The reason why cats are not wo/man's best friend

If the cat was stepping over an object that wasn't there, that would be stupid. But animals, like humans have to first of all react to what is there.

My cat Pad Thai remembers exactly how far he has to jump to land from the floor to my shoulder. If he jumps in front, he only jumps as far as my hands have to catch him and pull him in. If he jumps from behind, he jumps up to my shoulder. Either way he has engineered it perfectly, and remembered it from youth.

that guy has so much personality :)

So cats don't act like woman or man's best friend?

Bunk. A few years ago my girlfriend slept in her rocking chair and a cigarette in an ashtray fell to the floor. Not a second too soon two of the cats she has, began pawing her to get her up and awakened her to a small smoldering fire on the floor which she could see and quickly put out.

Those cats saved her life and her house.

Woman's best friend!

They're laughing about it now.

From the end of the article:

Research with horses and dogs has shown similar results, Pearson said.

Similar memories may play a role in humans' ability to navigate objects in the dark or remember where they parked their car in the morning.

Damn, I am really low on the intelligence chain.

They remember EVERYTHING. Where the fun thing was - where you hid the fun thing - how to open the door/lid/combination lock that is protecting the fun thing - the most amusing time of the morning (3 am) to prove that they remember all of the above . . .

I love my cats, but I wish they didn't have such excellent memories!

and put the catnip away (in a plastic bag).

the next morning there was shredded plastic bag parts and catnip scattered all over the living room, and the cats were lying belly up as if they had been on an all-nighter :rofl:

They don't even get it that often, but if Monty hears me open that drawer for any reason he runs in from wherever he was. They remember.

Yeah Cats aren't smart... :rofl:

most expensive cat treat around-$10 a jar. Give them one and they will NEVER forget where you stashed that jar!

I've had cats for nearly 50 years. They're great companions, but I can never tell if they are smart or not. Clearly, some are more responsive than others, and some learn things better than others. The one common point of most cats is they don't care what you think.

After resisting for decades, I finally caved to a mountain of pressure, and we have a dog. This dog can learn stuff like sitting on command, stay, and other things. But mostly, he kisses our asses endlessly. Unlike a cat, his entire world revolves around pleasing us. As a life-long cat man, I find that behavior somewhat nauseating, but it certainly is engaging.

will fight to the death to save you, your wife, your children. He'll skip with happiness when daddy comes home, he'll tolerate the indignities forced upon him if you, by chance, have a newborn, and he wants a few things in return. A little love, a little playtime, his fair share of attention.

My dog hit this phase where he started play-biting. Finally I nipped him on the back of his neck? The little guy managed to jump 3 feet in the air, several feet back, and looked at me like "what the hell....?" Then he got this big s*&^-eating grin on his face, and you could see the realization hit his face: "Oh, you're just a big dog!!!!" He pounced on me and started licking my face like a crazed devil. That dog played with my kids whenever and wherever they wanted.

We had a cat at one point, it clawed my 2 year old's face for looking at it. I saw it as it happened. The baby was just sitting there watching the cat.

My take: cats may not care what you think of them. Conversely, I wouldn't shed a tear if every one of the little bastards died overnight. A dog, on the other hand, if raised properly, can become part of the family.

The cat, otoh, was a tabby. We also had a calico and a feral kitten. They all sucked. They're solitary creatures. Fine. Let them have their solitude.

And especially if a child has not been taught how to properly treat an animal.

Additionally a cat's claws can be trimmed or capped with something like Soft Paws. However I have the feeling that you just wanted to ditch the cat and found an excuse to do so. The cats probably didn't like you because they can sense that you despise them.

If you want a pet to hold, squeeze, and name George then cats aren't for you. However how solitary the cat is depends on the individual cat's personality. One of my cats gets separation anxiety if I leave the house for over an hour.

Cats are capable of bonding, but they aren't as demonstrative about it as dogs are.

The cats I've had in my life (probably a total of 15 or 16) have all had their own personalities, true, but the overwhelming majority were affectionate, friendly, wonderful animals. If you don't think they're part of our family you are sadly mistaken. I have great communications with my cats -- we carry on "conversations," they run to the door to greet me when I come home, they sleep on my pillow, they purr, they seek me out for petting, etc. etc.

I get really sick and tired of the way so many "dog people" seem to feel they can express a wish that cats be hurt or killed. That is disgusting. Just because I'm not a dog person, and tend to often find dogs somewhat annoying and have no desire to have one (yes I've been around plenty of dogs and we had one when I was a kid) doesn't mean that I don't wish all dogs well and hope they all find people who will take care of them properly.

Where did I "express a wish that cats be hurt or killed?" I said I wouldn't shed a tear. Ambivalence is not hatred. I simply don't care. Not another one of those animals is entering my home. If someone else wants to take care of them, bravo.

No reason. I wasn't bothering it at all. It came over to me, sniffed my hand (I didn't raise it), and bit my finger. Sometimes dogs exhibit unpredictable behavior, as do cats. The difference is, most dogs can do a hell of a lot more damage to the human body.

So, when you reduce this argument to dogs are saints/cats are devils it is truly ridiculous.

Cats are pretty much indifferent to their housemates. I kind of ran with that theme from personal experiences.

Dogs do nip...I think I alluded to that?

I'm content with the fact some people like cats. Any cat with a sense of self-preservation, though, had best keep it's solitary ass away from my daughter. That basically sums it up.

As I said, our cats run to greet us at the door. They purposely seek us out for affectiong and lap time. They play with each other. They wash each other. They are anything but "indifferent."

You keep your daughter away from cats. I wish I COULD keep my kids away from dogs (and their owners) who seem to think it is just peachy for their slobbering canines to rush up to us at a park and practically knock us over (or put their muddy paws all over us). How the hell are we supposed to "know" that the dog is friendly (as the owners always tell us) as it is charging us? Or, even if it is friendly, how do we know that it is still not unpredictable? There have been cases of Golden Retrievers who never displayed any aggression suddenly turning on a human (I recall a boy was KILLED a few years ago).

The more I have contact with dogs, the more relieved I am that I have cats, and the more I appreciate them.

He is not indifferent. He knows I have the food.

I know plenty of cats that are good with kids.

But her food was out for her whenever she wanted it. She was a very picky eater and didn't want treats (I tried buying them for her and she turned up her nose at them, so I stopped spending the money).
So there goes the theory of "human as feeder" out the window...

Very strange cat. Yes the food is out all the time, since I only feed him dry, but he has me trained because he complains whenever he can see the bottom of the dish.

The only cats I have ever known that could even potentially hurt someone were all feral and mostly those run away from people.

My cat will pounce on me as I walk across the room and sometimes sinks his teeth or claws in good, but I think it is all in play. I am just glad he isn't bigger than he is.

I saw a friends hyper-active cat leap through a doorway, realize that she was about to impact a toddler claws first, and somehow manipulated her body so as to miss the kid. One of the most amazing things I ever saw.

And a dog took off half of an ex's little girls face for being too close to the dogs food bowl. I don't judge all dogs by that.

Our cat follows our 9 year old around like a puppy. She comes when called. She comes and joins me and my son for story time every night. And she always knows when someone isn't feeling well. She'll spend all of her time with her sick human, making sure they feel better. If that isn't part of the family, I don't know what is.

Dogs have a master, cats have a staff.

Ain't that the truth!!! :rofl:

"I hate you right now. In a minute, you'll love me to death.

Watch."

Cats rule; scientists drool :)

Well, at least they rule me.

I just wish I could get paid to be a Kitty Servant. :)

Beautiful gray kitty you have there, BTW ...:loveya:

We got two Russian Blues in 2000 and it's hard to imagine our lives without them. After 29 years of marriage and no children our cats are our "little girls."

My cats are intelligent and independent. They set the schedule, they make the rules. They are (mostly) benevolent dictators.

I appreciate the fact that they can't be herded, commanded, and are not "obedient." I'm the same way, which is why I make a prickly democrat.

My dog is intelligent and completely dependent. She is obviously a pack animal, and I'm the head of her pack. While she likes all people, and welcomes scratching and attention from all, she is a one-person dog when it comes down to it. She stays right where I am, or she waits patiently for me to get home. She does not want to go for a walk or play with other family members when I'm gone. She obeys me instantly and easily, and ignores everyone else. She likes and gets along with the cat, the chickens, and the horses. She greatly desires to help me with the handful of sheep. Her main goal in life is to keep the "herd/pack" together, keep strangers away from the herd, and to make sure that no living thing ever intrudes between she and I. She is loving, loyal, and intense in her desire to take care of me and my "pack."

My current cat is plenty smart. She wouldn't have stepped over a non-existent barrier, either, lol.

than her litter mates) we got a cat and the GS would displine her, the cat would stand at the window like the GS and do a cat version of the warning bark. The GS was very prissy and did not like mud pudles, the cat did.
Once when the cat was only a couple of months old, I took the GS out to potty, she squatted did a very large puddle and the kitten tried to cover it, she only got a foot around the circle and gave up, and gave the GS a look of distain, like why don't you bury. When the cat caught her first mouse, she put it in front of tge GS' food bowl. The GS sat down, scooted back from the bowl and pointed at the mouse then me, meaning get rid of it. I told the GS, that the cat was giving her a present, she didn't buy it.

I get gifts from the cat all the time; the dog only wants to "share" the live gifts. I don't know why the cat will sometimes present me with a whole, dead gift, sometimes present me with leftovers, and sometimes present me with live gifts. Somebody once suggested that she was trying to teach me to hunt, lol.

This spring/summer season, I've been presented with a live mouse, a live bird, and 4 live baby bunnies on different occasions. One was released on my bed at 3:30 in the morning. One live baby bunny was left in the bathtub. The others were turned loose in the house. She was going to turn the mouse loose, but I snatched her, and the mouse, before she could.

The bird? She sat on top of the highest ledge she could find and watched the dog and I chase the bird around, trying to "herd" it towards the open door.

they love cats. as a snack. (They average 100 lbs each)

Of course, the dog is only 60 lbs, lol, but she still outweighs the cat by about 52 lbs. It's interesting; as a herding dog, it's her nature to "chase," but she doesn't chase the cat, chickens, or horses. She knows that they are off limits. When she does "chase," it's not to catch, but to move them away from her territory, or towards a designated spot.

The dog loves the cat, and is eager to nudge and bathe her. The cat tolerates it for a minute or two, and then gives her the "look." Usually, that's sufficient to end the bath. If not, a quick swipe of claws and a warning yowl does the trick.

The cat doesn't "love" the dog, but accepts her. She will stalk up to the dog and rub on her, and has been known to share a bed, if the dog happens to have the best spot available, which is rare.

No joke. She brings the ball and then we have to throw it so she can run after it like a dog and then she brings it back etc.

She can even catch the fluffy ones in midair. She's weird.

I like that cats aren't asskissers - dogs are wonderful pets, but I like the independent spirit of a cat.

That's about it. :)

My dog remembers that I yelled at her 4 years ago for pooping inside.

All I know is that cats are remarkably fun to watch and I love 'em!

love 'em.

my cat KNOWS that the package of salami is in the refrigerator door and if she chirps she gets a piece?

My cat KNOWS the sound of opening the peanut butter carton and comes running for her treat?

My cat KNOWS the word "Treat"?

My cat KNOWS that if I go to the refrigerator she will be more likely to get something if she chirps than if my husband goes to the refrigerator (she won't chirp at him)?

LOL. :shrug:

and line up for their treat.

:argh:

What's this shit????? :grr:

Without fail, my cat hides when he has a vet appointment. I'm sure he is picking up on some cue I am sending, but still, he seems to be both awfully perceptive and to remember how much he hates the vet's office quite well.

Where's my PDA???? :rofl:

:evilgrin:

:rofl:

welcome to DU!! :hi:

Otherwise they'll hide, but if it's out at least a day, they forget it's there. They used to run when I opened up the closet door where it was kept even (and I also kept the litter in there).

My poor guy Merlin (almost 6 years old, Maine Coon/tabby cross) is sick. He was jetting around the place crying earlier this morning, and has an... upset gut. (Yes, the smelly, unpleasant, disgusting kind of upset gut.)

Now he's laying under the blanket on my bed, not coming out and he's breathing rapidly. The last time he did this was when he got into some milk; I (stupidly) gave him a morsel of food last night that was cooked with milk and butter in the ingredients. In short, I think he just has the runs, but... should I be concerned? Last time, the vet told us there wasn't much to be done except let time pass and let him get better on his own. Now that he's getting a little older, he's more intolerant to dairy products than before. In my defense, I didn't know milk and butter were used in the cooking.

He seems to be feeling the way I do when I'm in the same situation, poor guy. Should I just keep an eye on him, and let things take their course?

I just remember the time that Catwoman's little female (a young cat) looked unwell one evening, but she didn't think it was anything serious. The next day the beloved kitty had passed away and she felt awful. I've kept that in mind ever since and now always take my pets to the vet if they are acting very unlike themselves-even if it's something that happened before.

Poor little guy just had a case of the squirts. He's himself again, or seems to be :D

I have a new kitten. Two weeks ago I would open the fridge, the kitten would dash up and stick his head in the fridge, and I would have to move him out of the way so he didn't get his head slammed in the door when it closed. He did this until one evening when I didn't notice him under foot, and his head DID get slammed in the fridge. Now as soon as he sees the door beginning to close he backs away. Quickly.

My cat Puck walks on a leash. She used to have a set routine of where she wanted to walk in our neighborhood (about a block, then a tour around the back yard). One afternoon a huge oversized truck loaded with debris from a home demolition came roaring down our brick street while we were several houses away from home. Puck was totally freaked out by the size of the vehicle and the noise. Now she doesn't like to go near the street. That is, unless she sees our neighbor Mark across the road with his little dog Zoe. She loves them both, and will walk towards any little dog that resembles Zoe.

So, from my own experience I can safely say that my cats have long memories of both dangers and friends, some of which are visual.

I will argue down anyone who tells me that cats have no memory of who they belong to, credentialed or not. I've owned cats for seventeen years. All of them have recognized me and the other members of my household, and whenever strangers visited, were shy and uncomfortable around them. When I come back from work, my cat is waiting on the windowsill for me, and when she sees me coming, she jumps off and is waiting for me at the door, often mewing. I know it's just for me because I can see her from a distance -- she's a black cat -- and she doesn't react while other people are passing on the sidewalk, just when I enter her line of sight.

Perhaps it isn't entirely visual. Perhaps it is based on scent and territory marking. But cats most definitely are capable of long-term memory. Just because their memories may not be as sight-based as human long-term memories, doesn't mean that they don't exist.

on 'em!

And my cats helped me survive the worst times of my life when no human cared, Cats saved my life many times when I was going to kill myself,sometimes with just a gentle nuzzle,when I had lost hope,and cats teach me to remember what love is and why boundaries are so important.

that a person can be so ruled by the instinct of protecting ones family that they make a sworn enemy for life of a species of dumb animal that was also only acting out of instinct.

Truly silly.

:eyes:

Dogs are good too :D.

:eyes: I guess that explains why my cat sleeps on the same pillow every night for the last 15 years and lays in the same sun-spot every single day.
Oh and she remembers she doesn't like kids too.

I mean, a straight leap up the air about three feet. Is he remembering a jump rope or something?

I used to always find our cats' behaviors odd and would find myself searching for the right reasoning as to why they do so many of the things they do. Then, many many years ago, while tripping my face off, I discovered why: They were tripping too.

Not one thing they did while I was tripping seemed odd. In fact, it all oddly made sense all of a sudden. They just seemed, well, kinda normal. I understood them completely and just knew that there was something, just something flowing through their brains, that was the equivalent of our tripping. But for them, it never ended.

Yup. I'm telling ya. That's the answer to all of it.

Trip your face off and observe your cats... You'll see...

And what is stated in OP, does not appear me in my Cats...Is just the illusion of them remembering things or my personification upon them? I think they can and do remember much more for longer, its just what I observe in my Cats.

My Cats, are my best friends, best four legged friends anyway.

This was an unnatural situation and obviously these animals aren't equipped to handle it. It might be fun to see them try it with elephants.

As far as the visual memory of our four footed friends goes, they should observe my horse as we go along a familiar trail or down a street that we've traveled in the past. He notices every change in his environment and I do mean everything. Most of the time he stops for a second and checks things out. Oddly, he's less spooky in unfamiliar settings.

Here's an example.

"Oh" thinks Shadow as he veers to the left and stops dead in the middle of the street. "Someone moved that garbage can. It was on the left side of that driveway the last time I saw it. I better check this out."

A little further down the road another spook and stop.

"Oh Oh! Shamrocks on that gate. I clearly remember that there were reindeer and Christmas trees there the last time we passed. This is very strange."

He has also noticed when people put out new garbage cans, piles of gravel and new construction. Once again, seeing these things for the first time usually don't faze him in the least.

He also always knows exactly where we parked the trailer and will find his way back to it as long as he's hungry. Like all horses, he loses sight of a jump a stride or two out and jumps completely (and accurately) from visual memory but would probably have a great deal of difficulty finding his way through the simplest maze.

Go figure.

when theyz on the way to messin up yer kitchen, eatin cheezbugers.

She's saved my back on several occasions.

information for 10 minutes.