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Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape
- Amorymeltzer 12y agoBecause we are.
- RankingMember 12y agoExactly where my brain went, and, as a former Wired subscriber back in my teens, I feel like either my memory of them is fuzzy, or they've become more of a click-bait BuzzFeed-y kind of publication as time has progressed. Probably just fuzzy memory. ;)
- pestaa 12y agoYou mean they've been click-bait BuzzFeed-y kind of publication the whole time? :) I was never a Wired subscriber, but a lot of content now seems garbage I used to joyfully consume as a teenager.
- bpyne 12y agoUnpredictable is my cat weaving its way downstairs every morning in front of me and suddenly stopping. I'm sure something puts his senses on high alert but you'd think after the first few times I tripped on him, knocking him down the stairs, he might learn. He's been a great addition to our family but, to sum up my experience with a cat: he's an overly neurotic animal with some of the finest reflexes I've ever witnessed.
- JoeAltmaier 12y agoIts a morning greeting thing - cats get up and greet one another by weaving around and brushing sides together, perhaps sharing scent. Your cat can no more learn not to do that, than it can control its sleep.
- kosma 12y agoHe thinks that after a few times you should learn to pay attention to what's happening in front of you. What kind of hunter are you if you constantly bump into other hunters? ;)
- bayesianhorse 12y agoOn Youtube there is a channel called "Cat Mojo" by someone called Jackson Galaxy. He also has an animal planet show called "My Cat From Hell". His approach to behavioral problems in cats is quite fascinating. And it seems to work. For anyone involved with cats, this is a must-see.
- probablyfiction 12y agoI had no idea that Jackson had a youtube presence. I'm going to have to check it out. His Animal Planet show is hilariously awful, though Mr. Galaxy does seem to know how to interact with cats.
- erroneousfunk 12y agoHe's kind of like a cringe-inducingly awkward quirky friend you can't stop hanging out with, even though you KNOW it's going to be slightly uncomfortable. I feel the same way about Alex Trebek.
- bayesianhorse 12y agoI think his show is great and gives a lot of insight into cats. His approach doesn't sound scientific, but on the other hand he isn't over-intellectualizing behavior.
- jchendy 12y ago"This is because cats evolved as solitary hunters with little need for reading social cues, especially those for behavior modification." [...] “How the hell is your cat supposed to know that you’re yelling at him because you want him to stop scratching the couch?” [...] "When your cat does the thing you want her do to, reward her with a treat, or affection." If we accept that cats can't learn from negative reinforcement, why would we think that positive reinforcement would work?
- cstross 12y agoBecause positive reinforcement does work on cats -- the problem is, finding the positive behavioural pattern to reinforce! Positive and negative reinforcement patterns are not opposites, they're entirely separate processes. (Cat owner here.)
- readerrrr 12y agoPerhaps because yelling isn't necessarily interpreted as something negative, while food is certainly something positive.
- XorNot 12y agoThis is all wrong though. Domestic cats have been domesticated for a long time. Cats which live with humans (or even other cats - they do naturally form colonies) adopt a number of pro-social behaviours to interact with us. They are in fact very adept at reading social cues - but conversely they are not pack-animals. They don't have the same instinctive need to identify a hierarchy of command, so much as "mess with" and "don't mess with".
- lingben 12y agoAmong the most common being meowing. Cats do not mew at other cats, only at humans.
- puzzlingcaptcha 12y ago>Domestic cats have been domesticated for a long time. That sounds like lamarckism. Or do you suggest that cats were selectively bred for their social behaviour? I find it dubious.
- saool 12y ago"You won't believe what happens after Wired turns into Buzzfeed".
- jordanpg 12y agoIt's OK, this one's legit. It's on Wired.
- hvs 12y agoFree cat advice: If your cat is going outside of its litter box, it is most likely because it isn't cleaned regularly (would you like to stand in poop to go the bathroom?). You should be cleaning it at least once per day.
- gadders 12y agoOr install a cat flap and let your cat go outside?
- metafex 12y agoSo that the cat can go outside to play and come back to shit? :) (happenes from time to time)
- ohhoe 12y agoYeah so your cat can go to someone elses house, or get run over by a car, or get attacked by animals. Great suggestion.
- gadders 12y agoOr so your cat could, you know, explore outside like they're supposed to? Cats do occasionally get run over, but most learn to avoid dogs and if they're getting second helpings of dinner at someone else's house, so what?
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- huehue 12y ago"Exposing her belly is not a trap the cat is setting" Nobody buys this.
- percept 12y agoIt's what she wants you to believe!
- ssebastianj 12y agoSomething I've learned over the years ( and five cats) is: Never touch a cat when he/she is taking a sunbath. It's a trap!
- randallsquared 12y agoI live with two cats who both think that you rubbing their bellies while they're sleeping is only their natural due, and they often protest when you stop.
- brightsize 12y agoAgreed, that part of the article is simply wrong. My neighbor's big fat fluffy cat comes over whenever it sees me outside and immediately flops over on its back and starts rolling around. It seems to luxuriate in having its belly rubbed, and crave touch in general. Flop and roll, belly rub, get up, rub something, flop and roll, belly rub, over and over. Eventually it's had enough, goes over and scratches a tree, then waddles off.
- joshschreuder 12y agoMy cat does this and doesn't even bite when I rub her belly gently, so I guess I'm either lucky or my cat doesn't conform to normality!
- ck2 12y agoIf you've ever had shingles you'd never name something you love shingles! But one thing I know about cats is they really have a set routine, getting them to change it is near impossible, you juat have to go with the flow.
- RankingMember 12y agoAs someone who started brushing their cats' teeth after cavities/tartar/gingivitis caused a lot of pain and resulted in some expensive extractions, change is possible, but you've got to stick to it 100%, no matter how much blood you lose.
- chris_wot 12y agoIf I ever get a cat, it's name will be Dr Buffington. But only because Chairman Mao is tacky.
- percept 12y agoI came here to write the same thing (thus upvoted).
- dominotw 12y agoWhy Chairman meow tacky. My cats name is chairman meow.
- nobodysfool 12y agoMao is Chinese for cat.
- gadders 12y agoReading that article, I can't help but think most of those problems would be a lot less likely to occur if your cat was allowed outside with a cat flap or similar. If you're cat goes outside you tend not to need scratching posts and litter trays for starters.
- breischl 12y agoEveryone in your neighborhood would like to thank you for encouraging your cat to crap in their yards and letting them pick it up. Get a litter box and clean up after your own damn pet.
- objclxt 12y agoYou know that cats bury their poop, right? When I lived in London, where it's the norm to let your cat out, I never encountered any cat poo in my garden, and we had around half a dozen local cats.
- breischl 12y agoWhere exactly are they going to bury it in the middle of a city? They're not capable of digging up concrete, lawns, hard-packed dirt, etc. So they're either crapping in the open, or they're digging up somebody's garden, neither of which is appropriate. Unless you're literally living on a farm, the world is not your pet's latrine. Give them somewhere to do their business and/or clean up after them.
- josefresco 12y agoAt least in my part of the world, coyotes and foxes prey rather successfully on household pets allowed to roam freely outside.
- gadders 12y agoIn the UK we really only have neighbour's dogs. Foxes tend to run from cats.
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- valevk 12y agoMy cat purrs like a drunk after passing out, when I give him belly rubs!
- ohhoe 12y agoI won't hear it. My cat loves me and thinks I am a giant cuddly friend. And dispenser of food.
- pilif 12y ago>He just doesn’t know how to connect your negative reinforcement with his behavior. I don't know. The one time I got seriously mad at Yoshi (my cat) was when he bit through an ethernet cable. That was the one single time I've actually squirted water at him and threw him out of my appartment. Since then neither my ethernet cables nor my iPhone USB cables got bitten through any more (he also knows that chewing on iphone cables and headphones is a very good way to get attention). There's a lot of stuff I let slide with him (maybe too much - I love him to bits), but he really seems to respect the fact that chewing on cables is a total no-go (also: bloody dangerous - some carry current)
- tfinniga 12y agoYeah, that bit of the article was not very good. Several paragraphs to say "Your cat can't figure out negative reinforcement - their brains just can't handle it! Change the environment instead." Then right next to that, it's all "You should give your cat positive reinforcement, that totally works!" Not that it's bad advice to have positive reinforcement come from you and negative reinforcement come from the environment, but the explanation is poor.
- erroneousfunk 12y agoYeah, I also have a 1.5 year old cat who is great at not getting on counters because we threw her (gently!) off of them so many times. In fact, if she gets up on anything she's not supposed to be on, you just have to stare at her and point at the floor, and she jumps off (we have lots of appropriate climbing places, but she hasn't yet figured out that there's a difference between "on the TV stand when it's off, and on the TV stand when we're watching it") The 6 month old Russian Blue? Not so much. I get the feeling that "negative reinforcement" doesn't apply to all cats all the time.
- mercnet 12y agoCat's definitely do understand punishment for their behavior. My girlfriend's cat will scratch the couch and immediately start running away as he knows we are going to squirt him.
- edw519 12y agoHow to Treat Your Cat (or Manager) 1. Any cat > any thing, no matter how expensive. I wish my carpets and furniture weren't all scratched up, but I really don't care that much. Corollary: Any manager > any project. The project may fail, but the manager may do another. 2. Let the cat initiate all action. They will let you know when they want to eat/sleep/play/cuddle/hang out. Respond predictably to their action. Corollary: Keep coding until interrupted by your manager. Smile, listen, pretend to care, agree. Then continue coding. 3. Every time you return (even from the mailbox), greet the cat as if you hadn't seen each other for years. I don't know how cats perceive the passage time, but what difference does that really make? Corollary: Document everything discussed with your manager and share the notes during your next meeting to remind them of what they probably won't remember. 4. Listen to the cat. They do have words, just not in the same language. Tonality and body language leave very important clues. Corollary: Learn the definition of terms like: bandwidth, key results, deep dive, follow-up, subject matter expert, and ROI so you know what the hell your manager is talking about. 5. Include the cat in your plans when applicable. They may surprise you by enjoying watching football on TV, relaxing in the yard, or even eating together. Corollary: Give your manager a status report so they know what's going on. Otherwise, they'll just interrupt you when you're right in the middle of coding a difficult algorithm. 6. If the cat gets scared, growls, scratches, or bites, you probably did something wrong. Identify and correct the problem. Corollary: If the project fails, it's your fault because it can't be your manager's fault. 7. Even though it's not human, the cat is a member of your family and should be treated accordingly. Corollary: Even though they can't code and have never built anything, your manager deserves as much respect as anyone else.
- obviouslygreen 12y agoResponse to corollary on #7: "Anyone else" deserves about as much respect as your cat. The idea that a creature that enjoys destroying your possessions, arbitrarily ignoring you for most of its life despite depending entirely upon you, expects total obedience despite no contribution or investment, has never earned a dollar in its life and has no concept of what a dollar is or why that might be important to it, intrinsically deserves anything so important as respect is ridiculous. I'm not suggesting you leave your cat or your manager out to rot with the garbage (though I wouldn't argue, in most cases). But to suggest that either of these creatures, by default, deserves any measure of respect is hilarious to me.
- pessimizer 12y ago"Why Your Dog Thinks You're a Large, Friendly Dog."
- duckingtest 12y agoWant to tell a cat to follow you? Stare him in the eyes, then drag your eyes slowly, turn back and start going. The reverse is true too - that's how a cat tells you to follow you. For a "no" or "get away" I found hissing to be the most effective. >“Cats don’t understand glass, but they do understand height,” Buffington says This statement is false, my cat definitely understands what glass is.
- click170 12y agoThe BBC just did a 3 part special called Cat Watch where they follow the lives of several cats in a small town in the UK, attaching small cameras to the cats to see what they get up to, and demonstrating things like how cats use their whiskers to "see" things right in front of them because their vision is poor at close range and how they communicate with us. I recommend it if you're a cat person.
- GFischer 12y agoI agree, it's an amazing documentary, obligatory if you're a cat person: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnbRoRmRV2c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnbRoRmRV2c (I normally don't watch long videos).
- vladnyc 12y agoblocked :( This video contains content from BBC Worldwide, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.
- click170 12y agoIt's still on TPB. People ask why I don't use Youtube. This is a big contributing factor. Just torrent it and send a polite email to the BBC asking them to make it available in your area, or watch it on BBC iPlayer if it's available to you.
- jordanpg 12y agoThere is something interesting buried in this article: "Without the cognitive ability to connect your outburst to their scratching, cats see only chaotic aggression." Unfortunately, the author asserts it without evidence. How cats understand cause and effect relative to humans is something I ponder from time to time.
- bambax 12y agoI have a cat and I talk to her and she talks to me. There's a couch she likes best but I don't want her on it; every time she goes near it I just say "no" and she turns around (she won't get off of it if she's already on it by voice alone, though). If there's no food left for her she comes to my study and does a very specific meow, and I know I need to replenish the thing. She sleeps during the day and lives outside during the night, bringing back the occasional dead mouse on the front porch in the morning. We don't have that many interactions but we understand one another, I think, pretty well.