My cats are leash trained and LOVE it. Best of both worlds!
Posted By: klh on 2006-07-25
In Reply to: I think keeping animals caged - ER MT
nm
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Leash Trained Cats
Can I ask if how you got your cats to go on the leash. Did you start them out when they were kittens. I always thought this would be a safe alternative. My cats both stay inside and are very content and happy. They go in the screened porch in the summer and actually hate going outside. As far as hiding when they're sick, my cat was deathly sick with a UTI and he hid in the basement. Thank God we found him. The vet said if we waited until the next day he would have been dead. I hope you find your cat safe.
Leash training cats 101
I have had cats for over 20 years now and successfully trained half of them to walk outside on a leash with a harness. The others seemed not as receptive to it (most of them were not kittens when I adopted them too). The first thing you have to remember is it needs to be FUN. You need to be very patient. Cats are not small dogs when it comes to leash training and really are not in the business of doing things just to please you as dogs often are. Remember to proceed slowly. For the first few times just attach the harness to their back (make sure it is not too tight!) and let them walk around with it on in the house. Offer plenty of praise and treats. Do this for a few minutes. A few hours later try it again but for a longer time. Do not forget the praise and treats. I used to hug mine, groom them, offer treats. When they are completely comfortable with the harness attach the leash. Do not let it drag behind them; keep it loose in your hand. Never tug on them unless it is for a safety issue. Remember, slowly. Talk to them, praise them, offer treats. Keep this session short. Do this for a few days, or as long as you feel they need it. It varies so much with each individual animal. I have had cats take right to it and be out walking in the yard the next day, while others needed a few weeks before I felt they could go outside on a leash. On the day you decide to take them out make sure it is a quiet day outside your door. You want this time to be especially nice for them because cats have notoriously good memories. Slowly let them walk out the door. Remember, you are there to guide them. I used to let mine trot around the yard and had one cat that would partially climb up trees. They used to line up inside my house when they heard the harness drawer being opened to be first in line to *suit up!* I even successfully used this method for 2 adult cats who I thought might enjoy it. Good luck to you! May your cats enjoy a safe walk on the wild side!
I love cats....
I have had cats since I left my parents house which was 10 years ago now. I have had a couple of cats that were outdoor cats and I turned them into indoor cats. It can be done. When you move, the cat may act real weird at first because it new surrounding, but just be patient with the cat and give him a few weeks to get used to it. I made the mistake of letting my cat outside at our new house and he never came home : ( I lost another cat to a car hitting him because he was outside running in the street. Now, I have a cat and I won't let her out of the house for nothing. She has gotten used to it and is always on her best behavior. I have had her for six years. It is best not to let the cat out anyway because I don't know where you live, but the animal control agency can come take any strays away because you are not suppose to let them run outside. So many animals get put down for this reason  I suggest you make it work if you really want this cat, and if you need to, maybe contact a veternarian or a professional that can give you some more advice.
My cats LOVE the Drinkwell fountain -
My vet told me years ago you need to keep the lid closed and not let pets drink from the toilet. Try the fountain - it is FUN! :-)
p.s. I do have 2 feral cats I adopted and they love it indoors. sm
They are the sweetest little girls, littermates.
Good for you, I love people who rescue homeless pets. I take in cats myself
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leash law
This may be a really naive question but are there actually still places that have no leash law where dogs can just roam free? I feel awful for your dog and know how devastating it is to lose a pet and am not trying to be insensitive. I just am astounded to think that there are still places where dogs can just "roam". 
Retrain him with a leash. When you are at home
keep a leash on him. You MUST keep a very close watch so that when he starts to lift his leg you can grap the leash, give a tug saying no in a firm voice at the same time. Then take him to his pee-pad.
I foster rescues and have had to retrain many. They get the picture very fast although no one, big or small, is allowed to pee in the house. But if it works for you and him...go for it. Also, if you walk him every day, he might not be as distructive and lonely when you are gone. Dog bordom is becoming an epidemic. A tired dog is a happy dog and that means taking him outside. Indoor excercise is not a good substitute. Good luck!
Yes there are many places without leash laws.
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war of the worlds
I've been wanting to see it too. Even though Tom lately is kind of nuts. It looks like a good movie, but we never go to the movies, so I guess I'll have to wait for the video too.
The best of both worlds
I like my situation - I work for a local hospital in radiology. We rotate in-house and home so one week I'm home three days and the next week, two days. Not bad, eh? I've worked from home in the past and I always end up gaining a ton of weight and being glued to the computer 12+ hrs a day. This is the first time in a long time I've had ONE job! I miss MR - the work is more interesting and I don't care for my hours but it's ok.
War of the Worlds -- You gotta see it!!
I just saw it tonight....FABULOUS!! I admit I was skeptical because on Rotten Tomatoes (the website I go to see critics' notes first) it was falling and there's been ups and downs about it...AND because as much as I have always loved Tom Cruise he has really gone off the deep end in my opinion.
However, the movie was fabulous. I remember the old black and white movie too. Tom played his part incredibly; as did the little girl (forget her name); and Tim Robbins, too. Really was something.
Go see it!
War of the worlds movie.
Has anyone seen the new War of the Worlds movie and did the big, mechanical monster remind you of a giant colonoscopy at times? Just wondered if anyone else saw it and thought the same thing. ');>![](https://forum.mtstars.com/smileys/smile.gif")
Aaaahhhh! That's the best of both worlds! - nm
.
That's my situation, though I'm married. Best of both worlds.
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Yep, small TV on cable news, VERY low. Just in case the worlds ends,
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Crash, The Chronicles of Narnia, War of the Worlds, Derailed, A History of Violence,
Brokeback Mountain, and Dreamer. All of them were good, although I think Brokeback Mountain would be on the bottom of the list for me. Crash and The Chronicles of Narnia were very good in my opinion.
thats exactly why I did this. I trained sm
in a hospital when I first started in 1979 but as soon as I could I went home to work. I tried the hospital "thing again" for about five years but I hated it. I just needed the insurance at the time. I prefer being at home not dealing with the politics and the back-biting. I don't think there is anything wrong with that at all. I figure I am secure enough in myself to ignore the comments about how we at home don't have to work, can do what we want, etc. etc. Anyone who has done this knows better anyway!
They still have to be trained how to
QA/grade, give proper feedback, use the QA software, etc., because as I said, it's a completely different job. When having an opening for a QA, why not take applications from internal MTs, if any are interested which is rare because MTing pays better, as well as taking applications from experienced QAs? I don't have a problem with that, only when they hire exclusively from within, forcing experienced QAs to MT again & work their way to QA again. That's just SILLY.
LOL, I trained on the job also in the
early 1980s. As for hospitals, some are taking their transcription back. A MAJOR hospital chain in my town used the Q, but at the end of the contrast 2 years ago, they totally took all their transcription back and hired in-house and at-home MTs (one of my friends works for them).
cats
There are vaccinations for feline leukemia and rabies. A responsible cat owner keeps their pet updated on these shots.
Cats going outside.
I think everyone is entitled to their stance on this issue, it is a hard call to make, whether indoor/outdoor or always indoor, and I believe it is up to each individual to make that choice. I make the choice to have indoor/outdoor cats as I think that mine are most happy that way. There are ways that you can get your cats outdoors that are safe, many fencing systems that with some trial and error work. I know a lady who made wire tunnels that ran the perimeter of her yard that ended up in the woods attached to another enclosure she hade a handy man make for her, she said it was very inexpensive to make and it was really neat. I saw pictures of it. I plan to do something similar when I own property. Whatever you decide, do what you think is best for you, and let others do what they think is best for them. I have lost 1 cat to outside predators and it was wrenching, could not get out of bed for a week, but I still continue to let mine out to this day because that is what I feel makes them the happiest. I say lets choose to disagree or agree on this subject. All for the animals!!!
Cats/Dog
Cats: Leroy Brown, baddest cat in the whole darn town (full name), also Teddy. Pug, Willie, and Chiauwawa Amigo...Turtle Timmy, found out really Timithia, and 7 year old 12 inch long gold fish named Goldie (what else)...this as fun...
cats
Cats will go off and die alone, my vet told me that. Also, in regard to keeping a cat indoors vs letting it out, we have coyotes and rabies in our states and they advised everyone to keep their cats indoors, even our indoor cats have to get rabies shots. I have a siamese who I let out with me in the garden but bring her in with me and she is never out at night. I got her from the ASPCA, and it took her a while to get used to being indoor cat, but my vet told me he has too many cats who suffer from fights, death by coyote or rabid bites.
Two Cats
Roscoe - 10
Raquel - 15
Well, as follows (all cats)...
The Four Bumpas Brothers (so called because they love each other so much and are alway bumping heads together) who are Big, Baby Dogfood, Baby and Smokey Bumpas. Mr. Atticus Pinkas, because when we got him he lived in the attic for weeks and always comes down with pink insulation on him. Mr. French (he just looks like he would be French with his moustache). Dead-eye Lil, who obviously has one bad eye, her babies Paper and Plastic (they were born last week in a brown paper grocery sack) Sherbie, who is an orange barn cat. Old Dogfood, who came with the place we bought 10 years ago and is also a barn cat. All of these are outside cats, except Mr. Pinkas, who fears the outside world! The others were all drop offs and strays. Living in the country we get a lot of these!
Tip & Taz - two cats
nm
I'm 36, been doing this 26 years, trained on the job.. nm
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50, trained by VA OJT in 1988.sm
Started out doing autopsy reports, then went to "the typing pool" (acute MT) as we used to be called, came home in 1995, been here since.
Honestly, they need to be trained.
Mine had the same mentality when we first got together. I refused to do it. If he scattered dirty laundry, I left it there. If he didn't put his dishes in the sink, they sat out. I'm not anyone's slave. Also, if they expect the woment to work, they need to share in the housework, child care, and finances.
they seem to be trained to dictate that way.
I worked at a hospital that had a podiatric residency program, and the residents were often required to do the dictation for operations performed by others. Obviously the long format wasn't something the resident made up on his own, it was something they had been trained to do. Other doctors tend to stumble into dictation without much in the way of instruction.
You weren't trained
You weren't trained, which is why you couldn't earn a living doing MT. A lot of people make that mistake, think they just sit down at a computer and type what they hear, then they wonder why they can't make any money. I'm sure if you had gone to school to learn MT, you would have been great at it. After all, you didn't teach yourself to become an RN, right?
My son was three when he was potty trained.
I did similar things.
I don't know if you are already doing this or not, but the best thing I have found to potty train my kids is.....stop buying diapers/pull-ups. If you run out and you don't buy anymore then you really don't have a choice but to be consistent. Having nine pair of underwear on hand is what is recommended.
You can by the the toilet targets online for 5.95. They ARE helpful in making it a game. I always used the whole "Daddy is a big boy, don't you want to be like Daddy?" (works sometimes)
Make it a routine. Go every so often (timer), use the bathroom, flush the toilet, shut the lid, wash your hands, turn the light off, get your reward. Be consistent.
I have four girls and only one boy and my girls were trained by 2 years old with EASE - boys are much more difficult, mine anyway.
trained fingers
Makes me think of what it is like for your fingers to "know" a telephone number but for the life of me I couldn't tell you what it is--I'd have to dial it for you.
Not true....I trained 3 ...sm
from scratch. All were very good, probably better than me! I was just starting out on my own and had reached the point I needed help. Taught them one at a time. Just set them up right next to me and gave them the easiest stuff I had. We both worked at the same time, and I was right there to answer questions and listen when they had trouble.
Trained someone by proofing (sm)
She listened to every report, word for word, and she is now one of the best MT's I know. That would be an excellent way to train.
How long do they have to be trained?
I work for MQ, and I think their VR stinks. It's been going for at least 3 years (though I think longer), and it still slows me down. You literally have to change every he to she or she to he and little things like that through the entire report that really slows me down. The funny thing is, it usually gets the medical terminology correct but everything else wrong.
I was trained for 4 years at a
vocational technical high school and learned transcription for 4 years straight, 4 hours a day at least. I then went on to transcribe when I graduated for a lawyer, and then into the medical field I went. That was 25 years ago. We learned shorthand, accounting, typing, biology, among many, many other things.
Please don't assume that I went to what you call one of these transcription schools because I did not. I don't have to explain to you that I had 17 years of on-site training with physicians. I learned straight from the dictator, so don't go there. AHDI has brainwashed these new people entering this field with their silliness and money grubbing paws.
Okay, so I'm simply stating that to question someone's education for a job that they may make 20 grand a year of their lucky is just downright ignorant and nasty. I make way more than that but only because I've been at it a while and have my own accounts and I'm not bragging at all; I'm just saying.
Whether you want to believe it or not, the ER reports were done through medical records as well as the basic four. I know because I worked there in many different departments and did the transcription. We had a separate entity for radiology and for the cardiology department. Everyone's situation is different and not all worked at the one hospital you did for one lousy year where ever that may be in the US.
We all have our stories, but my main concern is the post regarding questioning this poster's education. Get over yourself! 
Funny though. They get along with cats.
Depending on the cat of course. Had a neighbor who had kittens that would play with the baby skunks and the momma skunk would just sit and watch.
I delivered newspapers for 4 years and never got sprayed. Just stand still and they go away. They're basically nonagressive unless they feel threatened.
I have an albino cat that was meowing in the garage one night and I opened the door a crack and they were nose to nose, like they were talking to each other. Weird. Actually my cat was probably saying, "Hey buddy, thanks for opening that garbage bag, they had KFC last night." 
My cats were allowed outside until...
I got tired of all the medical bills due to things they were picking up from other animals that were outside and were not being taken care of. The last straw was the last episode of worms, which were roundworms. Having kids, I cannot take the chance of them getting sick due to this. Also, I had a stray cat I fed all the time and took care of because the neighbor just left it when she moved, not to mention the fact that she didn't care for it while she lived there. We were moving and found someone who would take the cat, but only if he was fixed. We were going to fix him, but noticed his glands were very swollen. Turns out he had feline leukemia. I put him down, cried the whole time, and came home and buried him by myself while the kids were gone. I was soooooo angry. While my cats have their shots, that is a chance I am not willing to take. I have had my oldest cat for 11 years now and he is like a kid to me. I am very much for animal rights and go above and beyond to help animals in need, much to my husband's dismay, but there are times when not letting your animals outside is justified. My dogs are inside/outside dogs, but they cannot get over the fence....the cats can.
Have had cats gone for that long too..sm..
they are pretty independent, try not to worry too much.
I live in the country and we get strays and drop offs all the time, we have 9 right now, as some people who were renting a small home near ours moved without taking their cats! Imagine that...I have a very soft spot for animals, much to my husband's dismay at times, so I at least make sure they are fed to keep them from wandering onto the highway to who know's what fate!
Good luck, let us know!
The home of two cats
I have two cats. A torti named Callie. Some of her favorite things are sleeping under the covers in bed and watching us on the computer. She loves to lay on top of the monitor!!!! Our other cat is a chocolate siamese named Sissy. She is the most timid cat I have ever seen. She hates to go outside and does not like to be picked up at all. Even with all their little eccentricities, they are great pets!!!
my cats' names are
Tinker, Algebra, and Katrina. I also have a peach-faced lovebird named Pretty Bird.
off topic, but still re: cats
How on earth do you keep a cat from getting on the hood of cars? My cat is five years old and only does it occasionally. For some reason it is always late at night. I can peek out the window and see him perched just as proudly on my car and--gasp--a time or two on a neighbor's car. I hate him getting on mine and I surely don't want him on anyone else's car. A couple of times that I've caught him on mine I hit the alarm from inside the house hoping to scare him enough that he'd be afraid of the car and never get on it again. No use. I only catch him every week or so. Any advice???
Talking about cats, need help
I have 3 cats, an older cat that have taken to the vet. She is not what I call shedding because you can tug gently on her fur and it comes out in droves. I got vitamins and also some antiinflammatories for her when I went about the above issue. Vet wanted to know if stressed (the cat that is) and I said nothing has changed. Have given the medicine for approximately 3 weeks and still the excessive hair loss (hers more so than mine!) Anyone had a similar situation? Thanks
some people do not want their cats outside--sm
no matter what their size. I have two and I do not want either of them outside, to do their business, or for any other reason. My big kitty (14) pounds does not fit in conventional litter boxes either, and he is too *chicken* to go inside a housed one. He does not squat, either, but just sprays standing up. I ended up buying a semi-large concrete mixing plastic pan about 24x20 inch and some plastic plexi. I hot glued the plexi to the sides of the platic cement mixing pan and left one side open for easy access. he does well with it, except occasionally turning his hind end towards the open side and letting it fly, but I have matts there to protect the carpet and I can wash easily. mostly he hits the plexi sides though and it has alleviated that problem. My smaller kitty uses this litter box too.
Oh no! My cats come to visit me too. They
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I'm 49, trained in 1973, hospital course, been at it since!
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How do you learn when you know you are being trained wrong?
I am so sad. Right now I am a newbie and need to ger my experience in and learn from the bottom, but I think this is not going to happen and I will never be a good MT with any skills to get another job. I am currently employed with a company that has a QA manager that is not very good. She corrects my work with her own made up ways of grammar, drug terminology, etc. It is whatever she says, but when you tell her of her mistakes she won't listen and say just do it the way I say. If I stay here I will never be good enough to go to another company. Also, I will not be good enough to one day get hired by a national. What do I do when I am being trained wrong, but need experience. The people who hired the QA manager are clueless because they are not MTs.Therefore the QA person's word is the law of the land even when I know it is wrong. Help!!!
How do you know you're being trained wrong?
Can you give some specifics? BTW, many MT rules do not follow standard English grammar rules. We either go by the BOS (AAMT Book of Style) or per account specs provided. Each job is different. If you want a paycheck, you learn to adapt to their particular style.
I seriously doubt anybody's going to hire an untrained QA person. A person has to have years of experience as an MT before doing QA. Honestly, if you're that unhappy, quit.
The school that trained you should be the first place
you go for placement assistance. They should be able to tell you what companies seek to hire their graduates. Many schools have employers lined up to hire their graduates because they know those schools turn out job-ready MTs. If your school was one of those, you will have no difficulty finding a job. In any event, your school should be able to tell you what employers have traditionally hired its graduates. Good luck to you.
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