What do your friends think of you loving and having cats?

Never had that discussion. Really don’t care much what others think about it.

p.s. the whole "cat lady" stereotype is hard to break. lol

As a 6’4” man, I’ve never encountered that stereotype. In fact, I’d say almost every house on my street has at least 1 cat in the household, and none of them are thought of that way. When I think of that stereotype, it conjures up images of “hundreds” of cats to a single household.

 

Never had that discussion. Really don’t care much what others think about it.

^^^^ This.

 

Why do you think cats are a-holes?

 

Most of them laugh and kid me,but when I tell them how I rescued and raised a street urchin of 8 weeks old they tend to be less judgemental. Now I find that my friends and coworkers actually send me videos and pics/memes of cats. For me just explaining/admitting what a-holes cats really are goes a long way. LOL Plus the fact (actually true) that I never really liked cats growing up and literally gave 2x poops about them...makes it easier to talk about them(felines).

p.s. the whole "cat lady" stereotype is hard to break. lol

lol! I love to hear stories about people who weren't cat-people to do a turnaround and adopt one, and realize what fun they can be. Yes, people who don't have cats sometimes like to tease those of us about being "crazy cat people" but most of the time it's all in fun. I think they think we all just sit in rocking chairs all day petting our sleepy little kittens when they have NO idea what wildcats we've taken into our homes. And yes, as much as we love them, cats really CAN be a-holes sometimes but we love them anyways !

Why do you think cats are a-holes?

Jumping in here...
A-holeness #1: Sophie runs up to me meowing for attention, I pet her several times and it's purr, purr, purr, BITE.
AH#2: Kate is using the litterbox in the pantry, Sophie hides behind the fridge in the kitchen, Kate walks out of the pantry, Sophie jumps out from behind the fridge and lands on top of Kate, scares the begeezus out of her and it's Hiss Hiss Growl.
AH#3: Kate is laying on the bed, Coco curls up with Kate and wants to cuddle, Kate grooms Coco and both are purring, Coco suddenly turns, whacks Kate several times on her head and runs away, Kate gets mad and looks at me like WTF?! but I have no explanation whatsoever.

 

In my opinion, calling an animal of any kind an a-hole is the worst kind of anthropomorphism. Any time a person attributes purely human characteristics to an animal is a grave disservice to the animal and detracts from the possibility of having a deeper relationship with that animal.

Cats behave the way they do for their own reasons, and just because we do not always understand them doesn't mean they are nasty animals, which is in effect what someone is saying if they call a cat that name. It only means that we, as a different species, cannot understand their communication or their motivations, which is no fault of ours, as cross species understanding is always a challenge.

But to fault them for the fact that we don't understand them is unhelpful and in fact highly detrimental to our relationships with them, and will only serve to make the process of learning how to communicate with and understand them even more challenging if not impossible. It is a way of writing them off or dismissing their behavior which of course means there's no need to bother to understand them. I personally would much rather take steps towards a deeper relationship and understanding of my animal companions.

If we want to live peacefully and productively with our animal companions....and why have them in our homes if that is not our wish....then we should focus on observing them, communicating with them, and doing our best to understand them and not on coming up with insulting and rude things to say about them or names to call them.

 

In my opinion, calling an animal of any kind an a-hole is the worst kind of anthropomorphism. Any time a person attributes purely human characteristics to an animal is a grave disservice to the animal and detracts from the possibility of having a deeper relationship with that animal.

Cats behave the way they do for their own reasons, and just because we do not always understand them doesn't mean they are nasty animals, which is in effect what someone is saying if they call a cat that name. It only means that we, as a different species, cannot understand their communication or their motivations, which is no fault of ours, as cross species understanding is always a challenge.

But to fault them for the fact that we don't understand them is unhelpful and in fact highly detrimental to our relationships with them, and will only serve to make the process of learning how to communicate with and understand them even more challenging if not impossible. It is a way of writing them off or dismissing their behavior which of course means there's no need to bother to understand them. I personally would much rather take steps towards a deeper relationship and understanding of my animal companions.

If we want to live peacefully and productively with our animal companions....and why have them in our homes if that is not our wish....then we should focus on observing them, communicating with them, and doing our best to understand them and not on coming up with insulting and rude things to say about them or names to call them.

^^^Exactly this. Cats are actually masters at communication. We just don't understand their methods and reasons sometimes.

Let's take the example of the cat who purrs and then bites. There can be several reasons for this and none of them is because the cat is a a-hole.

Some cats like a little petting, but get sensory overload with too much. A nip may be a warning effectively saying "I've had enough". Maybe a tail twitch, ear movement or eyes dialating that you happened to miss that was the warning. You didn't heed the warning, so now the cat has to step things up.

On the other hand, some cats think they are giving love bites. And here lies a problem with kittens who are taken away from their litter mates too early. When kittens grow up together, they play fight together and learn from each other how hard a bite is too much. But kittens who are taken away from their litter mates too early don't learn the difference between a love bite and a chomp that draws blood. Back in the 1970's, it was standard to adopt kittens out at 6 weeks old. Nowadays, most sources say less than 13 weeks is too early. One book I read insisted that kittens should always be adopted in pairs.

To put it another way, imagine taking a human baby away from its parents to live in a cat colony. That is what we are asking when we adopt a pet.

 

In my opinion, some of us who have a sense of humor often use humor to handle behavior problems that may be difficult to manage, which in turn strengthens our bonds with our cats. And some of us know that our way isn't the only way to create a loving and trusting relationship.

 

I pick up my cats and kiss them. They love the affection. I would not care if someone didn't like what I liked. I'm too old for that pretend psychology that kids develop. Enjoy your cats.

 

Contrary to what some non-cat people believe, cats can be very affectionate, especially if they are shown affection. Thay are amazingly loyal creatures. Just like people, some are friendly with strangers, most are guarded but open up, and others prefer to stay away from anyone but their owner. We've had seven cats (two now), and they are all different. But they were also all very affectionate.

Thanks for the reminder jarabliue!

Joe