4 ms·
This was the first thing I thought of. We have two fat, lazy house cats, and we will never ever have mice. I grew up on a horse farm. We had Four cats that live
by wmeredith 10y ago
This was the first thing I thought of. We have two fat, lazy house cats, and we will never ever have mice. I grew up on a horse farm. We had Four cats that lived in the barn (12 horse barn) for the exact same reason. They were legitimate badasses, too. We fed them once a day in the winter. Otherwise, they fended for themselves. One of them came in the house one cold winter night when she was about 16 years old. She never went back out and lived to be 22 as a lap cat.
- saidajigumi 10y agoI've heard multiple stories on this theme: a farm cat that's lived out in the barn and fields for years, often not particularly concerned with humans, one day decides to hang it up and "retire" to a comfortable old age being a cozy house cat. I find this behavior to be so absolutely fascinating.
- oldmanjay 10y agoNot to dispirit you but the idea that mammals get lazier as they get older is a mighty low bar for fascination
- eridius 10y agoI dunno, I find it pretty interesting too (and I hadn't heard any stories like this before). It's a pretty significant change in behavior, especially to just happen out of the blue one day.
- sk5t 10y agoUpvoted for thoughtful phrasing, even though a wild-ish animal deciding to go domestic for retirement does seem interesting.
- dwaltrip 10y agoIt's not the laziness that is interesting, it's how the cat responds to it: by actively choosing to "retire" indoors among the humans as a house cat. Do you know of any other animal that does something like this?