Moss, no to both accounts, thank you for th info, interesting.
I did however know growing up as a child that dalmations are prone to deafness

I do train dogs with sign language as well as verbal commands, perhaps need to start trying that on a cat LMFAO.
Thing about cats is they really do seem to be their own person, way more so than a dog.
Although I may of had cats act more like dogs in following me and "depending" on me, our current cat at times looks at me with a look "what's your problem you freak?" LOL
The first cat we had when we got married I raised like a dog with our Cairn terrier (like Toto). I taught him to fetch, sit, shake hands, lie down, and walk on a leash. Got some funny looks with that one taking the dog and cat our for a walk around the neighborhood. :laughing: You just have to walk a little slower with the cat. The dog pulls and the cat wants to stop and sniff everything. So one arm out front and the other behind. I'd take him to the vet on a leash. Walk into a vet's waiting room with a cat on a leash that thinks he's a dog, and see the reaction of the other dogs in the room. They're all barking at him and he's looking around and saying "WHAT?" :confused3:
:laughing:
Our last cat I taught to sit, shake hands, sit up, high five, and fetch. We kept a laser pointer in a basket under our end table. When he wanted to play, he'd pull that basket out, dig through all the cat toys, find his laser pointer, pick it out with his teeth, and hop up on the couch and drop it in your lap. Then he'd jump down and sit in front of you and look at the walls an ceiling waiting for the red dot! :laughing:
If I got tired of playing with him, I'd toss the laser over on the other couch, and he'd go get it and bring it back to my lap. Over and over again.
If I took a swishie toy on a stick and threw the whole thing out of the room through the door, he'd go and get it and drag it back to me no matter where I was. Weird thing, though, is he'd grab it where the string ties to the stick, and he'd PUSH the stick throug the house, like a hockey stick. Quite odd. :laughing:
We also bought him a rubber chicken squeaky toy. He hated that thing. We'd set it on a couch or table, or in his cat climber and when he'd see that thing, he'd attack it and force it into the corner of the room. :laughing: Over and over again.
Anyhow, he was the smartest cat by far that I ever had. Unfortunately, he developed gongestive heart failure at just 2.5 years old and we had to put him down. That was quite upsetting to the whole family, not just my daughter, who he belonged to.
So now we picked up two kittens from the shelter about a week ago. Boy and a girl. I haven't had a female cat for 40 years. All males. We'll see how it goes.
rubber chicken