Do cats have Aspergers?

Post Reply New Topic

H.P. Lovecraft was quite fond of cats. So you all are in good company. He was probably as ASpy as someone could be.

Cats are far more independent than dogs are. I like Mark Twain's saying, "Only one animal cannot be made a slave to the leash. That animal is the cat." I know cats who are very social and loving. Certain breeds, such as the Oriental Shorthair, are very people-oriented.

No I wouldn't say cats are autistic

But....if autism can affect animals? That would be an interesting study...

mice are common models for studying autism...

i see no reason why similar things would not exist in such similar animals. amphibians and fish... prolly not...

but most social mammals... totally... though the observed behavior would be WAY different and as hard as it is to understnad something from humans (whom for the most part, can talk.... it's way harder to learn from animals that can't talk at all)

why do we people always think we're so special...


back to kitties!

i have two cat's one is indoor/outdoor cool cat... my other cat has something not right about him (is the best i can describe)

his motor skills are normal, but he doesn't "Get" my other cat... he tries to follow her around and mimic everything she does and she hates him... she'll try to beat the crap out of him but he just doesn't get it... he'll sit there and pur at her and try to clean her... and then she'll just get in a huff and storm off while he sits there dumbfounded.

he's also very tempermental... if he doesnt get his 5 minutes of wallowing in the dust on my front porch EVERY morning (before some loud noise scares him back into the house)... he starts throwing (what i LOVINGLY call) tard-tantrums.... where he will just caterwall and pace infront of the window looking outside at the porch for like 20 min.

he also hates sunlight... he's really the only nocturnal cat i've ever seen (aside from his morning routine... though i think that just has more to do with MY routine)... if i don't get up/out of bed, he doesn't either

he also hides like a mofo! scares the crap outta me. i've found him squidged in my silverware drawer (totally flattened out!) before... and every other small cubby hole.

is that AS? /shrug

do i think he's normal? no but he's a sweet kitty that will pur and let you cuddle him all day.

he's at least a pretty weird cat

You sort of have to consider that the difficulties between opposite sex humans are probably there to some degree with opposite sex cats.

When one of Turner's paintings was being restored, they found, on the back of the painting, cat paw prints.
Dr Johnson also loved cats and took them on his travels around Britain in whicker baskets.
Isaac Newton was also a cat-lover and is reputed to have invented the catflap.

cats
autistic?
no
merely sociopaths
for they
are animals of a lonesome
disposition
with little need for us

(Translation: Cats just haven't much needed pack impulses and are moreso sociopaths then autistics.)

I'm pretty sure the thread starter just meant that cats have similar traits to people with aspergers.. no need to get all uppity about it, people.

i can see autistic traits in cats but i wouldn't say they are autistic

Dogs (or wolves which they evolved from) hunt in packs. So they are more social by nature than cats which are solitary hunters. Dogs have been domesticated for allot longer than cats. So dogs like being around people more and cats still have a wild, independent nature.

I'm reading Temple Grandin's book "Animals in Translation", and she asserts that dogs have been mentally stunted by all the inbreeding that we humans have done to them. Cats haven't suffered such a fate. So there ya go, cats are smarter.