# Do Cats Like Us, Or Just Tolerate Us? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 3, 2022, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-like-us-or-just-tolerate-us/967339 "2022-07-03T10:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-like-us-or-just-tolerate-us/967339/41 "2022-07-05T16:52:52Z")
We have twice had the experience of neighbors’ outdoor cats, in two different places, come eagerly running when they saw us. We never fed them so it can’t just have been that they considered us kibble sources. Of course we gave them scritches and stroked them and told them what fine pusses they were, but they really did seem to like us. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-like-us-or-just-tolerate-us/967339/43 "2022-07-06T18:14:52Z")
> [@Clivi](#): > > I always feel like I owe my cats something I’m sure they think so. Mine do. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-like-us-or-just-tolerate-us/967339/44 "2022-07-07T00:53:06Z")
Cats and dogs both tend to like me. Not sure about pigs. ---
**Author:** ![omenran](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omenran/32/3318_2.png) [@omenran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omenran)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-like-us-or-just-tolerate-us/967339/45 "2022-07-07T02:01:43Z")
It depends on the cat, for sure. Being rescue and/or feral just adds layers on top. I’ve lived with several cats over the years, and they all have been different personalities. But part can also be in how they (the cat) is expressing themselves. One more subtle way cats do this is their long blink, which hasn’t been mentioned yet. > **[Study Confirms 'Slow Blinks' Really Do Work to Communicate With Your Cat](https://www.sciencealert.com/you-can-build-a-rapport-with-your-cat-by-blinking-real-slow)** > > Cats have a reputation for standoffishness, especially compared with dogs, but if you find your feline friend a little hard to bond with, maybe you're just not speaking their language. It seems to dogs being more visibly expressive, which seems in part at least from being pack animals and very social, where domestic cats have tended to the solitary. Aside- Thinking about it, how many people worry about other pets loving or liking them? Do people worry about their birds or fish or weasels or iguanas? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-like-us-or-just-tolerate-us/967339/46 "2022-07-07T02:20:45Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > “Dogs look up to us, cats look down on us, but pigs treat us as equal.” - Winston Churchill > > And Churchill _loved_ cats. I’ve posted this before: **Cat and Dog Theology** **Dog** “The humans feed me, pet me, give me a place to sleep. They must be gods!” **Cat** “The humans feed me, pet me, give me a place to sleep. _ **I** _ must be a god!” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-like-us-or-just-tolerate-us/967339/47 "2022-07-07T02:26:06Z")
I blame it all on those damn ancient Egyptians. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-like-us-or-just-tolerate-us/967339/48 "2022-07-07T02:50:15Z")
If cats didn’t like us, they wouldn’t choose to hang out near their owners [when said owners work from home](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polls-only-no-discussion/953642/1530), right? Clearly they enjoy our company or they’d leave the room. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-like-us-or-just-tolerate-us/967339/49 "2022-07-07T13:17:35Z")
I wonder how much of it is true, but the following passage from Diodorus Siculus always struck me: > [@](#): > > As regards the consecration of animals in Egypt, the practice naturally appears to many to be extraordinary and worthy of investigation. For the Egyptians venerate certain animals exceedingly, not only during their lifetime but even after their death, such as cats, ichneumons and dogs, and, again, hawks and the birds which they call “ibis,” as well as wolves and crocodiles and a number of other animals of that kind, and the reasons for such worship we shall undertake to set forth, after we have first spoken briefly about the animals themselves. > > In the first place, for each kind of animal that is accorded this worship there has been consecrated a portion of land which returns a revenue sufficient for their care and sustenance; moreover, the Egyptians make vows to certain gods on behalf of their children who have been delivered from an illness, in which case they shave off their hair and weigh it against silver or gold, and then give the money to the attendants of the animals mentioned. These cut up flesh for the hawks and calling them with a loud cry toss it up to them, as they swoop by, until they catch it, while for the cats and ichneumons they break up bread into milk and calling them with a clucking sound set it before them, or else they cut up fish caught in the Nile and feed the flesh to them raw; and in like manner each of the other kinds of animals is provided with the appropriate food. And as for the various services which these animals require, the Egyptians not only do not try to avoid them or feel ashamed to be seen by the crowds as they perform them, but on the contrary, in the belief that they are engaged in the most serious rites of divine worship, they assume airs of importance, and wearing special insignia make the rounds of the cities and the countryside. And since it can be seen from afar in the service of what animals they are engaged, all who meet them fall down before them and render > them honour. > > When one of these animals dies they wrap it in fine linen and then, wailing and beating their breasts, carry it off to be embalmed; and after it has been treated with cedar oil and such spices as have the quality of imparting a pleasant odour and of preserving the body for a long time, they lay it away in a consecrated tomb. And whoever intentionally kills one of these animals is put to death, unless it be a cat or an ibis that he kills; but if he kills one of these, whether intentionally or unintentionally, he is certainly put to death, for the common people gather in crowds and deal with the perpetrator most cruelly, sometimes doing this without waiting for a trial. Note that the state provides for the care and feeding of all the animals, and this has a religious importance. As for animal cruelty, kill a dog— death penalty. Kill a cat— torn to pieces on the spot by an angry mob. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-like-us-or-just-tolerate-us/967339/50 "2022-07-07T20:02:11Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > Cats originally became domesticated, AFAIK, to be vermin hunters in human granaries I’ve seen research that indicates this is incorrect. By the time cats arrived, humans had already bred dogs into rat terriers so wouldn’t need another animal for rodent control. Some cats are excellent mousers, some are not so good. Cats hunt on their own schedule, rat terriers are always on. According to what I’ve read, cats arrived because humans make tasty garbage. Humans were as stupid back then as they are now, so bribed cats to live in their homes with them and felt special when one curled up on their lap and purred. We still fall for the fuzzy little jerks, we haven’t learned and probably never will. /Glances around the room, yep, two cats within arm’s reach and available for stritches at any moment. They like me./ ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2022, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-like-us-or-just-tolerate-us/967339/51 "2022-07-08T17:11:59Z")
I’ve never seen the garbage hypothesis at all, and think you may be confusing it with how it is speculated dogs may have self-domesticated. Mainly because I don’t think cats would be all that attracted to human garbage piles, which would predominantly have agricultural waste and bones, which cats don’t eat with much interest. The more plausible garbage related theory laid out in this article ( [Cats Domesticated Themselves, Ancient DNA Shows (nationalgeographic.com)](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/domesticated-cats-dna-genetics-pets-science)) suggests if there was self-domestication it is likely because vermin found human garbage appealing and rapidly grew in number around human settlements, and cats then started hanging around those settlements due to the good hunting with all the engorged vermin running around. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2022, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-like-us-or-just-tolerate-us/967339/52 "2022-07-08T17:28:30Z")
A fascinating thing I saw in that article is that it says tabby is a quite recent color pattern. I had always assumed that tabby, which is good camoflage, was an ancient pattern. The article doesn’t say what the ancient color was. – maybe they don’t mean the same thing by “tabby” as I do? [This picture of felis sylvestris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_wildcat) looks like a tabby to me. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-like-us-or-just-tolerate-us/967339/53 "2022-07-08T18:46:57Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > cats, ichneumons and dogs I had no idea what an ichneumon was (I’m assuming I’m not the only one). At first, Google insisted it was a wasp, but it didn’t see like they would respond all that well to milk and bread. Adding ‘Egypt’ to the search revealed it to be a mongoose. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-like-us-or-just-tolerate-us/967339.md?page=2)