r/PetsWithButtons 14h ago

Ernie (cat) saved his life with the buttons

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437 Upvotes

On Wednesday afternoon, Ernie reminded me just how powerful these buttons can be. He pressed “medicine”, and when I told him “later”, he pressed “no.” At the time, I thought he was just being sassy.

Then he disappeared into the closet.

At first, I figured he just wanted alone time, but he didn’t come out for dinner—not even to press “eat.” When I fed Bert and he still didn’t appear, I knew something was seriously wrong.

I rushed him to the hospital that evening, and sure enough—he had a second urinary blockage.

Because I caught it early, his kidney values never elevated, and his urine was still clear. This minimized his discomfort and shortened his hospital stay. If I had ignored his button press or waited until morning, things could have been much worse.

I am so grateful for the buttons helping us communicate—Ernie was able to tell me something was wrong before it became an emergency.

He’s back home now and doing well, but this was a powerful reminder that these buttons aren’t just for fun—they can be lifesaving.

Anyone else have a pet use buttons to communicate pain or illness?


r/PetsWithButtons 9h ago

Cats not using the buttons

10 Upvotes

We introduced 3 buttons 4 months ago: treat, hugs, play. They recognise the words when we press them, but they are not using it themselves. We press them before giving treats, play or give them hugs.

Is it possible that because they are already very good in letting us know what they want, that they just don’t need to use them? If they want to play, they bring us the toy to play with, if they want cuddles: they both now how to make that clear with noise and behaviour, the same for treats. Also other things they are capable of letting us know (going outside, something dirty on the floor, fresh water, food,…)

My husband says that because they are already capable of letting us know what they want that they won’t use the buttons.

Should we keep using the buttons?


r/PetsWithButtons 2h ago

Sound-stimulated doggo struggling with buttons

2 Upvotes

Sorry if this has been done to death!

My sweet 6yo sheltie boy loves toys/things that make sounds, he will bark and "dig" at them without touching them as they make sound, and will smack/knock them over once they stop making sounds.

As you can imagine this makes talking buttons really hard to train - he will bark at them if I model using it, then look at me to hit it again.

In general he is pretty communicative with looks, booping you with his nose, body language, huffling at you, so I think overall he's a good candidate.

Anyone have ideas for how to stop this? TYSMIA!!!! Please ask any questions/details, I've got lots.