Does your cat love you?

Precisely. For instance, I would not be the least bit surprised if one of those 20 cat owners later reported that when they got home their cat shit in their bed for leaving them alone like that.

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There may be some selection bias in this experiment. My cats – and I think this is true of a much larger percentage of cats than of dogs or toddlers – absolutely hate riding in the car, because the only place they ever go is the vet’s office. If the study used only cats who were comfortable with being transported to a lab, they may not have gotten a representative sample of cat personalities.

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Using the same test protocol, the researchers determined that your boyfriend/girlfriend doesn’t love you. Your parents also both tested negative. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

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I recently rescued these 3 little monsters from certain death on a farm. My apartment now smells like absolute shit.

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Good cat litter cleaned daily – and if necessary more than one litter box – helps. (The Omega Paw roll-over-to-sift litterbox is working well for me and my kids, but I’m told some cats may object to it.)

I love the motion GIF. It took me a moment before I noticed what was odd.

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I think that is how my wife describes me to others…

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daww, it looks like he just realized that he forgot to pay his taxes.

It has been many years now, but I recall the scent of having several feral kittens in a room – most are now fat and lazy living with various co-workers.

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I hope you’re being sarcastic. Otherwise I really feel sorry for you. I’ve had many great cats, who have not acted like dogs, but have been extremely attached to me. Cats are not pack animals, but as any cat owner can attest, they can become extremely attached to thier owners.

Heh… thanks. It was somewhat facetious, but a one bedroom apartment and being at work all day means you return home to some naaasty smells. I already had an adult cat so we have two litter trays.

I woke up extremely hung-over on Saturday to find myself in a humid, faeces-smelling room of which the floor was covered in every piece of trash in the bin (these were playthings, apparently).

PS: Yeah, I’d been meaning to animate it for a while. Never realised how easy it is in photoshop. (File>Import>Video Frames to Layers | Window>Timeline | edit out unwanted frames & crop | Save for web)

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Everything’s a kitten toy. Especially if it isn’t.

And yeah, small space and short digestive tracts tends to be somewhat smelly, especially at a time of year when homes tend to be sealed up. On behalf for the furballs, thanks for putting them up and putting up with them. Has your adult cat forgiven you for taking in borders?

Hehehe man, when I realised that the options were take them or let them die, there was only one option. Felt bad for the mother as it was her first litter.

At first they were 2 or 3 weeks old (thats when I took that video) and needed feeding every 4 hours with a bottle. Not to mention you have to rub their junk with a ■■■■■ towel because they don’t know how to go to the toilet. That or you could do as the mother does and lick their junk…

The adult cat is female and had two litters previously, so at first she was pissed but day by day she’s loving them more. She most def has a favourite and I found her and that little guy curled up in her bed sleeping a couple days ago so she can’t hate them too much I guess.

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It’s usually easier to introduce kittens than adults. The dominance order sorts itself out more smoothly, and I expect that cats have the same hardwiring for “young mammal is endearing” that we do… cute is a survival skill.

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Hmm… My wife and I walk into a room with three chairs and a stranger. While my wife is talking to the stranger I leave the room when her back is turned. She does not freak out. Several minutes later I return to the room and my wife keeps talking to the stranger, only subtly acknowledging my return.

Does this mean my wife does not love me or is not attached to me?

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Yes. Worry. A lot.

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To be a little more direct, though the experimentalist claims to be studying the interesting question of the attachment behavior of cats, he is actually studying whether cats have the same attachment behavior as babies and dogs. This is a much less interesting question (though not completely uninteresting) because anyone who knows cats and babies or dogs knows the answer. This experiment certainly has nothing to do with whether or not cats love their humans.

This is an example of the bait and switch experiment common in cognitive science, described by Steven Pinker in a couple books. The experiment is described as studying a very interesting and difficult to study problem, but is really studying a very limited, much less interesting and much easier to study problem that often doesn’t shed much light at all on the broader question.

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Wrong question. Why do we care if our cat loves us? Do we want our cat to be happy and to live? Do we accept that we don’t understand our cat? It is not about out cat. It is about us. We are too worried about it.

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My guess is that cats derive security from their familiarity with the physical space first, from their familiarity with the individuals in that space second. Dogs, like humans, find security in familiarity with individuals first and with space second.

I’ve often seen the scenario in which a visitor sits in a chair, and before long, a cat will jump up on the chair and settle on the lap of the visitor. The hosts will be surprised that the cat immediately took to the person, and then will comment that, “Well, that is the cat’s chair”.

By contrast, I find that a cat will become very upset when in an unfamiliar space – even just the other side of an open door that the cat usually doesn’t see open. The cat won’t rush in the direction of a familiar person, but in the direction of a familiar space. In general, it’s quite difficult to calm a cat when introducing the cat to an unfamiliar place, and usually the best way to do so is to leave the cat alone for a while, as the cat gradually explores it. By contrast, dogs usually seem quite comfortable in unfamiliar spaces, as long as there’s someone familiar present.

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Disclaimer: have five cats, adopting sixth soon.

All cats are different. Ferals actively avoid humans. Other cats tolerate but aren’t particularly interested in humans. Still others bond to humans with a degree of interaction that is almost doglike. I have some of each.

Shelter workers will tell you that some cats, when surrendered to the shelter by their human families, shut down- stop interacting, stop eating, just waste away. Is that mere difficulty adapting to change, or profound grief over the loss of loved ones?

The cat knows, science can estimate, and I will simply believe.

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Maybe she was just pointing out that the thing that smelled like the things she brought you was missing. She could hardly say ‘where is that guy?’

As for my current and two previous cats, they were very much attached to me despite the fact that I never fed them or changed their litter. Someone else did that task, and was rewarded for the effort with indifference (by the cat, not by me). Our current cat definitely has an attachment to me and not the three others living here, shown by her coming to the door to greet me when I come home, whether or not anyone else is home. She doesn’t do the same for the others. Love? Maybe not. Attachment? Yes. But I’ve always been more of a cat person than a dog person, though I love having both in my family.