31–40 of 93 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Back in the 90s we had a cat that liked to play fetch. Every now and then it would come to you with a bobble (a hairy ball) and you were supposed to throw it and it would bring it back (it would even drop it to your open hand). She also liked to eat cheese puffs.
My cats also play fetch: I throw the ball, they run over to where it landed, and then they sit still while they wait for me to walk over and throw the ball again :)
They don't bring the stick back either
Back in the 90s we had a cat that liked to play fetch. Every now and then it would come to you with a bobble (a hairy ball) and you were supposed to throw it and it would bring it back (it would even drop it to your open hand). She also liked to eat cheese puffs.
Experiment shows that cats are less aware of helpful behaviour between humans than dogs.
The question of reacting to harm incurred by a human companion would be better answered if the action that the animals observe appeared to be harm such as a mock assault where the companion appears to be in pain as a result of the active participant e.g. the active participant appears to punch the companion in the belly without actually making contact such that the companion falls to the ground reeling in false pain. The Japanese study linked in the article discusses this possibility in its “Discussion” section.
> It is conceivable that the cats in this study did not understand the meaning or goal of the owners’ behavior (attempting to open the container to get the object inside). To our knowledge, cats’ ability to recognize others’ goals or intentions from their actions has not been investigated. But even if they did understand the owner’s goal or intention, they might have failed to detect the negative intention of the non-helpful actor (deliberately withholding assistance). Further studies would be valuable for testing alternative third-party evaluation situations and for clarifying whether cats recognize others’ goals or intentions. [0]
[0] http://animalbehaviorandcognition.org/uploads/journals/30/AB...
there's also the obvious fact that a cat isn't a credible threat to a human. there's no point in "punishing" a creature that weighs 15-25 times as much as you do. would you try to "punish" an elephant if you were unarmed? conversely, any creature that a cat can credibly deter is not a lethal threat to a human. I imagine a large dog understands, at least on some level, that it can actually win a fight against a human.…
If a person reacts aggressively and not trying to escape, a dog is easily defeated. Just have to protect your throat and keep facing the dog. Allow it to grab you on a limb , preferably a hand or arm, and you have control. Humans have three mouths , dogs only one. Force your hand / arm into the dogs mouth and do not pull away. Use the other hand to control the snout and remove the eyes. Use your mouth to destroy the snout and associated bone structure. If you can get your hand into the mouth reach for the lungs and asphyxiate the animal. Two Dogs gets tricky. Three dogs is deadly.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Feral cat is an un-owned domestic cat
I think "feral" here refers to cats completely unaccustomed to humans. I know from experience that they will run away or bite and scratch the shit out of you until you back off, and they have no interest in getting to know you. If you give them food, they'll wait until you're gone, then take it and run. I guess not many people have witnessed them. They're not sick, that's just how they are. They probably can get accu…
They do feel rather wild, and it is interesting to see how shallow domestication really is, even in ourselves.
there's also the obvious fact that a cat isn't a credible threat to a human. there's no point in "punishing" a creature that weighs 15-25 times as much as you do. would you try to "punish" an elephant if you were unarmed? conversely, any creature that a cat can credibly deter is not a lethal threat to a human. I imagine a large dog understands, at least on some level, that it can actually win a fight against a human.…
Actually up to a weight for weight match or even more in the case of lighter humans, a single dog is trivial to defeat in combat unless it is properly trained to never fully engage and only to tear and dash. If a person reacts aggressively and not trying to escape, a dog is easily defeated. Just have to protect your throat and keep facing the dog. Allow it to grab you on a limb , preferably a hand or arm, and you hav…
What?
there's also the obvious fact that a cat isn't a credible threat to a human. there's no point in "punishing" a creature that weighs 15-25 times as much as you do. would you try to "punish" an elephant if you were unarmed? conversely, any creature that a cat can credibly deter is not a lethal threat to a human. I imagine a large dog understands, at least on some level, that it can actually win a fight against a human.…
The scratching was especially funny given the situation: we had a rug that kept getting moved, my mother was convinced that I kept moving it, when I had not. She kept arguing this, the cat came over, yelled, eventually scratched her when that didn't work, then annoyed with the situation, decided to sharpen her claws ... on the rug, pulling it out in exactly the direction the rug kept mysteriously creeping without my intervention.
That was just due to the luck of timing but it was very funny just the same.