# Do you think pets know static shock is not a deliberate act from their humans? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 11, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-pets-know-static-shock-is-not-a-deliberate-act-from-their-humans/714784 "2015-03-11T22:05:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-pets-know-static-shock-is-not-a-deliberate-act-from-their-humans/714784/1 "2015-03-11T22:05:32Z")
So the other day, cat walks up to me. I stuck my hand out so he could smell it (He has to smell your hand before he will allow you to pet him. Cats is weird). When he went to smell my hand, he got a static shock to his nose. He then turned his ears backwards, did an about face and walked away. I tried to tell him I didn’t do that shit on purpose, but he wasn’t have’n it. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-pets-know-static-shock-is-not-a-deliberate-act-from-their-humans/714784/2 "2015-03-11T22:08:29Z")
Well, on the plus side, your cat now believes that you are the god of thunder, and will inform his offspring (if possible) of this fact. Thousands of years from now, after our civilization has collapsed and the great Felid Emperors have come to power, you just might be immortalized as Cat Zeus. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-pets-know-static-shock-is-not-a-deliberate-act-from-their-humans/714784/3 "2015-03-11T22:13:58Z")
I’ve wondered this too. I doubt they think that WE shock them, I think they get shocked in other ways, and I doubt they even have the capacity to blame us. My cat nudges my face with his, and doesn’t seem to mind the little static shocks he gets by doing so. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-pets-know-static-shock-is-not-a-deliberate-act-from-their-humans/714784/4 "2015-03-11T22:22:18Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Well, on the plus side, your cat now believes that you are the god of thunder, and will inform his offspring (if possible) of this fact. > > Thousands of years from now, after our civilization has collapsed and the great Felid Emperors have come to power, you just might be immortalized as Cat Zeus. LOL, that’s the funniest thing I’ve read all day. ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-pets-know-static-shock-is-not-a-deliberate-act-from-their-humans/714784/5 "2015-03-11T22:37:05Z")
Our cats must have been a stupid bunch. They’d get zapped, step back for a second, apparently thinking, “Whoa! What was that?” This would seem to be followed by the thought, “Hey, here’s a human who needs to pet me.” Again with nose, this time with no zap, and all is well as far as the cat was concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-pets-know-static-shock-is-not-a-deliberate-act-from-their-humans/714784/6 "2015-03-11T23:25:23Z")
Unfortunately, I don’t think so. Every time I shock my cat, she give me this dramatic “Et tu, Brute?” look and flounces off. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-pets-know-static-shock-is-not-a-deliberate-act-from-their-humans/714784/7 "2015-03-11T23:37:34Z")
My dogs give me their patented wounded puppy look and then proceed to pointedly avoid contact with me for the half hour. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-pets-know-static-shock-is-not-a-deliberate-act-from-their-humans/714784/8 "2015-03-12T00:08:42Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Well, on the plus side, your cat now believes that you are the god of thunder, and will inform his offspring (if possible) of this fact. This is a true story: there was an obnoxious dog in the yard next door to me, and every time I was in my yard weeding or whatever, he would bark at me non-stop. One day, this was going on, and I happened to stand up and stretch, with my arms above my head, just as there was this terrific sonic boom from a military plane flying overhead. The dog stopped barking immediately, and never did it again. ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2015, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-pets-know-static-shock-is-not-a-deliberate-act-from-their-humans/714784/9 "2015-03-12T13:47:20Z")
In the winter when the air is typically drier, stroking some of the cats that I’ve had would generate static electricity and spark from time to time. They will only put up with so much, then they run away. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-pets-know-static-shock-is-not-a-deliberate-act-from-their-humans/714784/10 "2015-03-12T13:55:45Z")
Most cats I’ve had this happen with never seemed to blame me for it but they would avoid laptime when the weather was particularly dry. Chicken, however, is emminently reasonable about it, I think because we discovered together how to avoid the shocks. If your skin touches the cat’s skin (paw pads) then there is no static discharge. So when it’s laptime, he assumes the position and puts his paw on my unused hand/arm and stroking commences. If I break contact with his paw he looks at me like, “So we’re done then?” ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-pets-know-static-shock-is-not-a-deliberate-act-from-their-humans/714784/11 "2015-03-13T03:42:05Z")
Being a huge cat person and answering this as seriously as I can: Yes, I think cats do know that it’s just a natural phenomenon, not an act of aggression. They may react badly, but always in the short term. Every cat I’ve known does not forget someone who genuinely treated them with harm. :mad: ---
**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:** [March 14, 2015, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-pets-know-static-shock-is-not-a-deliberate-act-from-their-humans/714784/12 "2015-03-14T05:12:25Z")
My cats (and my partner’s dogs) blame me for everything. Whether I shock them, or step on their tails, or spill their water bowl all over the kitchen floor, or kick them down the stairs . . . it’s all deliberate on my part, and they hold it against me. I am the God with Thumbs, and I control all things physical. It’s not easy being a pet in my house.