# Cats: more social than you'd think **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 2, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751 "2017-05-02T22:18:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751/1 "2017-05-02T22:18:30Z")
Maybe Fluffy really does like you for more than your ability to operate the can opener. [In a recent study, half the cats tested preferred human interaction to food, toys, and interesting smells.](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376635716303424) ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751/2 "2017-05-03T03:28:10Z")
Doesn’t surprise me at all. I live in a house with three primary to high school age kids, meaning it’s quite frequent that one or other of them goes on school camp for a few days. Every time one does, the kitty cat goes a little psycho, and wanders around the house mewing, like ‘where is my Human? What have you done with the MISSING HUMAN!!’ until whoever it is returns. She also does other weird things too, like, when it’s the Taller Girl (who is official cat feeder), won’t eat anything the rest of us feed her, until the correct Cat Feeding Human comes back. She definitely knows and loves her family members! ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751/3 "2017-05-03T04:37:32Z")
Of course they are. People who have cats but don’t pay attention to them shouldn’t have cats. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751/4 "2017-05-03T08:43:28Z")
One of my cats acted like a traditional aloof cat, of course excepting when she wanted petting. (Or food, but we free-fred.) But the other one ran to the door to greet us, was pretty much always in the room where we were, and took walks with me and the dog. So yeah, half the cats tested in my house and I got the same results. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751/5 "2017-05-03T13:16:26Z")
When we come home, our kittehs greet us at the door and do their happy dances. We’ve never had a cat that wasn’t happy to be with us. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751/6 "2017-05-03T13:27:59Z")
IOW, cats are happiest when pulling the strings of their human puppets. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751/7 "2017-05-03T13:37:06Z")
My mom’s current tenant (she rents space on the porch and under the play-house in the back yard in exchange for her services as a rodent-control contractor) prioritizes petting over food. If you try to feed her without petting her first, she’ll knock the food away. We’ve taken to calling her “the ambush predator”, because she will lurk in hiding waiting for a human to come by, and then suddenly be on top of you demanding attention. She also loves getting noogies. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751/8 "2017-05-03T14:42:57Z")
Current feline resident is the most trainable cat I’ve ever had. Also close to the most annoying. He is chatty, and often underfoot, and sometimes, I suspect he doesn’t know what he wants, but picking him up for a little cuddle seems to satisfy him. He is free fed kibble, but begs for canned food, anything on my plate I’m eating, and kitty treats. He has learned that the dogs get a cookie when they come in from the yard and lines up for his treat, too (with vocal reminders and outstretched paws, in case I don’t notice him there). I haven’t actually pulled out a clicker to formally train, but I’ve got begging, spins, and go to your spot, as well as follow me to the living room, then back to the kitchen for kitty treats. I should try to teach him more tricks. So yes, highly social, but also somewhat expected - he is a Siamese mix, and the Siamese cats I grew up with were very interactive and social, too. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751/9 "2017-05-03T17:04:39Z")
I’ve met many aloof cats but the one’s I’ve owned have always been very interactive with me and people in general. I don’t think this is too much of a surprise to cat fanciers. What I am flabbergasted by is that the article doesn’t contain a single photo :mad: Also, I just realized where Sylvester got his name. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751/10 "2017-05-03T19:11:55Z")
One of our cats, Luci, is the most out-going animals I’ve ever met. When we have company over, she’s right in the middle, climbing on laps, purring, begging for attention, etc. I’ve never seen a cat as social as she is. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751/11 "2017-05-03T23:28:36Z")
My big orange asshole does headcounts a couple times a day. He’ll stand in the doorway of each room where either his humans or the other cats should be, then goes back for another nap. He’s also trainable. He sits up, does spins, does “gimme five” on both my hands with alternate paws. For fud, of course. He’s a cool, awesome, loving nutter of a kitty. He just picks on the other cats too much. He’s gotten better as he’s gotten older, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2017, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751/12 "2017-05-04T22:27:50Z")
Cats tend to be somewhat social, growing up on a farm I could see our barn cats clearly had social bonds, but they wouldn’t give a stuff about the house cat and the feeling was mutual. The housecat had favourites and a clear line of preference among humans. Neither the house cat nor barn cats showed any kind of emotion toward any other farm animal, it was strictly indifference, even the barn cats to the house cat. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751/13 "2017-05-05T00:19:25Z")
huh, only someone who has never been around cats(much) would think that they are anything other than social animals. Of course, I’ve almost always had cats, and am unashamedly a cat person. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751/14 "2017-05-05T00:21:21Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > My big orange asshole does headcounts a couple times a day. He’ll stand in the doorway of each room where either his humans or the other cats should be, then goes back for another nap. He’s also trainable. He sits up, does spins, does “gimme five” on both my hands with alternate paws. For fud, of course. > > He’s a cool, awesome, loving nutter of a kitty. He just picks on the other cats too much. He’s gotten better as he’s gotten older, at least. My much missed BOC was leash trained, he LOVED going on walks. He was also a dedicated family man, much like yours. Miss the orange lug sometimes… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-more-social-than-youd-think/785751/15 "2017-05-05T00:31:45Z")
All mammals are social to at least some degree. They’re just not social in the same way as humans and dogs. Humans and dogs will form social bonds to groups as well as to individuals. Cats form social bonds exclusively to individuals.