# Domestication of animals **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 11, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestication-of-animals/618481 "2012-04-11T18:22:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tavaritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71e660/32.png) [@tavaritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavaritz)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestication-of-animals/618481/1 "2012-04-11T18:22:57Z")
Based on the staff report on why cats are such that they are: > **[What is it about cats that makes them such good house pets?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343267/what-is-it-about-cats-that-makes-them-such-good-house-pets)** > > A STAFF REPORT FROM THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD I give you a link to a russian experiment that has gone over 40 years where they have breeded foxes for tameability and what they’ve found about what physiological and morphological changes happens in an animal when the only criteria for breeding is tamenes. [http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/807641/posts](http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/807641/posts) Topi ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestication-of-animals/618481/2 "2012-04-12T04:41:13Z")
Why cats? Those little buggers are cheating by playing chemical warfare. Many cats are infected with the parasite toxoplasmosis which lives its early life in mice, but sexually matures in cats. To go from mice to cats, toxoplasmosis actually changes the brain chemistry of mice so they no longer fear cats. Instead, the infected mice find cats absolutely adorable. They’ll walk right up to a cat, and say “I love you!”. Cats respond in kind, by letting the mice know that they love them too, especially for dinner. Think of cats logically: Cats are a pain. I know I have two. They go in and out so often that they have reached a super-positioned quantum state where they’re both simultaneously in and out at the same time. This state collapses as you observe the cat, so the cat appears to be either in or out. Unfortunately, the cat realizes that in this collapsed classical state, they’re on the wrong side of the door, and you have to let them either in or out again. Rinse and repeat. Cats look at your entire house as one big happy scratching post. They are fussy eaters and go into a jealous rage if you happen to do something that is not placing them front and center in your life – like when you’re typing on the computer or talking on the phone. So, why do we like cats? It is estimated that half of the human population is infected with Toxoplasmosis. How much do you want to bet that toxoplasmosis is doing the same thing to us as it does to mice. Despite the absolute logic of the situation, we adore cats. We find them cute and cuddly. We place ourselves at their beck and call. We buy them toys. We rub their tummies. We let them sleep on our best pieces of furniture which they proceed to shed all over. The only logical explanation about why we love cats is that our brains are also infected with toxoplasmosis, and we simply can’t control ourselves. We must surrender our free will to our feline overlords. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestication-of-animals/618481/3 "2012-04-12T15:03:29Z")
Or, you know, just get a dog. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestication-of-animals/618481/4 "2012-04-12T16:44:45Z")
Some of us like cats because we realize that they are God’s greatest achievement in the field of satire. ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestication-of-animals/618481/5 "2012-04-12T20:03:17Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > Some of us like cats because we realize that they are God’s greatest achievement in the field of satire. Oh my… You’re one of them! [Look, you fools. You’re in danger. Can’t you see? They’re after you. They’re after all of us. Our wives, our children, everyone. They’re here already. YOU’RE NEXT!](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049366/) ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestication-of-animals/618481/6 "2012-04-13T01:53:12Z")
> [@qazwart](#): > > So, why do we like cats? It is estimated that half of the human population is infected with Toxoplasmosis. How much do you want to bet that toxoplasmosis is doing the same thing to us as it does to mice. I’d take that bet. Half of the human population indeed, but less than a quarter of the U.S. population. That hardly accounts for the percentage of U.S. households with cats. Furthermore, no study has conclusively shown any behavioral modification due to toxoplasmosis in humans, let alone shown that cat owners are more likely to be infected. Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![tavaritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71e660/32.png) [@tavaritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavaritz)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestication-of-animals/618481/7 "2012-04-15T17:16:57Z")
Why didn’t anyone comment on the Russian fox experiment? Topi ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestication-of-animals/618481/8 "2012-04-16T16:53:39Z")
Sorry - I meant to reply to that. I think it’s fascinating that when breeding for tameness (just we would have done for wolves), the side effect was a wide variety of colors showing up in the foxes.