Maui was the only survivor of a litter borne by a neighborhood stray, Shadow. Shadow has now been adopted by a family across the street.
Both cats are indoor/outdoor cats. From time to time, we’ll let Maui out, and Shadow will soon show up. They don’t fight. They don’t chase each other. They don’t groom each other. They just sort of… hang out. Shadow will lay down, Maui will lay down. Maui will walk a few feet this way, Shadow will follow him. Shadow will walk a few feet that way, Maui will follow her.
I’ve read that cats don’t “recognize” each other after being separated, and they sure as hell don’t develop “friendships” with other cats in the way that humans do. But Maui and Shadow seem to buck that trend.
Any other Dopers with cats with weird “friendships”?
I think a lot of things “experts” say about cats and other animals may not be true. If Maui and Shadow hang out without having had fits and yowling first, they probably do recognize each other.
I hope Maui is fixed. Cats don’t have a taboo about incest.
Yeah, from my experience with cats, what the experts “know” about feline social interactions can fit in a thimble.
I’ve observed cats form bonds and social groups across household and property lines. I’ve had cats that weren’t mine come to me in distress insistant that I follow, only to be led to MY cat being cornered by a verified cat killing and eating dog with no way out. Cats do things. Their social life and structure is pretty poorly understood I think.
I’ve fostered a few cats from the shelter. I’d love to have kept them all. I am crazy, but not a crazy cat lady. I go visit a couple of them and I know they recognize me. Especially the one I bottle fed. He climbs right up under my chin when see him.
Unless the younger cat was separated from the mother while a small kitten and for an extended length of time, I think it’s virtually certain that they’ve recognized each other all along. They certainly recognize each other now – cats behave entirely differently toward a cat they don’t know than toward one that they do.
And yes, they’re hanging out together. Some cats do so with lots of mutual earwashing and cuddling; some just by preferentially being in the area of the other cat (or human, for that matter; while many cats get very cuddly with their preferred human(s), some just are mysteriously, somehow, always in the same room.)
I’ve seen all sorts of things written about cats by supposed authorities on the subject, and many of them are nonsense. (I remember one in particular describing cats as not blinking. Had that person ever actually looked at a cat?) Cats are highly social creatures, who if given the chance will live in colonies of mostly-related females, sharing the care of kittens, and with an associated tom or two. I have seen close friendships between and among both related and unrelated cats, including between unrelated neutered toms (might well happen even between unrelated full toms in some circumstances, I just haven’t personally observed that.)
Has either of them invented the game of “fetch” and taught you to throw so they can fetch yet? It happened to me, convincing me that a complex social stucture is one driver of the development of intelligence.
Coming back to this one: the person who dislikes cats probably looked at the cat briefly (thinking, 'oh! a cat!) and then looked away from it (thinking, 'I don’t want to look at a cat!). Thereby inadvertently signalling to the cat ‘I am safe to approach.’
Others in the room who do like cats but whose command of Cat is poor very likely looked straight at the cat and kept right on looking. Thereby inadvertently signalling, ‘I might attack you, or I might fear bite if you approach me.’
In Cat, a direct stare often means either ‘I am about to pounce on you’ or ‘I’m afraid you’re about to pounce on me’; from someone feline or human who they don’t know, the pounce might well be an attack. (Play intention is signaled by body, ear, tail positions. Humans are really bad at speaking this part of Cat; we’re not equipped.) – A direct stare at a human the cat does know may instead mean ‘I want something. Get it for me!’
If you want to attract a cat who’s not sure of you, look at the cat just long enough to establish that you’ve noticed it; then close your eyes in a long slow blink and turn your head sideways, averting your gaze and exposing your throat. As near as I can tell, this means a combination of ‘I trust you enough to take my eyes off you’ and ‘I am not going to attack.’
well, big cats know their relatives to a point so why shouldn’t house lions?
I just want to know if cats can’t taste sweetness … why can my aunts cat can happily lick the frosting off a cupcake perfectly …and never touch the actual cake …
if you let her she gets rather scientific about it … (her favorites are strawberry and cream cheese ) she tried to do that to a twinkie but decided she liked the whole thing ,
The Siamese are attracted to chocolate. I get to eat a Hershey bar once in awhile and they always come begging. They’ve never had any to eat but they love to smell the paper. It’s funny how they clack their teeth at it.
Many frostings have dairy products in them; certainly the cream cheese version does. My guess is that the cat’s after the cream cheese, not the strawberries or the sugar.
Then again, we had a cat when I was a child who loved asparagus; and I used to have one who absolutely loved coffee beans. (When I checked with the vet. about safe dosage, she said, ‘You’ll have to give me time to look that up, I never got asked that one before.’)
The cat “colony” of neighborhood cats here has definitely formed some friendships. I’ve had cats as pets all my life and never realized that feral cats could and would form friendships with each other. There’s a very friendly (to other cats), even tempered cat we call SOG and he is friends with two orange female cats we call “the Twins” and a male cat we call Eugene. The Twins regularly sleep snuggled up with SOG.
We have two indoor/outdoor cats and I’m not sure they remember their mother very well. One of them chases her but doesn’t try to beat her up. The other just looks at her mother but does not interact with her.