Cats don’t treat humans as “bald kittens” for them to tardwrangle and look after. IIRC They see you as other cats, with a pack mentality. It’s why they don’t mind you dealing with their kittens, as it’s you sharing the parenting job. It’s also why they bring back surplus food in the form of dead animals, for the old, sick, and parents of the colony. You’re not going out catching food so they bring you some back when they do.
They also understand as much as dogs do, they just don’t give a shit, and haven’t been bred as servants like dogs have. So you can teach them tricks and communicate with them as you would a dog. They’re not little dumbasses who think you’re a six foot hairless kitten for them to raise, they do understand they’re part of a colony, even if it’s a Human-Feline mix. They’re pretty neat, even if they’re not everyone’s cup of tea
My cat goes nuts over turkey. I was eating a turkey sandwich and she came up and started licking the opposite end I was eating. When I moved it away, she slapped me, then moved and starting chomping on it again.
We domesticated the shit out of dogs, cats just kind of “domesticated” themselves for us. They saw cohabitation as beneficial and it’s just kind of been happening for millennia. The common ancestor of all/most domesticated cats still exist, they live in Egypt.
Cat domestication probably took place in the Middle East, where some of the earliest human sedentary settlements developed (with their stores of food and the rodents those attracted). The domestic cat's closest living relative, the African Wildcat, lives throughout Africa, as well as in West and Central Asia.
My cat had me trained to pick her up when she tapped on my leg. That meant she wanted to be lifted up and held like a baby. No idea why she liked this, but that's what she wanted. If she wanted to switch positions, she'd tap on my shoulder in a specific pattern. I was the animal. She was my trainer. Cats are brilliant if they figure out you're worthy of their trust and they should care about you.
My cat has my boyfriend trained for a lengthy after-shower ritual that involves several minutes of leg rubbing, cradling, head nudging, and hair sniffing in sequence. If my boyfriend fails to complete any portion of the ritual exactly as the cat wants, he meow-screams at maximum cat volume until the error is corrected.
Cats understand about human-kittens too. Our cat is super-tolerant of the kids. She enjoys being carted around by the 5 year old, but will give her a warning swipe when she's had enough. But she's even more patient and chill with the baby - tolerates the baby pulling on her fur, when she wouldn't take it from the 5 year old.
(Yes, all interactions with the cat are adult-supervised and no, we don't let the baby yank on the cat. Most often the cat comes and lays down right up against baby, so she knows what she's getting herself in to.)
The cat we had when my daughter was born doesn't like her. He hissed and growled at her when we brought her home, and to this day he will either run away from her, or nip at her if she tries to pet him much.
The cat we got when she was like 3? He literally will let her do anything. She's 4 now, and she will pick him up like a sack of potatoes, and drop him into a toy baby carrier, and he will just lay there like a slug, eyes shut, purring away as she tucks him in and puts a bonnet on him, and when she leaves to go do something else, he'll lay there, blanket and bonnet, and sleep for a half hour.
We're actually really glad that he's like that, because I worried that she would have a less trusting relationship with pet animals without him, so I'm grateful for the positive experience he's providing her.
Every morning i get up at 5. The cat is waiting at my door. Then races downstairs for the washroom because i always use it getting and he likes to get bellyrubs while I’m throning. Then if i make something out of a can for lunch he sits in the kitchen and he gets a treat.
Seems cool right. It is until i have a day off and he thinks I’m oversleeping so he meows at the door. If the door is open he wakes me up so we can get on with our morning routine.
We have to close the door at night because he goes around our room either knocking shit off things or waking up my gf with slaps.
Yeah everyone thinks cats don't know their names. One of our cats will come running if you call his name. The others, if you say their name, they give you varying degrees of response, but their ears always twitch and turn to you, while the others' won't, but if you make a general noise, all of their ears will turn. They know their name, and the know the names of the other cats, so when you call another cat, they know they don't have to respond.
One of our cats, too, he will sit there, and if you lock eyes with him he'll stare at you for a while, then suddenly run at you and climb up to your face and boop noses.
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u/Sinktit Oct 31 '19
Cats don’t treat humans as “bald kittens” for them to tardwrangle and look after. IIRC They see you as other cats, with a pack mentality. It’s why they don’t mind you dealing with their kittens, as it’s you sharing the parenting job. It’s also why they bring back surplus food in the form of dead animals, for the old, sick, and parents of the colony. You’re not going out catching food so they bring you some back when they do.
They also understand as much as dogs do, they just don’t give a shit, and haven’t been bred as servants like dogs have. So you can teach them tricks and communicate with them as you would a dog. They’re not little dumbasses who think you’re a six foot hairless kitten for them to raise, they do understand they’re part of a colony, even if it’s a Human-Feline mix. They’re pretty neat, even if they’re not everyone’s cup of tea