Cats smell, their food smells, their beds and boxes reek. Their owners smell of cat. What’s to like?
It was Walt Disney’s Lady and the Tramp that did it! Those sinister Siamese cats…
“We are Siamese if you please”
“We are Siamese if you don’t please”
I’ve had more than one person relate that to their dislike of cats.
Then how do they think I get enough food to feed them AND myself? I’m pretty sure my cats think I am the Master Huntress of the Universe. They seem fairly impressed with my ability to provide for them and debased themselves at every opportunity in order to get vittles. It’s kinda undignified.
All of my cats except the baby were street urchins fending for themselves when I got them. They all had to hunt and forage to eat and seem relieved not to have to do it anymore. Maybe they’ve been infantilized by my taking care of them, but they weren’t always babied as they are now.
I wonder why I just get the head and they get the body. Is the head the best part or the crappiest?
Tir Tinuviel has it right - they aren’t sharing their kill, they are starting the first steps they’d take to train their kittens. See here.
Interesting tidbit:
I attended a class on cat behaviour and the woman (licensed animal behaviorist) mentioned a study of a feral cat colony. They wanted to induce the cats to kill more vermin (mice, rats, ect) so they decided they would gradually reduce the food they supplied for them thinking that they would hunt more as they grew hungrier. A strange thing happened though: the vermin population grew. So why didn’t the cats kill more when there was less food?
Because in cats, they discovered, the drive to hunt is completely separate from the drive to eat.
“Yes they do.”
“No they don’t.”
“Do too.”
“Don’t.”
“Do.”
“Don’t.”
“Do.”
Gee, this is incredibly productive, isn’t it?
Speaking of other things-I’ve read before in some science magazine (I can’t quite remember now which one) that cats and dogs sort of traded off some things when they started living with humans. They stay in a sort of extended adolescence instead of becoming full-fledged wild adults. That’s not to say that they remain babies we must take care of but rather that they retain juvenile traits. For instance the paw kneading that contented cats do-kittens do it to stimulate their mother’s milk. Possibly it also makes them more endearing to the humans they live with. Although at the moment I find my ten-month old cat’s suckling of my bath mat to be a little disturbing.
[QUOTE=Mauvaise]
Tir Tinuviel has it right - they aren’t sharing their kill, they are starting the first steps they’d take to train their kittens. See here.
I don’t buy it. They know I feed them and get them food. Why would they think I need their help eating. Doesn’t make sense. Maybe they want to share, or offer what they have, or vary my diet. Cite all the cites you want, it doesn’t wash for me. Oh well.
Interesting site Mauvaise. Two of my cats (indoors always) have been in the habit of bringing me their toys. I never connected that to the prey thing before. Neat. Not so neat was my orange fellow’s habit of leaving dismembered cricket bodies on my pillow. Though I was glad to be rid of the noisy things. 
In my last post I mentioned attending a class on cat behavior. I’ve attended several, actually, and a couple on dogs as well.
The way it was explained to me is that if you want to study wolves to learn about domesticated dogs, you should study the pup/adolescent wolves. There was a word for this - and I thought I wrote it down, but I can’t find it in my notes.
For example: adult wolves would never indulge in play behavior - they don’t need to anymore, they know how to hunt. Yet adult dogs will still play.
There are various reasons your cat could be doing that. Here are a few links I had that might be helpful.
http://www.vet.cornell.edu/Public/FHC/behav.html
http://www.hdw-inc.com/behaviorswhy.htm#n
http://www.catsinternational.org/articles/overcoming_stress/displacement_activities.html
Hey, thanks.
My kitty was only around three weeks old when he showed up at the shelter. No one knows what happened to his mama. It seems pretty likely that he’s doing the sucking bit because he lost her so early. I don’t make any big fuss about it and just try to make him feel secure. Hopefully he’ll outgrow it eventually.
While I’ve got the opportunity though let me ask something. My four year-old male tabby came to me when he was about eight months. He’d been living on the street up until then as far as I could discern. He seems to have some sort of fixation on eating. He literally scours the house every day to see if there’s anything edible around. He’s overweight and on a diet catfood right now but he did this sort of thing before I changed his feed. I’ve even seen this guy eat dead tree leaves, rubber bands, and packing material. I’ve had him checked by the vet, he’s in good health. Is there any way to deal with this other than keeping everything out of his reach?
He may never, but you could try some of the training tips in… one of those links (ie. treat the area he sucks with something he doesn’t like the taste of). If it gets bad enough, you can talk to the vet for more ideas.
I’m by no means an expert, but I’ve picked up a few things here and there. If you don’t already, I would strongly suggest strict feeding times for your compulsive eater. Twice a day. This link provides some other information, including environmental enrichment as part of the cause could be boredom.
http://aolsvc.petplace.aol.com/articles/artShow.asp?artID=2932
You’re more than welcome to e-mail me directly at an time as well
I think that gatopescado makes some good points, but forgot:
Unlike dogs they cannot be taught not to lick you, they secretly crawl into the sleeves of your coat and shed so you think you’re de-haired your clothes but find out they’ve foiled the time-consuming attempt, they’re more likely than dogs to vote democrat, they’re illiterate and have no drive for self-improvement, they drag your shoes off by their laces so you trip over them in the middle of the night, they never laugh at your jokes…
But I disagree that they have no redeeming value. Today is April Fool’s day, and they don’t know it. You can play practical jokes on them every day, and they never protest that the jokes aren’t calendar appropriate. And what else will happily bat about a crumpled up piece of paper for several hours? Plus, they seem to provide many people with more happiness than a pet rock.
guess what cat owners who say their cat’s don’t stink, they do. dog owners usually don’t think their dogs smell either, unless they’re really rank. you’re just used to the smell. trust me, the rest of us can smell your nasty cat.
No, you can’t.
Your turn.
[QUOTE=bump]
[li]Will protect family and house[/list] [/li][/QUOTE]
Piff. I came home from classes one day to find that my cat Ichabod wouldn’t let the super into the apartment.
oh I’m sure you’re right. I’m sure it was just the hundreds of cats I’ve met and/or lived with in my lifetime that smell, surely not your precious widdle piss monkey.
While I like cats (and dogs and also birds), I have to take exception with this statement.
Cat’s don’t take care of their own personal hygeine. They cover themselves with dried cat spit.
Seriously. If you were at a bus station next to some person who was licking this inside of his armpit, would your first thought be “now there’s someone with good personal hygeine”?
Cats seem to have hired the same public relations firm that worked for Ronald Reagan.
Hey, how can you be sure you don’t smell really bad? I mean, if you live with yourself all the time you’re probably used to it. You should ask someone. I’ve met hundreds of people in my life and a number of them really stank.
Of course they smell - everyone smells to a certain extent. Haven’t you ever noticed that every dwelling seems to have its own unique scent no matter if animals live there or not? That isn’t to say that cats (or the houses they live in) stink though. If they do, you can look to the owner and not the cat for the blame.
I’m not going to blame the owner for having a cat that smells like a cat.
and dwyr, while it’s definately possible that i smell and don’t know it, no one’s said anything and unlike cats, i have the ability to bathe myself and wear things like deoderant and cologne.
i didn’t used to hate cats. i thought they were cute. then i lived with one. good lord, never again.
At least we agree that they’re cute. 