I (or more accurately Mrs Owl) have a pet cat called Cyril. He is a
neutered tom, about five years old.
I think he’s a waste of space, much preferring our dog.
But one thing I will say for Cyril is he is a stone-eyed killer. There’s
not much he hasn’t killed. I have even seen him go for a fox (he learned
not to do that again). He has, to my certain knowledge, killed: Mice,
Squirrels; neighbours guinea pigs, lickle bunny rabbits, newts, frogs, a
billion birds, bats (god knows how) and loads of bugs.
This gets me thinking. He knows I don’t like him. He knows Mrs Owl dotes
on him (and is better at feeding him).
If he were to be embiggened by an enlarging device so that he was of a size
to take us on.
Would he kill me?
Would he kill Mrs Owl?
We have argued about this. Mrs Owl is of the opinion that her darling Cyril
would never harm her, as he is affectionate towards her. I am certain he
would kill us both in a heartbeat if he could.
I’ve heard that in cases that when people die and are left undiscovered for days, a pet cat will eat the dead owner where a dog may starve to death before it does the same.
Take this for what its worth… (not much)
My opinion: I think Spud (our 9 y.o. fixed male tabby) would kick my ass if he thought he could. He just gives me the look to often.
When I was growing up we had a cat, Salty, that would go crazy for any beef product(we gave her table scraps). Then one day a steer got killed by the side of the road, and I found Salty eating it (The skid marks in front of it made it obvious it was killed by a semi, but I still got a laugh out of the mental image of our 9 pound cat taking down a 500 pound steer) She learned that her favorite food was associated with those big stupid beasts across the road. She spend most of the rest of her life watching the herd in stalking mode, waiting for a sign of weakness to attack.
So basically I don’t think the cat needs to get bigger to kill you. It’s just waiting for the right moment to attack, and cats have a lot of patience.
Behaviourally speaking, cats tend to treat humans as they do their litter-mates, i.e. almost as equals (for no cat has ever met his equal ). Cats don’t stalk and kill other cats, so I don’t think he’d be out to get you. However, if the two of yas were scuffling to decide who’s boss, he might play rough, and pound-for-pound, cats are pretty strong. Also there’s the fangs and the claws.
So if my cat got embiggened (which is a perfectly cromulent word) I’d be worried.
I think your cat would eat you unless you are bigger, dominant and the food provider. You stop being bigger, dominant & providing food, you are fair game.
That’s why I love dogs. My dog would eat the cat before he’d ever think about eating me.
In all actuality, any house pet will eat the dead owner after a while. Case in point: during a slide show by a crime scene investigator that was lecturing to a group I’m part of, he mentioned that they’d found the body of a woman who owned a small dog. The woman had died [in some way I can’t remember], but had vomit near her face on the ground. The dog ate the vomit, then decided that the owner tasted good too, and proceeded to chew off the owner’s face. Yecch.
So, in all likelihood, your cat may not kill you, but he will be more likely to eat you once you’re dead.
There was a case here in Philly about a year ago where a guy’s “pet” iguanas feasted on his lifeless body.
My understanding is that a cat bonds to his (her, its) primary owner as his (her, its) mother – thus the kneading, blissed out thing they do sometimes. So I guess the question is, would a cat eat his (her, its) mother?
When thinking of cats, think this. (This is wisdom of another Doper cat lover, I believe, but it stuck with me. ) If you were suddenly one inch tall. Your dog would still sit when you told it to. Your cat were simply toy around with you until it finally decided to eat you.
{hijack} I think I have finally properlly instilled fear into my cat. Although I do fear somewhat guilty over it. My friends got me an Airzooka. Which is this cool little toy. You point it at somebody, pull back on the “trigger” let go, and it shoots a puff of air across the room at a target. It works really well, and its pretty funny.
(GF: “I’m gonna go take a shower… DO NOT AIRZOOKA ME IN THE SHOWER!”
Screeme: <evil grin>)
Anyway, the cat was chewing on one of the plants again, I had the Airzooka handy. I pointed, aimed, fired… nice shot, right in the hand. FREAKED the cat out. He took off like a bat out of hell, and in fact, everytime he saw me for the next day would quickly slink away. Now, if he starts to do something bad, I merely SHOW him the Airzooka, and he runs off. The Moral of the story, forget the squirt guns, to train your cat… get an Airzooka! {/hijack}
If your cat had the chance he’d do you in and and buy himself an Arseanl season ticket on your credit card, he just doesn’t have the PIN number, it’s the only reason he still needs you.
My Maine Coon, Justin, was larger than my then newborn child. Justin guarded him like any other member of his family. So, yes, I think you’d be safe with an honorable giant kitty. Just don’t scurry.
In our house, we have determined that, if we should develop a severe shortage of cat food, we will be taken out by the three cats in this order: my daughter first, since she’s the tiniest and easiest to overpower (age 20, 5’3", 100 lbs);son next because he always forgets to feed them anyhow, creating hostility; and then me, because they know I’m the one who gets the food and turns on the faucet in the bathroom for them, and once I’m gone, they’re toast. Plus I’ll provide a larger corpse to devour, so they can afford to let me live a bit longer…the other two would get eaten in an afternoon.
Please pray that Purina doesn’t raise its prices any time soon.
i was flipping through a book by siegfried and roy in a book store. there was a bit about how roy bonds with the tigers, (while siegfried stays far, far, away from the tigers.) he will wrestle around with the tigers, he will have the cubs in the house, etc. he told how one time he was wrestling around with one of the female tigers, when he saw the look in her eyes change… he knew he had to do something and fast. with the position they were in he couldn’t use his hands, so he bit her on the nose… very hard, drew blood. she yelped and backed down. he had no problem with her after that.
i think if he hadn’t bit her she would have done quite a lot of damage, perhaps killed him.
so yeah, i think if our favourite wee kitty had a sudden growth surge, things could go badly.
My cat gives me that look sometimes - the one where I know he’s deciding whether or not to for rib or topside. That’s what the whole “under your feet” thing is about: he’s trying to trip me up, so I’ll crack my skull open on the hard floor. Then, I’ll either be dead - or just unconscious and unable to defend myself. When that happens, I’m lunch.
). Cats don’t stalk and kill other cats, so I don’t think he’d be out to get you. However, if the two of yas were scuffling to decide who’s boss, he might play rough, and pound-for-pound, cats are pretty strong. Also there’s the fangs and the claws.