If I ever get a cat, it's name will be Dr Buffington. But only because Chairman Mao is tacky.
Why Chairman meow tacky. My cats name is chairman meow.
Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape
81–90 of 117 posts
Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape
#82There 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.
Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having lived in both the U.S. and the U.K. it's interesting to see the two different attitudes to cats. In the UK, letting your cat outside is the norm. The shelter I adopted from wouldn't give you a cat unless you were able to let it out (or the cat had feline AIDS and needed to be kept indoors for protection). But it's the complete opposite in the U.S, and although that makes sense in some places (a lot more predat…
Where I live, if you let your cat(s) outside, sooner or later they will be eaten by coyote or mountain lion. I am not exaggerating. There's also the issue of cats decimating the local bird population: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cats_actually_kill
Well, I did say in my original post I wasn't talking about the countryside. One would hope there aren't mountain lions wandering the streets of, say, Brooklyn.
Cats do kill wildlife, but their impact is often overstated. The RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) in the UK has no issues with cats being let out, but recommend they have bells on their collars. The majority of birds that cats kill are sick, frail, or otherwise in poor health.
To quote the RSPB: "there is no scientific evidence that predation by cats in gardens is having any impact on bird populations UK-wide"[1].
[1]:http://www.rspb.org.uk/makeahomeforwildlife/advice/gardening...
Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Read about how many wild animals an outdoor cat kills in a typical year...
Ahh, so much quiter without all those birds and other critters :P On a serious note: cats usually integrate well with their ecosystem and if they would really pose such a big threat, smaller mammals and brids would just migrate away. edit: I'm speaking of balanced ecosystems where cats have natural enemies, foxes and whatnot.
There's no scientific evidence that letting cats outdoors cause a decline in bird populations: and that's according to the UK charity that campaigns for the protection of birds[1].
The majority of birds that cats kill are frail, in poor health, or otherwise likely to have not made it through the season anyway.
[1]:http://www.rspb.org.uk/makeahomeforwildlife/advice/gardening...
Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you suggest that cats are immune to evolutionary pressure?
Do you suggest the presence of humans reduces the reproductive success of non-domesticated cats? Otherwise, how do you understand evolutionary pressure?
Presence of humans increases the reproductive success of domesticated cats (because they get supplemental food and shelter and protection from predators), and decreases the success of non-domesticated cats (because humans are happy to kill antisocial feral cats).
Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you suggest the presence of humans reduces the reproductive success of non-domesticated cats? Otherwise, how do you understand evolutionary pressure?
Presence of humans increases the reproductive success of domesticated cats (because they get supplemental food and shelter and protection from predators), and decreases the success of non-domesticated cats (because humans are happy to kill antisocial feral cats).
Do you honestly think that some agricultural community hundreds of years ago had nothing better to do than hunt down anti-social cats? It's speculation, and sources suggest the opposite is true, the cats were were simply tolerated: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2702791/#__sec6t...
Increase of reproductive success is not an evolutionary pressure and is irrelevant in the context of the comment I was replying to.
Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape
#87>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 iphon…
Yeah, 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.
Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape
#88On 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.
I 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.
He'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.
Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your cat might have a bladder or kidney stone which is causing extreme pain when pooping. Please take your cat to the vet and have that checked out. I ran into the same thing: Cat pooped in exotic, awkward places, but never the litter box. Never looked like she was in pain -- just being stubborn, I figured. Turned out to be a bladder stone brought on by the ingredients in modern cat food (put in place to help other f…
He's had xrays done not 3 months ago that showed nothing like that. They ruled it out. He pisses in the litter box, just refuses to poop in it.
Maybe he doesn't like to do different business in the same place? Try getting another box.
Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
He's had xrays done not 3 months ago that showed nothing like that. They ruled it out. He pisses in the litter box, just refuses to poop in it.
Maybe he doesn't like to do different business in the same place? Try getting another box.
>3 litter boxes