Type that into Google, on the other hand…
Especially if you transpose a couple letters in the first word.
Our cat likes Ivylad more than me, probably because he’s home all day with him. So he’ll jump up on his lap and claim his seat, but he won’t jump on my lap or claim my seat.
I’m the one who gives him his wet food treats, dammit. Sometimes he’ll touch noses with me and let me scratch under his chin, he can tire of that quickly.
Cats are assholes. Once you understand that, you can begin to figure out how to live with them. They do have their amusing qualities.
Cats mimic their human subordinates. Treat em well and give em what they want and they will bestow their affection on you.
Cats are not that hard to understand:
- They’re territorial.
- They like to sleep in comfortable places, preferably warm ones. Note that a cat’s definition of “comfortable” is not the same as yours.
- Anything smaller than they are is potential prey.
- Anything larger than they are is a potential enemy.
- Cats look at humans as either enemies, playmates, or their mother. They’re wary of enemies, playful with playmates (though their play can include biting/scrating), and affectionate and demanding if you’re their mother.
- Cats are wild animals. They don’t care what you want.
- Your main importance to them is as a source of food, water, and a clean litterbox. Affection is their way of making sure they get it.
My cat accidentally scratched me in play. Before my brain processed “ouch”, she immediately stopped playing and looked upset and guilty.
I think cats are like humans. Some will love you, hate you or be indifferent. So far I’ve been the caretaker of 9 cats. 5 of them, I know without question, loved me.
I had one cat who wanted to be with me constantly, and learned to walk on a leash so she could come outside. She once opened a sliding screen door and walked over to the neighbor’s apartment because I was there. She just came strolling over and meowed at the back door until someone said, “Hey, your cat’s here.” (And then she got to come in and have chicken wings and attention.)
She also would jump into my arms when I came home from work.
I’ve had cats in my life since birth. At least one, sometimes more. Some have been very loving, affectionate and friendly, while others have deigned to share space with me. I’ve even had one enormous black queen we called KiMA (for ‘kiss my a**’), because she universally hated all humans. She got house room because she was a cracker jack mouser when we lived in the country. I always considered her an employee with a bad attitude rather than a pet. Oddly enough, she and the dogs we had at the time all got along great. It was only humans she hated.
The cat I have now is very sweet and affectionate. I can even rub his belly without incident. He doesn’t necessarily love it, but he tolerates it. I can brush him and clip his claws and even brush his teeth. He goes along with all of it with equanimity. He is never far from me when I’m home and if I take a shower and shut him out of the bathroom, he yowls. He will always be in the front window watching for me when I get home. It isn’t because he wants food. I have a self-feeder and a self-waterer for him. He just wants to hang out.
My cat scratches my chin - seriously. He loves having his jaw and face scratched - he will push his whole face against my fingers as I scratch him.
About a year ago (he’s four), he started to knead my face - he kneads my tummy, crouches down, his stomach on mine, then reaches up with his paws and scratches/kneads my face, purring like a madman, eyes squinty like a stoned zen master. It is hilarious - painful-ish, but hilarious.
If you pay attention, you can avoid aggressive/antisocial cats, and also learn what each cat in your family likes. If you offer that to them, they come back for more, very affectionately.
We had a small, spayed female named Sugar, who loved to have us throw a little toy made of sponge rubber, across the room, for her to retrieve. Over and over. 
My cousin was sitting at the end of a couch with one arm hanging over the couch arm. Playful Sugar leaped up and attacked his arm! 
We had a male tabby who loved to suck on my nipple like he was nursing while kneading. He was such a gentle giant. TMI but he loved to have his tummy rubbed and I happily obliged until one day he…umm…ejaculated all over me. No more tummy rubbing without protection. :o
I’ve never had a problem getting a cat mad enough to bite me.
I’ve never felt a need to piss my cats off so much they need to bite me.
Even at 2am in a driving rainstorm and your cat crawls under the covers with you to dry off?
My cat and my chihuahua hate each other. They fight constantly. If either one of them gets into a scrape of any kind with an outside the house animal. They will immediately come to the others defense. So there is some sense of loyalty.
Yeah… I’m going to leave this thread now, nothing to do with you. Really.
I read an interesting book on cats recently. One of the important points the author made about cats is that they have not been domesticated long compared to almost every other domestic animal we deal with. They are descendants of north African wild cats and have been living with humans for only about 4 thousand years, practically within recorded history. So they are not far removed from their wild state. Also, as others have pointed out, cats are by nature solitary predators. Aside from mating, they form almost no bonds outside of their family. According to the author, cats stay with humans because they like the place they live in, not because they form a close bond with the humans there. Quite different from dogs, who form human bonds as part of a pack. I know my cat likes my company, though. We curl up in front of the heat lamp every morning to read the paper and she pesters me for petting. There is no way of knowing how she feels about me, but I love her for her companionship and accept her for the cat she is.
From what I have read, cats have multiple operating modes. They can lie in wait for prey, or stalk after it. They can beg humans for food, but retain the ability to effectively kill and eat wild prey outside. They can be solitary, but they also know what to do when they encounter a friendly fellow cat - the mutual grooming, sleeping near each other, etc. They have good vision for their purposes, good sense of smell, exceptional hearing, exceptional touch sensors, the ability to move rapidly and silently, fall and climb heights, manipulate humans with cries tuned to affect us emotionally.
Basically, they can do things many different ways, and with this flexibility, it explains why they are a very successful mammal. There are 93 million cats in the USA alone.
I don’t think the author knows what they are talking about. Cats clearly retain the ability to recognize a specific human and to manipulate/communicate with that human to obtain food/water/shelter.