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Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

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Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#61

Post by Sharlin »

puzzlingcaptcha wrote: post #51
XorNot wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This 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"…

>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.

How do you think domestic cats came into existence? Prosocial behavior and tolerance of humans are traits that are equal parts nature and nurture in cats. Obviously current housecats are descended from those wild cats that were more accepting of human presence and had traits that made them accepted by humans as well. Still, individual cats must learn to interact with humans, and if they aren't habituated to human presence during the first couple of months of their lifes, they end up very different psychologically compared to if they are.

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#62

Post by pavel_lishin »

puzzlingcaptcha wrote: post #51
XorNot wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This 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"…

>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.

Do you suggest that cats are immune to evolutionary pressure?

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#63

Post by obviouslygreen »

edw519 wrote: post #56

How 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. Corol…

Response 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.

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#64

Post by pavel_lishin »

charleso wrote: post #52
post_break wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah that's great and all but I've tried that. 3 litter boxes. All cleaned twice a day, and he still shits on the carpet 2 feet away from the box. Lid on, lid off, big sidewalls, different cat litter. I've tried it all. The little shit just likes shitting on carpet I guess. And putting the fear of god into him does nothing.

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…

Cats tend to hide their pain: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/201...

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#65

Post by dominotw »

hvs wrote: post #12

Free 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.

Get litter robot (http://www.litter-robot.com/litter-robot.aspx?id=13). It changed my life.

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#66

Post by xioxox »

obviouslygreen wrote: post #63
edw519 wrote: post #56

How 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. Corol…

Response 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, intrin…

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

Huh? What has earning money got to do with respect? Many people I respect don't have money as any of their main goals. Surely, money is only a means to an end and not an end in itself.

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#67

Post by not_kurt_godel »

metafex wrote: post #54
greedo wrote: post #46

Earlier 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.

> if they would really pose such a big threat, smaller mammals and brids would just migrate away

That's exactly what you don't want happening in an ecosystem.

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#68

Post by JoeAltmaier »

dominotw wrote: post #65
hvs wrote: post #12

Free 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.

Get litter robot ( http://www.litter-robot.com/litter-robot.aspx?id=13 ). It changed my life.

Wow. You can even buy 'reconditioned' units. Not sure about that one.

Re: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape

#69

Post by post_break »

charleso wrote: post #52
post_break wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah that's great and all but I've tried that. 3 litter boxes. All cleaned twice a day, and he still shits on the carpet 2 feet away from the box. Lid on, lid off, big sidewalls, different cat litter. I've tried it all. The little shit just likes shitting on carpet I guess. And putting the fear of god into him does nothing.

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.
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