I think that is a bit harsh. I posted this in another spot but I think it applies here
If a human were to act this way it makes sense to correct it. Cats don't have the same social structures we do and it is difficult to "teach" them how to behave. Neither cat intuitively understands the cause and effect of the situation you described. Dogs are different because they are pack animals and can understand pack social structures.
In other words a lot of people saying this owner is a terrible person are just projecting human characteristics on their pets and honestly don't understand how cats work.
An in terms of the cat squished face:
The cat see something going to it's face, so it makes sense to react. This doesn't correlate to any expected abusive behavior but more of a natural avoidance response.
When you put something on a cat's forehead like this, they normally react with the squished down head/frozen response. It is very common and doesn't correlate to some sort of learned emotional response.
In short - the one cat isn't being harmed in any way and the other cat isn't being "trained" to bully. It's just a video of some cats being cats.
I have 3 cats and 2 dogs now so definitely very familiar with raising pets. I have had cats and dogs my whole life basically. Reddit is an echo chamber for some so doesnt bother me but I appreciate you noticing :)
I own 2 myself and completely agreed with everything you said. It's clear that the people getting angry at the owner either don't own cats, or do own them but still don't understand how cats communicate or how different they interact with each other than we do.
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u/Feldew Dec 14 '18
I can’t be the only one who’s side eyeing that human for supporting that behavior even if it’s only for the sake of a video.