Is My Cat Right- or Left-Handed? (2009)

#1

Post by Amorymeltzer » Fri, Oct 30, 2015, 12:58 PM UTC

Is My Cat Right- or Left-Handed? (2009)
smithsonianmag.com

Re: Is My Cat Right- or Left-Handed? (2009)

#2

Post by chris_wot » Fri, Oct 30, 2015, 1:33 PM UTC

Deborah Wells and Sarah Millsopp should seriously consider teaming up with the guys who patented a method of inducing aerobic exercise in an unrestrained cat.

Re: Is My Cat Right- or Left-Handed? (2009)

#3

Post by sobkas » Fri, Oct 30, 2015, 2:39 PM UTC

>not smart enough to figure out how to obtain it.

Or smart enough to avoid being a subject of some strange experiment.

Re: Is My Cat Right- or Left-Handed? (2009)

#4

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Oct 30, 2015, 2:40 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Is My Cat Right- or Left-Handed? (2009)

#5

Post by derekp7 » Fri, Oct 30, 2015, 2:58 PM UTC

sobkas wrote: post #3

>not smart enough to figure out how to obtain it. Or smart enough to avoid being a subject of some strange experiment.

That was the author's next point, that the cat knows she doesn't have to work too hard to get the food, as the human will make it available in short order.

Re: Is My Cat Right- or Left-Handed? (2009)

#6

Post by Kiro » Fri, Oct 30, 2015, 5:12 PM UTC

I was... expecting something more.

Re: Is My Cat Right- or Left-Handed? (2009)

#7

Post by GPGPU » Fri, Oct 30, 2015, 5:22 PM UTC

My cat has paws, not hands. And thank God for that, too, otherwise she'd get into too much trouble.

Re: Is My Cat Right- or Left-Handed? (2009)

#8

Post by Frenchgeek » Fri, Oct 30, 2015, 5:49 PM UTC

Well, cats don't have hands, so that's pretty easy to answer...

Re: Is My Cat Right- or Left-Handed? (2009)

#9

Post by bostonaholic » Fri, Oct 30, 2015, 5:50 PM UTC

My wife and I ran an experiment to find this out on our cat, too.

He already uses his paws to reach into several narrow cups to pull out food; so this was nothing out of the ordinary for him. What we did was, put food in 1 cup and watched as he continually used his left paw. Then, we rotated the device so the cup with food was against the wall and difficult to reach with his left paw; hoping this would force him to use his right paw. Wrong. He rotated his body and walked to the other side so he could use his left paw. We rotated again as did he.

We've done this several times now and he always moves his body instead of just simply using his right paw.

Re: Is My Cat Right- or Left-Handed? (2009)

#10

Post by whateveracct » Fri, Oct 30, 2015, 6:15 PM UTC

Frenchgeek wrote: post #8

Well, cats don't have hands, so that's pretty easy to answer...

Cats use their front paws in some very hand-like ways. They can even grip with their toes.