5 ms·

Cats are amazing as long as you know what to expect and how to be around them. People expecting smaller versions of dogs are in for some disappointment.

mschuster91 9y ago
> Cats are amazing as long as you know what to expect and how to be around them It's amazing how many people don't know that rule #1 for a cat is: let the cat be a cat, if she wants to interact with you she will come to you and ask. Even more amazing is many people don't know that this is also valid for dogs - no, you should not complain that a dog in a subway nearly bit your hand off, when you simply go to the dog and pet it without asking the owner if the dog actually likes being touched by random people and don't first hold your hand in front of the dog's nose so he can sniff it before touching the back of his head from behind. That often enough the dog pays with his life for your inability to respect boundaries is horrible. Then again, people generally don't respect the personal boundaries of anyone they deem "incapable" of having boundaries, including kids ("give stinky aunt a kiss"), women or old people... so it doesn't surprise me...
- oneeyedpigeon 9y ago
  I usually try to make a point of lowering myself to an animal's approximate height because that feels less threatening, although I don't know quite how much of an impact that has. It seems obvious that the more respect you show an animal in this situation, the better.
  - humanrebar 9y ago
    Making yourself smaller is generally less threatening, but making eye contact or getting in their faces can be more threatening. So it depends. > It seems obvious that the more respect you show an animal in this situation, the better. It depends. Some animals behave better when it's clear to them that a) they're not the alpha and b) the alpha has everything under control.
    - mschuster91 9y ago
      > Making yourself smaller is generally less threatening, but making eye contact or getting in their faces can be more threatening. The core point is: move slowly. Hectic movements will induce stress in any animal. Give it time to react to your presence and try to look at the body language (especially if it tries to back away from you or growls/hisses at you)... how often people fail to respect a hiss, it's unbelievable.
  - celticninja 9y ago
    what you should do, to dogs definitely,(it helps with other animals too) is to lower a hand toward them, present the back of your hand and allow them to sniff it, only then should you attempt to stroke the dog (if it snarled at the offered hand dont stroke it), and when you do stroke it, dont go straight for the top of the head. Crouching down to its height could expose you to worse injury as you are now putting your face and throat much closer to the animal. These are the instructions I give my children, who love animals and are used to dogs and want to pet every dog they see.
Bromskloss 9y ago
What's amazing about them, then?
- jhbadger 9y ago
  The attraction of cats is that you have a very slightly domesticated wild animal. There is really something magical about interacting with an animal that has a bit more agency than dogs who have been bred for millenia to be servants to humanity.
  - ianai 9y ago
    Exactly, and despite not being the most mentally capable cats exhibit very intelligent tendencies. They can have endless curiosity and playfulness, but also somehow still very lazy.
    - TheOtherHobbes 9y ago
      We had to cat sit a few times over the last six months, and Cat World isn't an easy place to understand. Cats don't appear to have a good serial memory, so they can remember places and times up to a point, but not quite well enough to integrate them into a conceptual whole. One cat was cute and sweet tempered, but also timid and really rather slow. We eventually worked out that she couldn't make the connection between the corridor that led to the kitchen in daylight, and the same corridor after dark. She acted as if they were two completely different and unrelated spaces. So she had to timidly re-explore both every day, which caused non-trivial confusion because some of the things in the corridor already had her scent on them.
      - ianai 9y ago
        Every cat is different. Some can be downright neurotic, just like us. They also get senile in old age. I had the pleasure of growing into adulthood alongside a cat. He died 2 months shy of 20. He taught me a lot.
  - hackeraccount 9y ago

mschuster91 9y ago

> Cats are amazing as long as you know what to expect and how to be around them It's amazing how many people don't know that rule #1 for a cat is: let the cat be a cat, if she wants to interact with you she will come to you and ask. Even more amazing is many people don't know that this is also valid for dogs - no, you should not complain that a dog in a subway nearly bit your hand off, when you simply go to the dog and pet it without asking the owner if the dog actually likes being touched by random people and don't first hold your hand in front of the dog's nose so he can sniff it before touching the back of his head from behind. That often enough the dog pays with his life for your inability to respect boundaries is horrible. Then again, people generally don't respect the personal boundaries of anyone they deem "incapable" of having boundaries, including kids ("give stinky aunt a kiss"), women or old people... so it doesn't surprise me...

oneeyedpigeon 9y ago
I usually try to make a point of lowering myself to an animal's approximate height because that feels less threatening, although I don't know quite how much of an impact that has. It seems obvious that the more respect you show an animal in this situation, the better.
- humanrebar 9y ago
  Making yourself smaller is generally less threatening, but making eye contact or getting in their faces can be more threatening. So it depends. > It seems obvious that the more respect you show an animal in this situation, the better. It depends. Some animals behave better when it's clear to them that a) they're not the alpha and b) the alpha has everything under control.
  - mschuster91 9y ago
    > Making yourself smaller is generally less threatening, but making eye contact or getting in their faces can be more threatening. The core point is: move slowly. Hectic movements will induce stress in any animal. Give it time to react to your presence and try to look at the body language (especially if it tries to back away from you or growls/hisses at you)... how often people fail to respect a hiss, it's unbelievable.
- celticninja 9y ago
  what you should do, to dogs definitely,(it helps with other animals too) is to lower a hand toward them, present the back of your hand and allow them to sniff it, only then should you attempt to stroke the dog (if it snarled at the offered hand dont stroke it), and when you do stroke it, dont go straight for the top of the head. Crouching down to its height could expose you to worse injury as you are now putting your face and throat much closer to the animal. These are the instructions I give my children, who love animals and are used to dogs and want to pet every dog they see.

Bromskloss 9y ago

What's amazing about them, then?

jhbadger 9y ago
The attraction of cats is that you have a very slightly domesticated wild animal. There is really something magical about interacting with an animal that has a bit more agency than dogs who have been bred for millenia to be servants to humanity.
- ianai 9y ago
  Exactly, and despite not being the most mentally capable cats exhibit very intelligent tendencies. They can have endless curiosity and playfulness, but also somehow still very lazy.
  - TheOtherHobbes 9y ago
    We had to cat sit a few times over the last six months, and Cat World isn't an easy place to understand. Cats don't appear to have a good serial memory, so they can remember places and times up to a point, but not quite well enough to integrate them into a conceptual whole. One cat was cute and sweet tempered, but also timid and really rather slow. We eventually worked out that she couldn't make the connection between the corridor that led to the kitchen in daylight, and the same corridor after dark. She acted as if they were two completely different and unrelated spaces. So she had to timidly re-explore both every day, which caused non-trivial confusion because some of the things in the corridor already had her scent on them.
    - ianai 9y ago
      Every cat is different. Some can be downright neurotic, just like us. They also get senile in old age. I had the pleasure of growing into adulthood alongside a cat. He died 2 months shy of 20. He taught me a lot.
- hackeraccount 9y ago