Does Kitty Wuv Me? Science Sez: No!

[toomuchreality]

LOL   I'm quite entertained, reading this thread!

I'm amazed at how passionate you all are, about this topic.

Makes me .

[Tiny]

I'll admit I skimmed this thread: What? No mention of Tara the Cat who saved her kid from a dog attack That video and news was everywhere a couple weeks ago...



Of course, it's debatable as to wether Tara loves her little boy or just thinks of him as personal property... but regardless the Little Panther decided he was worth taking on a dog.

You can find other video of Tara and Jeremy (her little boy)  the cat obviously likes the kid and dotes on him-- if you need to see more...


FWIW: I have cats (and have had them in the past) and I do think on some level they like me if not love me. I firmly believe that one of them loved me - I was the center of his universe (probably because I could open the cans of cat food he adored) and I firmly believe i will never be loved quite like that again in my life time.

[lexxy703]

I have always had cats & usually a dog or two in the mix.  Some cats have been friendlier than others.  They all cared for me in their own way.  The three I currently have are all afectionate in their own way.  One likes to rub her face in mine before settling on my lap.  One needs a snuggle when he wakes up & if he wants a snuggle will not be pushed away.  He just keeps coming back no matter how many times I push him away.  The third sleeps curled up next to me or on me when we sleep.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Some of my cats like me.

I am home all day long with our cats, so I've come to know them very well. To varying degrees, they all seek me out for affection and attention several times during the day. They can be jealous when other cats want my attention. When it's wintertime, I am especially popular since I radiate heat like a woodstove, lol. Since I am not the usual person who FEEDS them, I "think" that their affection-and-attention-seeking behavior is not merely because I am the "food lady."

One of our cats is Smudge. About 7 years ago, we were doing some TNR (trap-neuter-release) and we trapped him as a young adult. He was completely feral and unsocialized, but I loved his colors (orange and white) and his sweet face. We decided to let him live inside our house and provide him with shelter, food, and lots of cats for company. He turned out to be very "cat social" and since then always has a best friend among the kitties. Last fall, his best friend died, so we relocated him from one side of our house to the back of our house (where our bedroom is ... along with different cats than he had been with). It was chilly, so I added a heated throw on top of our bed ... a sure and certain cat magnet. After a few days, he stopped looking at me like I was an axe murderer, and actually came up to me to be petted! Seriously, we'd had him for 7 years, and didn't get to pet him until last fall! But it was like flipping a switch, and he now sleeps on my bed and regularly seeks out pets and attention from me, my wonderful DH AND our cleaning lady, LOL. (And he has a new cat best friend, too!)

When my wonderful DH is deployed ... after a few days they all seem to suddenly realize that he's missing. They prowl around and look for him. They meow mournfully in the hallways. They hang out on HIS side of the bed and sleep on HIS spot on the couch. And most of them come bouncing in (like gazelles) when they realize he's come home.

[zibazinski]

Awww

[Virgil Showlion]

There shall be no more loving cat anecdotes to undermine what little faith I have left in behavioural science!

[Jaguar]

Virgil there's a sweet kitty needing you somewhere.

[mmhmm]

We've had similar things happen in our home, Molly.  My husband's old cat, Hoover, was bonded to DH like a second skin.  Where you found DH, you found Hoover.  He'd lie on the back of the couch with one paw on DH's shoulder while DH read, or watched TV.  I fed the cats (always have) and cleaned their boxes; yet, Hoover was DH's cat and nobody else could take DH's place.  When DH passed away, I really worried about old Hoover.  He was nearly 18 and I wasn't sure what he'd do.  He mourned for several weeks.  He'd go to where DH sat to watch TV and cry, and cry.  He'd go to the back door and wail.  He'd go to the door into the garage, wanting me to open it so he could be sure (for the thousandth time) DH wasn't out there.  He was devastated.  I put a warmer blanket under my computer chair, and one on the bottom of the bed.  Like your dear soul, Hoover found them and would curl up on the blanket and put his head on my foot (if I was at the computer), or lie at my feet in bed.  He did finally re-bond, but it was never as close a bond as had existed between he and DH, and old Hoover passed away about a year after DH did.  I like to imagine he's behind DH on a couch near the Rainbow Bridge, with one paw on DH's shoulder.

[zibazinski]

[mmhmm]

It really was sad, zib.  It was so sad to watch that old cat mourn his person, and mother and I really worried about him.  There's nobody on earth who can convince me that old cat didn't care about DH.  He did, and DH cared about him.

[zibazinski]

I always thought my dad's dog died from a broken heart. He didnt live a month after dad died. Let out a yowl in the backyard and that was all she wrote. 

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

As sad as it is, I love your story, mmhmm - it's much more touching than the actual Rainbow Bridge poem - which always brings a tear to my eye.

[zibazinski]

I like the new picture frames you can buy. They say something along the lines of they had a great time and thanks for everything.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

OK, stop making me cry.

STOP IT!!!!!!!

[mmhmm]

Thanks, SL.  Those two were quite a pair.  When I met my DH he didn't like cats.  It was an old cat of my parents' that turned him around.  It may have been the bag of marshmallows old Hoot brought home to us.  Whatever it was, after that DH was a cat person and he never looked back.  We had dogs over the years and we loved them, too; however, cats were our go-to for a pet versatile enough for our lifestyle (travelling all over the planet).  Hoover was the first of all the cats to bond to DH and DH was very receptive to that bond.  Love?  Oh, yeah!

[Jaguar]

Yeah I've been crying too.

[mmhmm]

If their story moved you all, I'm sure the two of them are glad of that.  Both were very special.

[Opti]

I suppose that's one of the fundamental differences between cat owners and dog owners.

When I own a pet, I'd like to believe I'm special and difficult to replace. I want it to forge an emotional attachment to me similar to the attachment I've forged to it, which can't happen if the animal sees me as a box that coughs up food and belly rubs every once in a while. I might as well be an automaton.

Interesting theory, on the difference between dog and cat owners, but not how I look at things.
Every animal is different and since we can't see inside their brains and they can't communicate
like us its all a guess anyway. I've met dogs who were cat-like and cats who definitely had dog
tendencies. Unlike some posters I really don't need to see one way superior to any other. Love
may or may not have anything to do with attachment so its an interesting experiment but I'm not
sure it really tells one much.


Animals good. Pets generally good. Virgil apparently still doesn't like cats. 

[Opti]

May 28, 2014 16:56:31 GMT -5 mmhmm said:

It really was sad, zib.  It was so sad to watch that old cat mourn his person, and mother and I really worried about him.  There's nobody on earth who can convince me that old cat didn't care about DH.  He did, and DH cared about him.

I'm sure he did. I think pet people aren't surprised by stuff like this.

[zibazinski]

I know my Dad's dog died from a broken heart. I like to think of the two of them hanging out in whatever afterlife my Dad believed in.

[Tennesseer]

zibazinski

The Hunt (The Twilight Zone)

Plot:

Hyder Simpson lives with his wife and his hound-dog Rip in the backwoods. Mrs. Simpson does not like having the dog indoors, but Rip saved Hyder's life once, and Hyder won't be parted from him. Mrs. Simpson has seen some bad omens recently, and warns Hyder not to go raccoon hunting that night. When Rip dives into a pond after a raccoon, Hyder jumps in after him, but only the raccoon comes up out of the water. Next morning, Hyder and Rip wake up next to the pond. When they return home, Hyder finds that neither his wife, the preacher, nor the neighbors can hear him or see him—they seem to think that he and Rip are dead.

Walking along the road, he encounters a fence he doesn't recognize, and decides to follow it. Presently, both come to a gate tended by a man. Simpson asks him if he is Saint Peter. Explaining only that he is a gatekeeper, the man explains that Simpson can enter the Elysian Fields. Simpson is appreciative, but disheartened to hear that there is no raccoon hunting there, nor are there any of his other usual pleasures. When he is told that Rip can't enter and will be taken elsewhere ("up the road"), he declines and angrily goes on down the "Eternity Road" rather than enter the gate without his beloved dog. Simpson states, "Any place that's too high-falutin' for Rip is too fancy for me." Later, after stopping to rest, Simpson and Rip are met by a young angel whose job is to find and bring them toHeaven.

Simpson tells the angel about his experience at the first gate, commenting "Son, that'd be a helluva place without Rip!" The angel replies "Mr. Simpson, you ain't far wrong - that is Hell! Heaven's up yonder a piece," pointing up Eternity Road. When asked by Simpson why the gatekeeper at the gate to Hades wouldn't let him bring Rip inside with him, the angel explains that the reason Rip was not allowed in was because the dog would have been able to smell the brimstone and alert Simpson that something was wrong. The angel says, "You see, Mr. Simpson -- a man, well, he'll walk right into Hell with both eyes open. But even the Devil can't fool a dog!"

The angel also tells Hyder that there will be a raccoon hunt in Heaven that night, "right after the square dance," and assures him that his wife, who will be coming shortly, will not be misled into entering Hell.

The Hunt (The Twilight Zone)

[zibazinski]

I love that show. My Dad would have been just like that old man without the hunting gene.

[Tennesseer]

May 29, 2014 9:51:02 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

I love that show. My Dad would have been just like that old man without the hunting gene.

Not sure about "a raccoon hunt that night" ìn heaven though.  If a raccoon is hunted and killed in heaven, is it resurrected the following day and ìs it given a special, higher, place in the ranks of heaven for the torment ìnflicted on him/her?

[zibazinski]

Got me. Probably like Westworld. Fake raccoon that comes back to life each day for another fun time with the hunter. If the raccoon "loses" it comes back again to die another day.