I swear, I get the vibe from my cats that
- they’re my daughters
- one i get the vibe from that she’s my old lady (which literally she is but the wife connotation is highly questionable)
What is the relationship in the felid mind? I’ve never gotten the sense that I’m a “master” despite the fact they know when I get annoyed with them or what is forbidden and they mostly come to honor that (turns out nobody or anything likes getting hassled)
Unlike dogs where you are part of their “pack”, for cats you are their mother - seriously, your petting them is their mother licking their fur to clean it, and their purs help you realize that they are alive and well.
The odd part is that in the wild, the kitten doesn’t stay with the mother all that long. So unlike dogs, we keep cats in a permanent juvenile state - that’s why they don’t (so much) “obey”, bc they are confident in their special status of being loved by mother.
Dogs 100% were selectively bred to be permanently juvenile as well.
Dogs have extreme neonatal characteristics. They are basically forever-wolf-puppies.
Their heads are rounder, eyes bigger, proportions more exaggerated, more playful etc. etc.
And we actually know the main brain difference between wolves and dogs is that dogs don’t mature basically ever neurologically.
Wolves are in basically every way smarter than dogs.
We dumbed down wolves and made them babies forever.
Our biggest rivals for millennia.
We are… fucked up.
Anyways love puppies ❤️
And look what we did for cows, sheep, etc.
Ironically this holds a bit true for humans as well, not that we are stuck that way as you mentioned for dogs yet our gestation time most definitely is severely elongated. It takes us 9 whole months just to get out of the womb, then basically 20 years to reach adulthood. And with that increased plasticity of our brains we can learn so much more. 🐒
There’s a theory that we were able to evolve our big problem-solving brains because we got access to higher-quality protein after teaming up with dogs as hunting partners. So did we breed them to be pets or did they breed us to be caretakers?
I mean there were actually two “intelligence” explosions for humans, once as Homo Erectus like 2 million years ago. Then again as Homo Heidelbergensis ~ 700,000 years ago. So way before dogs.
As in we have evidence of H. Erectus with brains as big or even bigger than ours. And by the time of H. Heidelbergensis our brains stabilised around the size they are today.
Well, ackshually…
Dogs are much more skilled at reading human body language and communication.
The odd part is that in the wild, the kitten doesn’t stay with the mother all that long.
That reminds me Cruela.
My cat Kika once got pregnant. We were able to give all kittens new homes, except one - that stayed with us. She grew into adulthood, not only pampered by the humans but also by her mum Kika.
Cruela would find an open window, take a walk, then come back after a few hours. And then when she was back, she’d ask Kika to be licked. And every single time Kika would lick her
manchildwomanchildcatkitten daughter for a few minutes, then meow angrily and paw her once or twice, as if saying “you’re clean now you adult baby, now sod off!”. Every single time.What an unnatural, unholy, abominable … entirely awesome and cute story! 😁
I figure that’s the only thing stopping her from tearing me to shreds when I clean her eye boogers
That, and you are like 20 times her size! (I assume your daughter isn’t a lion, tiger, panther, etc.:-D)
She definitely wants to tear you to shreds though, you can tell. She also wants you to do it to her in return - just don’t overdo it!:-)
Don’t underestimate how strong and ferocious a house cat is. They are fully capable of fucking you up beyond what you think they are able to. Anytime a house cat has attacked you they have 100% pulled their punches.
A true house cat attack is almost a guaranteed hospital visit.
Cats are pack animals too. You’ve never seen groups of them together if you think otherwise.
The groups of cats I know accept each other but that’s it. Most cats I know, especially wild cats, are on their own.
I’ve heard that but I think it’s not as deeply embedded in their root psyches. Like, cats can hunt in packs, whereas dogs flat are “pack animals”. But I am no vet psychologist so we’ll have to defer to the interwebs for that knowledge I suppose:-).
Cats are stealth hunters. They don’t hunt together. When they’re not out hunting they go back to the rest of their pack and do other cat things. They don’t live alone if they can help it.
Food bringer. Warmth haver. Scritch giver.
Idk, they clearly have distinct personalities, so I suspect there is a bit of nuance to how they view their relationship with us.
They’re my buddies, who I decided should live with me, so they do. And they love it. :)
Yes. Mostly mutually beneficial roommates.
I swear to god, my oldest (“my old lady”) literally pesters me at “bedtime”. A cat dictates my bedtime lol
Our old cat, Max, would sit across the room and stare at us at 9:00 every night. When we looked at him, he would turn around and put his back to us and sit there until we fed him. My husband would call out words like snacks, slacks, trax, fax, and when he would actually say Max, the cat would glance over his shoulder at him. They are the worst little creatures in the world. Why do we love them so much?!?! Some days I don’t understand how this furry little wild creature actually lives in our house with us.
Siegfrieda: self-heating pillow, food bringer, good companion.
Kika: “it’s a human so of course it’s disgusting. But it slaps my butt so good~ A shame that it’s too stupid to understand that it should be massaging me 25h/day.”
My cat saw me as the one who can open doors to unexplored lands.
You also turn night into day and vice versa whenever you want - you’re kinda a god you know?:-P
“Sweet kibble from Heaven! They just materialized food and a bag for me to play with out of thin air! Truly the bipeds are deities!” - Mr Whiskers
Make sure to feed them from your actual hand at first - otherwise, like with one of those auto-feeders, they may not even associate food with you! But they definitely appreciate gift bags to rip to shreds:-).
I found some real life footage of OP
Sugar daddies …
I think I am his older brother or something along those lines. He is very social and loved by all humans but he shows more affection towards me and his real brother. They meet less than once a year because my sister moved far away, it is always interesting to see how much they still love each other (they are now 11 and have lived longer separated).
He calls for me sometime either for help with something or because he wants to be with me and can’t find me. But he doesn’t feel needy like a little kid toward their parents as long as I haven’t been gone for long. He do need a lot of love every day.
I don’t think he sees me as a parent but we have a very close relationship and mostly understand each other and he trust me a lot.
He is very polite when he is not at home, like waiting by the the food bowls without saying anything (for example when my parents takes care of him), at home do he come and ask for food and sometimes leads me to his bowl so it really feels like a kid who is reserved around other ppl when it comes to needs but is very social, outgoing and not shy at all when it comes to other things haha
One of em pays us no mind and just meows if she needs food or attention. One other shows signs of understanding the roles but not much else. And then there’s the third one. Food is still the main motivation, but that little girl shows a lot of affection and love, joy, anger, appreciation to us. I’ve never seen anything like it.
I’m the giant cat that makes all of the rules.
All OF da RULES
Best answer
They think of us as staff.
The spare
The other cohabiting albeit unnecessary life form
I think of my cat as a lovable, kind of stupid, little brother. He usually wants to be involved in whatever I’m doing , follows me around the apartment, and so on. But also sometimes he just decides to do something ridiculous like climb into the dresser and get stuck.
I’m not sure how he thinks of me exactly. Seems affectionate!
feeders, pets, parents
I have two that are brother and sister. The sister has an oldest sibling personality - she’s the calm, responsible one that has to slap the others around when they get out of line. The brother is the younger sibling - full of energy, curious, loves to play. Our third is a year younger and she’s the baby. The others watch out for her and test her gently when she’s trying to wrestle with them.
Then, there’s uncle Todd. He lives down the street and stops by for supper and a nap every day. The older ones are very suspicious of him, but he’s cool with the baby.
I think they probably see us as stupid gods
