Do You Understand Your Cat?

[SoDesuKa]

Cats are supposedly inscrutable, but they seem pretty straightforward to me. They don't have as much human intelligence as we do, because after all, they are cats. But they understand us well enough to know how to cadge a meal.

Cats act like opportunistic predators, which is what they are. They can sit still in one place for long periods of time without going to sleep as we understand sleep. They have enormous ears that they can rotate in the direction of faint sounds, and they can prowl without making noise. Cats clean themselves scrupulously to keep their prey from smelling them.

I don't understand all of their behaviors - the "kneading" is an example - but since they all do it, it must have something to do with being a successful species. I think the idea that cats are standoffish comes from people who expect pets to be very demonstrative. Cats are very happy to be cats, thank you. Given a choice to be something else, they'd rather not.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

1. Unfortunately, YES.

She knows the drawer her brush is kept in. She will cry and lead me down the hall, to the dresser, to the drawer, to the brush. I then must stroke her several times with the brush, then she leads me down the hall. She pauses in front of the wall heater...more brushing. Then I have to hold the brush on the floor so she can rub both sides of her cheek against it. If I don;t do this, she will whack me with her paw...claws out...until I comply. Then it's more brushing as she leads me into the room with her food, water & litter box. I must sit and watch her eat while she purrs. When she is finished, she walks away, signaling that she has no further need of me...for the moment.

She has about a dozen other "signals" she's used to train me in the 7 years that I had her (got her as a 2 month old kitten).

Do I understand my cat?

Does the Pope crap in the woods?

:toast:

[TrogL]

4. OK, so what does growling, thrashing tail and purring all at the same time mean?

[DeepBlueC]

5. purring is not always a happy sound

Injured cars purr, for example. Fact is we don't know why cats purr except that it is somehow good for them, maybe comforting, which is appropriate in a petting situation, where they ARE comfortable, or in the case of injury, where a cat is hurt but not threatened otherwise, to comfort themselves. Cats do demonstrate what my vet calls "fear purring". One of my cats exhibits it when he is being examined and it is NOT for love. She sees a lot of it.

[Ikonoklast]

2. "They don't have as much human intelligence as we do...

Sorry, but I laughed out loud at that one. I know plenty of humans not near as smart as one of my cats.

Kneading is a behavior kittens employ when nursing to stimulate the flow of milk from their mother.
When adults, cats knead when content. I think it reminds them of happy times.


I understand my cats easily; the slow blinks of contentment, the happy upright tail with the tip bent, the greeting behavior of rubbing on my leg...

And they constantly remind me that their much larger ancestors helped determine the human gene pool by weeding out the weaker proto-humans.



You know what they call a dumb monkey, don't you?

Lion breakfast.

[SoDesuKa]

6. Animal Learning

During the summer I keep the door closed in my office/bedroom because it's air-conditioned. The door isn't shut - it's open about an inch and it's light enough for the cats to manage. Otis puts his paw behind the door to pull it open. To get back in, he also reaches behind the door, and it opens because he's pushing it with his chest. He hasn't figured out that he doesn't have to reach around.

Gracie hops up to a table next to the door and pulls it open by reaching around the doorknob. Smart cat! She's seen me do it that way. But she can't get back in that way because there isn't a table on the other side. She's learned that the door opens when she runs at it, and she sends it flying. Then she jumps up to the table because that's how she left the room.

The cats have figured out how to open the door to get in and out but they don't recognize a difference between pushing and pulling. Pushing is a simpler process but they continue with the extra step. The psychologist B.F. Skinner did a paper on the superstition of pigeons which shows the same thing. Pigeons given treats at random learned to repeat whatever they were doing before the treat arrived - head bobs, turnarounds, wing flaps. To a pigeon, whatever works, works!

[skygazer]

3. Why would they have human intelligence?

They're not humans.

I know it's not what you mean but I've always thought it was very silly of people to compare the intelligence of animals to that of humans. People call horses stupid. From a human point of view, they are. But for what they need to survive as horses, they are very shrewd and have survived in some form or another since prehistoric times.

Sorry for the side rant. :hi:

[SoDesuKa]

7. Problem Sets

Some animals don't know how to cross the street in traffic. The inability to develop "street smarts" can be costly. The correct procedure, which some animals learn, is to wait for an opening. But others dash right out, thinking that they minimize their chances of being hit by running as fast as they can. I saw a cat like that the other night, and it was upsetting to see it lying there. Maybe the cat was an indoor cat that just never learned what city cats ought to know.

Crossing the street is the same problem for an animal as it is for a person. In the early days of the automobile, people didn't have the sense they have now about wandering out into the middle of the street. Apparently there are still some urban animals who haven't learned all they need to know to survive. You expect to see dead animals on rural roads, not on city streets.

[alphafemale]

18. My cat crossed the street by using the storm drain. Pretty damn smart. nt

[Arnold Judas Rimmer]

10. Like all life, cats are evolving.

In time, they'll look like this....

[SoDesuKa]

12. Wow ... It's Otis

I took one look at this picture and the resemblance to my cat Otis is amazing. Otis must be a lot more evolved than I've suspected. He still has to work in his door-pushing technique. Otis has been reading this over my shoulder. He's thrilled!

[Arnold Judas Rimmer]

8. I don't think I'll ever understand Cat, but I've learned to live with him

I really wish he would stop calling me "goal post head" however.

[Angel]

23. Goal Post Head

is a bit better than Smeghead tho isn't it? Besides...Cat is always looking fine.

[Heidi]

9. My understanding about "kneading" is that nursing kittens do this

to help their mother cat express milk. I think it's one of those enduring "comfort" acts. The Wiley and Excellent Boy Cat Named Ginger kneads my arms and chest when I snuggle him. :hi:

[ailsagirl]

15. That's what I've read... it can hurt when their claws are out though!~!

[montanto]

20. Yeah, "kneading" is "hey mom, time to make my breakfast."

Not all cats do it later in life, but they all express their demands.

[Skittles]

11. I don't understand why they always ruin the "perfect shot"

:(

[Habibi]

13. OMG

that is the funniest cat pic ever. (Of course, it'd be nothing without the caption.)

[Skittles]

19. Clancy made himself look like a f***ing buffalo

:(

[mikeytherat]

21. I'll add to your "ruined cat picture" with one of my own:

"Hey. Whats that in your hand?"


mikey_the_rat

[graywarrior]

14. He made me realize I have feral cat tendencies

I want to be patted, but if you try I'll hiss at you.

[crimsonblue]

16. Ha

[Kerrytravelers]

17. I understand him enough to do as I am expected by him.

That's why he decided to keep me! :)

[trogdor]

22. Our new kitty growls and hisses at her toys.

She also prefers company when eating. We are feeding her wet food for now, which isn't a good idea for the older cats, but she eats more and appears to enjoy it more when the older cat is around. What she really hated was when we would put her and her food in a closed room to limit the older cat's intake of wet food (which gives her the runs), so I guess the older cat is taking one for the team.

[mnhtnbb]

24. I understand that I want to come back in the next life as my cats, Mouse & Simba.

Boy, do they have it made. Sleep all day and prowl all night. Food on demand. Petting on demand.
What a life!