Declension wrote:
Callista wrote:
My cats like me, but they aren't addicted to my presence the way a dog would be. Dogs are pack animals--they depend on their pack for everything, for food and protection, and so they are driven to attach to you. For a dog, not being accepted as a member of a pack is a deadly danger.
For me, you've hit the nail on the head there, by using a word like "addicted" which is associated with mental illness.
I like dogs, but sometimes when I'm around certain dogs, I get the feeling that the dog has a really pathological relationship with humans, and it actually makes me feel bad for the dog. Like a child that will never grow up, or a victim of Stockholm syndrome. Of course, this is just ascribing human psychology to the dog, which is not really a good idea, but I can't help doing it.
With cats, it's much more clear that they actually do consider themselves your equal, in some sense. Your pet cat relies on you for a lot of stuff, of course, and they are grateful for it. But if you stop feeding them, they will go bird-catching. If you start being mean to them, they will sever their relationship with you. They have their own social life that you have no idea about.
Gotta negate that. Our yet living old malecat (his sister died a year ago) never thought of maturing, and still thinks of him as a baby and me as his catmum. His mum was a very young farmcat, and she seemed a bit overwhelmed by her kids. Until they were 10 weeks old she were luckily leaving them very early in our custody and only visiting from now and then anymore, and before she were as well often seeking higher places, so her babies couldnt reach her all the time. So she feeded them from now and them, but cuddling and hugging was our job. ^^ So the cats were already as little kittens used to do half of the snuggling with us humans, and are very attached to us. So they can be left alone for some hours or even a day, but when we did so, then they were demanding huggings for hours. Just as my lap is the only place in the universe, where it is acceptable to sleep, when having an OP at the veterinary and being full of blood, and puke and pee and sobber. ^^ As well as our malecat seems to be the only shorthaired cat, that thinks of us being responsible for his fur. He is licking it from now and then, but when he is wet he bothers me until I dry him with a towel, and every 1-2 he demands getting brushed, or he will refuse to clean himself totally.
The one time we saw him trying to catch a bird, my partner and I were almost peeing into our trousers because of laughing. The bird was high up in the tree, the cat saw it, and then slowly, like a Jaguar, crouched nearer to that tree until it was only about 4-5 meters away, hiding flat in the grass... At this moment the cat decided to change the tactic from Jaguar to rhino, rushing with full speed to the tree trunk, slamming his paws into the earth, jumping with full power from about 1,5 meter distance from the earth diagonally to the trunk above, making the tree shivering, and from there "running" up the trunk by slamming the claws into the trunk and lifting himself up that way with incredible speed. Whyever, the bird decided not to wait, for the rhinocat. ^^ He has the same genius tactics with mice, but because of them not being able to fly, at least he catches one from now and then, if they dont reach a safe spot in time. Its ok for gaming, but if he would depend on that for food, he would die. ^^ And his social life is right now sitting in the garden and watching the garden, while as a young one it was about sitting in the garden and the field in front of it, and running like an rhino after everything that wasnt bigger then his head, and moved.
The oh so independent and mysterious, introverted cats definitely exist, but so do cats, that have the behavior of Odie. ^^
09 Oct 2013, 4:40 pm
