There is a PLAGUE UPON THIS NATION, and lo its name is BAD REPORTING ABOUT CATS

[slammerkinbabe]

So there was a study done on cats recently, a study that seems to have thought it was about whether cats care about their humans. What the people running the study actually did to determine this was that they put cats in an unfamiliar environment with their owner, with a stranger, and alone, and then monitored how they behaved in this situation.

Comments

[rolypolypony]

Well said. People seem determined to make cats seem like bastards, maybe so they feel less bad about leaving them home alone w/ a big bowl of food and water for a 3 day weekend.

I keep seeing these things and wanting to send them a video of how Lydia greets me at the door every day when I get home, and then rides around on my shoulder for the next 15 mins. Nah, she doesn't care about me.

[lietya]

"People seem determined to make cats seem like bastards, maybe so they feel less bad about leaving them home alone w/ a big bowl of food and water for a 3 day weekend."

Sadly, I think this is very true. Also, cats who live with people who are indifferently affectionate and don't pay much attention are probably going to end up with attachment disorders, so they don't look very fond of their people either. :(

[rolypolypony]

:(

I hate people.

[conuly]

Sadly, I think this is very true. Also, cats who live with people who are indifferently affectionate and don't pay much attention are probably going to end up with attachment disorders, so they don't look very fond of their people either. :(

These are the same people who, when told that goldfish will live for decades with proper care, go "Really? That can't be true. All mine died after a couple of months!"

And then you sit there and try to find a non-sarcastic way to state that, in that case, the care wasn't proper.

[slammerkinbabe]

LOL That's nice! Sort of! How did they express being mad at you?

[lietya]

Yeah, no shit. SO many of these studies boil down to "cats are inferior dogs," which, sure. I'm an inferior specimen for a woolly mammoth, too. :) I sometimes wonder if anyone else notices this and is annoyed by it, so thanks for that! This is an excellent deconstruction

[lietya]

Also, because I can't resist and it seems in keeping, the Worst Cat Ever. :)

http://worstcats.tumblr.com/post/98816157107/things-that-are-good-about-cats-soft-fur-cute

[slammerkinbabe]

LOL The Worst Cat Ever is indeed very in keeping with this! I will never get over my shame about the fact that the first time I saw that site it went right over my head and I thought it was literally a weird hairless cat. (In my own defense hairless cats really are very weird-looking sometimes) (except that really, really is not much of a defense)

[lietya]

Oh, hairless cats really are weird! I was confused at first too; Shash can attest that I blinked a few times and said hesitantly "wait, is that a ... hippo? why do they think it's a cat?" :)

But it seems hilariously apropos here, for truly, hippos make terrible cats.

[naath]

Here via andrewducker...

My recollection is that the "secure attachment" (that is "good") behaviour for human toddlers (and CATS ARE NOT HUMAN TODDLERS) is investigating the room and/or strangers confidently whilst the parent is there, showing some worry/distress when the parent leaves and happiness when the parent returns (which I guess includes "running to them for a hug") not "clinging to parent for the whole time".

Anyway CATS ARE NOT HUMAN TODDLERS and are obviously going to behave differently.

[slammerkinbabe]

Thank you! That makes much more sense, and I added a footnote. I still don't understand what in the world they were trying to study with cats, because a couple of the articles did note that the cats ignored their people when they were in the room and didn't seek comfort from them, which apparently is not even the model for healthily-attached behavior in humans. But at least I understand what they're doing with people now.

[conuly]

You know, I recollect another "study" in this vein which reported that your pet cats don't really love you, because although brain scans indicate that they recognize your voice, they don't respond physically when they hear it.

For the 20-odd years prior to that, I've long considered it a sign of trust if a cat doesn't jerk into an alert posture when hearing my voice! Simple observation has long suggested to me that for cats, a sign of affection and trust is that they figure they can ignore you as an obvious non-danger.

[girlofprey]

That is stupid, especially when - don't they think cats bring dead animals to the door to try to feed their owners because they think we're really terrible hunters and can't manage on our own? Maybe a cat in an unfamiliar situation is going to look to protect their owner, rather than the other way around.

[conuly]

Some people think that. Others observe that this behavior is also observed in toms, who don't generally take this role with kittens. Sooooo... in the end, we don't quite know why cats do that. It's probably well-intentioned, anyway.