Rodney

Our cats are indoor cats. We put out a bowl of dry food, and they eat on it until it's empty. When it's empty we fill it. Rarely have to do it more than once a day.

Can cats be trained? They can be taught that certain actions have consequences. I taught a cat not to bite me when he was mad. Everytime he did, I acted like a maniac, picked him up and yelled and so forth. So he stopped doing it; when mad at me, he would _pretend_ like he was about to bite me, but always stop short. And I would take from that that he was pissed about something or overstimulated or whatever, and act accordingly. So bad behavior actually morphed into a form of communication.

Cats can be trained to do certain things that fit with their instincts: use a litter box, use a scratching post. But aside from those few things, all that you can expect them to do is behave themselves _when you're around._ Because all they learn is that certain actions have consequences _from you._ And if you're not around, there are no consequences; they're smart enough to know that. Which is why nobody I know has ever been able to train their cats not to walk on the kitchen countertops at night, short of closing off the kitchen.