tell me that she wants my mom to visit us.

Like most Europeans, I don’t wear shoes at home, but my mom likes to wear slippers indoors.
And so I have a pair of slippers just for her and she always wears them when she visits.
Whenever my mom hasn’t visited us for a week or so, my cat will pick up one of these slippers, drag it into the living room, sit on it and start yelling until I come to see what’s going on.
And once she does that, she’ll repeat it daily until my mom visits us again.

So my little girl found a way to tell me that she misses her human grandma.

[ArmstrongEA]

I'm currently taking my cat for a walk because he pushed the outside button! I jumped at this trend because my cat's default communication technique was to yeowl at me non stop. The buttons help me understand exactly what he wants from me so it is definitely helping with that communication compromise you talk about. We only have 4 buttons. Outside, Play, Sctitches, & food.

[suem]

All I know is that 15 years ago I set up the point at the cup IQ test for my retriever. I pointed to which one had the treat. She just cocked her head. My ragdoll Reilly walked up, sniffed the solo cups and toppled the correct one and gobbled up the treat. Got it on video. He was also capable of unscrewing lids off treat jars. One of the vet school extra rescues you come home with.
In the 1970s I trained my cats with sign language (or gestures I made up for tricks). Sit. Up. Paw. Lay down. Roll over. I had no idea cats ‘could not be trained”. He would go through his trick list unsolicited to communicate that he wanted a treat. So, in that way, he trained me too.

[josiewoodrose]

My cat has learned 6 buttons which is plenty for my purposes. They are all action buttons for me to do something. His buttons are brush, water, treat, pet, food and kibble. He eats wet food and dry food so he tells me when his kibble needs topped up. It's fun and he really does have the hang of it which amazes visitors.

[miniciominiciominicio]

Jackson, I’m glad you are talking about this. It makes sense for someone with your extensive experience to be skeptical. But you’re defending dog button training due to “science” and the lack of established “science” for cats.

BilliSpeaks, who I know you have heard of, is a woman (Kendra) who has and still is in the process of continuously teaching and using buttons to communicate to her cat Billi and vice versa.

She is part of the study that Bunny the dog is in.

You have not watched Billi’s journey from a few buttons to now. She can tell time/differentiate between morning and evening and before/later.

Instead of getting physical with a cat (Guppy) who was staying in their home, if Billi had enough of Guppy, Billi would press the “All done” and “bye” buttons to signal her feelings that Guppy was no longer welcome. If Kendra did not do anything, then the next time Guppy got in Billi’s face, she would then attack her.

Billi is also able to differentiate between her mom and dad, mom’s friend, and mom’s mother as they have their own buttons. She will ask for them if they are away. Especially dad as she is crazy over him.

One of the most recent significant achievements has been Kendra compromising with Billi.

Billi is sick and has to take medicine once a day with her meal. Kendra tried to hide it in her favourite food and that worked for awhile. But then Billi refused to eat it. Kendra realized she couldn’t hide it in anything as the taste was overwhelming a turnoff for Billi.

Over a period of a few days, she was able to create a new routine with Billi. She would have to eat her pill first and then she would get her meal. The video is magical.

Billi often initiates conversation when her parent(s) are lying on the couch watching tv. She is not signaled to do anything. She knows how to ask for specific toys, she knows how to ask for specific areas of her body to be scratched and can ask for cuddles OR pets.

She can also tell Kendra when she isn’t feeling well or if something hurts in a different way (like loud rapping music - she hit her button mad several times and said ouch when Kendra was playing Hamilton and also when Kendra was putting together furniture in another room and there were loud noises Billi didn’t like.

As I said, Billi is ill and her prognosis is not good. I think you would be missing out on a significant scientific discovery and breakthrough if you don’t ask Kendra to meet Billi in person and observe them communicating.

I know Kendra would be thrilled to meet you and have you see for yourself that it’s all genuine. She is not grifting, she is not faking, she is a cat lover just like you are.

Billi may be one in a few thousand cats that have the capacity to learn but they also need a human willing to do the long term work. Most cats will be able to achieve what Kendra and Billi have.

And while Billi is still with us, it is a wonder every upload that we are lucky to witness.

[TheRareGemma]

I have trained my cat (female, 11yrs, rescue) on the buttons. I thought that there was no way that I would need more that 12 buttons, I need more than 12 buttons. I find the buttons are great for Sophie to ask for things directly. She will ask to "play". She will ask for "food" or "treat" or "treat-food". I modeled the combination of those two words to give her another way to ask for a specific thing.
I find the buttons a good interim solution until I can train the cat on how to use a clicker. Until she can get her paws around using a clicker to train me, this is a good way to know what she wants me to do. I have tried asking her for a cuddle but she either doesn't understand or doesn't care to give me a cuddle when *I* ask.
Fun Fact: I am a House Cleaner. One of my Clients has a cat trained on the buttons. I spend a few minutes at the beginning of every shift telling her cat...No. Treat later. Later-later-later.

[Gunbunny]

I’ve watched Billispeaks for several years on YouTube. Her mom is a veterinarian and has trained her on the buttons. It is absolutely remarkable how much that cat can convey and the logic she uses.
Personally, I am super excited to see what we can learn from cats by the use of their communication buttons. I am absolutely fascinated by Billi.

[gemmydoadance]

Regarding Billi Speaks, who is senior cat, uses these buttons, Kendra is a vet. I highly recommend watching her channel before you firm up your opinion. Your points are very good, but the approach Kendra takes is multi-faceted and very scientific. Cat body language is a large part of it. She even talks about her own bias within it. Billi communicates her emotions simultaneously with her buttons. Hissing/growling when pressing "mad" or lashing her tail. Ouch when she is about to throw up.

So yeah, really, give it a go.

[SerPounceToebeans]

I've never had a problem with communicating with my cats, sometimes I can communicate better with them than some people these days.

[kwahoo]

I got a set of buttons after watching a lot of Billispeaks to get my cats to play more and it's been going great. It takes out a lot of guess work when they can hit the "play" button followed by the toy they want to play with. I also have an "all done" button for when they are done. I can get them to play at least 3x as much as before.

[reginanjus]

Our Cat has learned to ask for water out of the faucet! He communitcates it to anyone that uses the Master Bathroom! Because it is so clear people freak out that he did that for them! He enjoys training people!

[les]

My guy… Kendra from BilliSpeaks has been working with Billi for years, essentially teaching her a second language, and has had impressive results well worth looking into. Is it for everybody? No. Doing it correctly takes an awareness of behavioral science and knowledge of cat body language. It’s never going to be a shortcut to not having to pay attention to a cat’s body language. But watching Billi learn how to express herself is an incredible insight into how cats think and relate to humans, and has clearly enriched Billi’s life. She can now understand that her medicine comes before food, and tell her owner if she’s in pain, and where. It’s not just “treats” and “food.”

[andreawalker]

The parent of the cat Billi from the channel 'BILLI SPEAKS' doesn't just use the buttons to get Billi to do/eat something because a lot of the time Billi initiates the conversation. Would love to see what you think of their interactions.

[cllew]

Billi speaks is wonderful. That cat seems so happy to have a voice. LOL the Mad button.

[Spamkromite]

If you watched Billi, you will understand that she doesn't do all of that for food, but to make her humans to shut up 🤣
The other day she wanted the pets from her aunt, and Billi requested CHIN PETS from her using the buttons (then BRUSH PETS).

[CeliannaNami]

Button communication is not a replacement for body language, despite what many comments here and Jackson seem to think so, but it's an addition to communication. An amplifier, so to speak. Teaching cats to use buttons to communicate not only gives them more options to express themselves to us better, but the humans learn cat body language even better.

Yes, teaching buttons means understanding cat body language BETTER, it does not mean body language gets ignored. Body language is key to understanding the meaning of some presses, because not all the time do us humans understand what the cats are pressing. It takes the cat's body language and context in mind to figure out the meaning.

So many comments here (and the video) are dismissing the impact buttons have on our pet's lives. Yes, when your cat meows, you can probably understand it wants food, or maybe it wants to go outside. But can your cat meow and tell you that they're experiencing a UTI, or that they're going blind, or wondering where their deceased friend is? Probably not. Buttons help with that; they allow the cat to be more specific about conveying their communication to us humans. And it's not only about requests or food spam as many seem to think; cats can narrate what's happening (from alerting us to a loud sound, or that there's a weird smell inside), inform what's happening to their bodies (such as medical issues), convey emotions (lots of cats have opinions about our music!) and will also ask questions.

Buttons have been a great addition to my cat's lives, including hundreds of other cats who have been taught the same. It has only amplified my understanding of my cats and enriched their lives even further. Many of us starting buttons tend to realize down the line that a lot of cats are... well, bored. Extremely bored. Something that was simply ignored by many cat owners. But with the buttons it became much clearer that they need something to do in their lives, and the buttons are a way to demand for it and have the human listen.

After all – how many times have we seen people say "My cat keeps meowing at night and I don't know why, "? As much as these comments would like you to believe that they understand their cat perfectly; it can be improved and finetuned through buttons.

Buttons are an enrichment and a way to improve communication with your cats (and other animals). I can only recommend you talk to people who are using buttons to get the bigger picture. To dismiss the buttons like this, is to dismiss our cats want more out of life and they are perfectly capable of stringing coherent thoughts together, and yes – including expressing emotions.

Two days ago I went to attend a birthday party. During the birthday party I got a notification on my phone that my cat pressed some buttons back at home. She said: "[her name], come, [my name], [my name]". She was asking me to come back home.

[ericke.]

I don't think anyone has said that the buttons are a good thing to use for all dogs and cats, nor do I think anyone has claimed they are a replacement for all communications. So far the animals (online at least) that have the most benefit from the buttons are Bunny the dog who explicitly has anxiety, and Russell the cat who also has anxiety as well as trauma. Russell in particular is so interesting because he has other cats in his household who don't care about the buttons and aren't interested. To me it shows that the buttons are a great solution for pets who are struggling with mental health issues and need more nuanced help and comfort. Russell will ask for things to be cleaned because he grew up in an extreme hoarding situation, he will get anxiety about things being clean and can't use body language to describe his issue.

[lenkachaloupkova]

I'd really love to see a conversation between Jackson and Kendra (Billi's mum). I've been watching Billi for way too long to agree with Jackson here

[ShinzuiLP]

It’s important to understand that the buttons can enhance natural communication but never replace it.

There was a video on billispeaks where mom wasn’t in the room and only heard the verbal, and misunderstood. She said the body language was very clear she just wasn’t there to see it.

Also important to keep in mind that an animal will not understand a word the exact way you do. For example “mad” seems to mean more along the lines of irritable or frustrated.

[Scarygothgirl]

I think Billi Speaks is a compelling case.
I heard one owner say that she thinks her dog was trying to say these things the whole time, she just hadn't been able to listen. I think that's true, as a lot of the time when Billi uses her buttons i find myself thinking that my cat can tell me these things without using buttons. So i think the buttons DO work, but they are a slower way of telling us things that we could hear if we are paying closer attention.