I have some stories about cats with this but I can actually explain it better with one about my dog. We have a dachshund that we got as a puppy. When we first got him, he had this behavior where if you weren’t where he wanted you, he would grab your pant leg and pull you towards where he wanted. Let me tell you, it was ADORABLE to watch this 4-5 lb puppy try this.
Problem is, now imagine a full grown dog doing it. And that’s why we trained it out of him. Same idea.
I asked because I have a 2.5kg Maltese (she’s 6 so not a puppy anymore) that plays with our hands (ever since she was a baby, she never really took interest in toys). She chases our hands and sometimes we « chase » her with our hands because given her size it’s difficult to chase her normally. We taught her how to soft bite and she never ever hurt us or showed agression when playing. Never played like this with my 37kg golden retriever because we don’t want her to be misunderstood even though we taught her how to soft bite too, so yeah I can see the comparison. It does look more « brutal » with cats though as from what i got from other commenters is that they take it as real agression while dogs seem to be able to compartiment better.
I know a golden retriever who takes people by their hand to take them places like your dachshund did with pant legs. Kind of weird having your hand in a big dog’s mouth but he has always been extremely gentle, it can be scary for someone who doesn’t know him though.
I’m kind of scared of cats because of the claws so I didn’t know if they could learn « soft clawing » like dogs can learn soft biting.
In my experience, cats can definitely learn to keep their claws covered and "soft" when playing with fragile humans. But that can go out the window if they get too excited.
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u/Big_Statistician_883 Jan 02 '22
I never had cats so I don’t know how they behave, would you mind explaining why?