Cats Do Control Humans, Study Finds

If you've ever wondered who's in control, you or your cat, a new study points to the obvious. It's your cat.



Household cats exercise this control with a certain type of urgent-sounding, high-pitched meow, according to the findings.

This meow is actually a purr mixed with a high-pitched cry. While people usually think of cat purring as a sign of happiness, some cats make this purr-cry sound when they want to be fed. The study showed that humans find these mixed calls annoying and difficult to ignore.

"The embedding of a cry within a call that we normally associate with contentment is quite a subtle means of eliciting a response," said Karen McComb of the University of Sussex. "Solicitation purring is probably more acceptable to humans than overt meowing, which is likely to get cats ejected from the bedroom."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090713/sc_livescience/catsdocontrolhumansstudyfinds
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Like this is a secret.

overlords. As long as I do what they ask and make them happy they treat me well.

don't mess with them - that's my advice

Damned to hell, or darned to heck?

Being a stray magnet is very expensive. :)

The studies have just validated what I knew a long time ago.

I now know what the word caterwalling means.

My littlest kitty is the alpha female in this house. The other two aren't exactly shrinking violets either. The cats are in charge.

cat is truly a whiner, meowing and running to the kitchen.

I'm seriously thinking about getting one of the feeders that automatically open according to the timer, so I can remove myself from the equation. They're pricey, though. I try not to reinforce their behavior, but eventually, you have to feed them.

they will only start their feeding dance around the times you set. They know you give the food and they will figure out you control the machine.

Mine blame me for everything. Late dinner, thunder storms, earthquakes and strong wind. If anything unusual happens I get the slitty devil eyed look.;)

My cat is exactly like that. Blames me for anything/everything that goes on around here that she doesn't approve of. I know that slitty devil eyed look well.

Welcome to DU.

I've often screamed, hey it's not ME making that sound (thunder) :mad:

Dogs have families. Cats have staff.

While I consider my kitties part of my family, I doubt they consider us much more than an efficient staff.

The original article at the link states:

"Previous research has shown similarities between cat cries and human infant cries."

I have read articles describing research that shows that the human brain is wired to respond strongly to the cry of an infant. If a cat can mimic an infant's cry, human "staff" will not be able to ignore it.

Cats are very intelligent animals and enjoyable to have around.

But, they did suggest that I write this or learn to sleep with my eyes open.

We've got five of 'em.
And a dog.
Everyone knows who is in control! :)

But the cry thing is interesting.
I have one little guy who has to be fed special food, which we feed to him in the same place.
If he's hungry, he'll climb up there and yowl his little head off...

He cries and cries and cries at night. I don't know what to do. He has food in his dish and I've taken him to the vet who ran every test possible. He's a whiner and I can't sleep when he starts in. For a while, I was able to coax him onto the bed for some scritches and that settled him down. It lasted for a few nights, now he's back to whining again. He only does this at night when I'm trying to sleep.

:mad:

and hate it when we sleep and won't play at THE BEST TIME!!!!

one of them is his litter mate Sam. They curl up together all the time -- except at night. Sam sleeps and Wrigley whines.

He's always had a screw loose. He's almost 14 years old and the vet thought he might be having some kitty Alzheimers. I think that's a stretch since he's always been kind of odd. I'm going to try massive doses of catnip tonight. Feliway works a little, but not well enough to justify buying it. He's so annoying! Look at those eyes!



Here's his brother, Sam. I don't think there's a more mellow cat -- unless I try to trim his nails or the vet tries to draw blood. Then he's a wild man.

but be prepared for worse drooling than catnip. Valerian imitates the smell of female cats in oestrus

quite as big of a bib.

I have had 4 tabby boys over the years. I love them, though one was a cranky psychotic diabetic that I got second-hand as an oldster, lol.

mine was doing that until I figured out why when he jumped into my bed dragging a large stick with a feather attached to he brought in from a closet in the living room.

in my choir told me two tactics that worked: Feed him at night so that he's not starving in the morning, and if he meows when you're trying to sleep, say "NO!" sharply and turn over abruptly. Do not interact with him otherwise or get out of bed.

We're having a problem with Dexter, who was literally saved by my daughter. He gets mad when she doesn't want to pay attention to him at 3 in the morning. We've had to get tough - and just say 'no.'

Put it about 5 feet high, which he'll be able to jump to,
but gives the hummingbirds enough time to fly away.
He'll spend all day jumping at the hummingbirds,
by night time he'll be bone tired and ready for sleep.

I put a bird feeder outside the bedroom window when he shredded a box of Kleenex one day. That helped. But none of my cats go outside -- they can go into the Arizona room, but not outside. We have coyotes around here, not to mention quite a few other cats. He's either be dinner for a coyote or get into a fight with another cat.

I played with him for a while last night and he was a bit quieter but still gave me the whine for a while. Such a weird cat. I guess they're all weird.

Marketing is everything.

No wonder dog people are jealous

I doubt it.

They don't jump or run. They are persians.

I knew a few

Candlelight make them howl though - like a demon, I bet

but she does jump and run. She takes particular pleasure in jumping on our heads in the middle of the night, or crawling around and biting the top of my head when she wants attention.

She also does this completely loony run around the house I call her "crazy cat" routine (from my childhood days of watching "F Troop"). She runs around all the furniture as if she's chasing a mouse but keeps looking back to make sure we're watching.

She's more entertaining than anything on TV.

Mine is purebred so no running or jumping.

It's true

It has a high-pitched, whiny overtone that you might not notice unless you listened for it, but apparently it has a subliminal effect on unsuspecting hoomans. One of my feline overlords is especially good at it.

my cats have evolved opposable thumbs and can open drawers and windows. I've had to lock up the cutlery.

He yodels so loud he creates his own echo.

which means, she doesn't actually make a sound, but her lips will move...it works..she gets canned..

Many cats do. It sounds like a perfectly good meeeaaoow to her, to you she looks like furry mime.

I am hard of hearing. But she is so loud when she wakes up from a bad dream.

We call it "the silent meow."

eom

My cats definitely own the place.

BRB. Lucy's calling me.

I've never had a cat make this sound before, or annoying me to be fed, but the article describes it perfectly, a purr mixed with a high-pitched cry.

She is the quietest of the bunch, and never meows but when she wants us to feed her she lets out just one sudden, loud and short 'bark' (that's what we call it anyway) which we all get a kick out of but know exactly what she needs.

:patriot:

they DO look like gargoyles :D

shit, we know we are the pets... serious.

We are not delusional.

GMAFB :crazy:

he commands me to do things against my will

I'd be lost without them.