Cats can learn new behavior

My cat ignores the cat and dog commercials on TV. They apparently don't sound real to her. But the other day I came across a blog that had a kitty widget (movable cartoon-like character embedded in the page). With the cursor passing over the kitty's head, she would meow, and over her chest she would purr. My cat was sitting in my lap at the time, and immediately tried to investigate when she heard the meow and purring. Not wanting her to mess up what I was doing, I changed pages. But she is still much more interested in the screen than she was before, and it's been several days. She seems to be looking for that kitty that is hiding somewhere in my office.

Saturday she was preparing to leap up to my lap and I wasn't paying attention. My left hand was there, and as she jumped she dug in her back claws. Ooo, that hurt. She must have felt the difference too as I slipped my hand away. I didn't yell or scold, because it isn't her fault that someone ripped out her front claws before we got her (Cat Welfare), and for balance she has to dig as firmly as she can with her back paws when she jumps two or three times her height. But I did start rubbing my hand and when I saw the blood, I set her on the floor, and immediately went to the restroom to scrub and put on an alcohol rub. Perhaps it's my imagination, but she's been waiting longer to get my attention and gurgles a half-meow before she jumps up now. You can bet she's trained me to pay more attention!