Cat Experiment Suggests They Remember In Ways Similar To Humans & Dogs
- Thread starter iamn8
- Start date
SmokingPipes.com Updates
Watch for Updates Twice a Week
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
- Status
.gif)
I admit bias, but I think that the limitations on animal thought processes are in the human researchers more than the animals. These aren't human processes so they are often interpreted as no thought processes at all, hence we keep amazing ourselves when we design studies that show creatures are actively thinking, but not so much like people. People who live with animals participate in some fairly complex and subjective (from both sides) conversations, but they write it off to their own imaginations because they know they aren't supposed to attribute thought to their creatures.
My zinger is that people who are especially adamant (and angry) about forbidding anthropomorphizing animals also find it impossible to anthropomorphize people. Or to be less jokey, these are people who are genetically unable to empathize with anyone or anything.
I've had complex/intricate conversations (non-verbal) with cats about various subjects. Deposing a tabby on the bed, having him hiss, then figuring out how to observe his right to space, and having space of my own, without offending him. If that is not a thought process, I don't know what is.
My zinger is that people who are especially adamant (and angry) about forbidding anthropomorphizing animals also find it impossible to anthropomorphize people. Or to be less jokey, these are people who are genetically unable to empathize with anyone or anything.
I've had complex/intricate conversations (non-verbal) with cats about various subjects. Deposing a tabby on the bed, having him hiss, then figuring out how to observe his right to space, and having space of my own, without offending him. If that is not a thought process, I don't know what is.
Sometimes I "explain and discuss" with my cats. I don't think they understand all but a few words, so they certainly don't follow the line of thought. However, they do know I am paying attention; they know my attitude by my tone; they know how sustained or short my vocalization; they can see how it relates to what I am doing -- feeding them, getting into bed, opening a new scratch pad, etc. etc. Also, what we forget is how intensely they study us and our relationship with them, and all of our habits and schedules. They spend far more time studying us than we do them. We are a food source hence a full-time job for them. That is part of the reason why it takes us by surprise that they become extremely emotionally close to us even compared to most people, and why their loss is so severe, while sometimes our loss of people is complicated and conflicted. When people doubt their mental processes, I confess I doubt that person's mental processes, or perhaps their powers of observation. Watch the damned cat or dog -- it knows more about you than you do about it, most often.
What's interesting to me is how the researchers' conclusion that the
is "translated" by the media into headlines reading "New study says cats are just as smart as dogs, they just don't feel like showing it" or "Cats Are As Clever As Dogs", whereas the researchers concluded nothing of the sort.
Some cats are definitely jerks. My late wife and I used to sit for a pair of cats, Gray and Orange. Orange was the sweetest cat alive. Gray was just mean. She slept right up beside our pillows but wouldn't be petted ever, just hostile. We got her back to her owner in good shape, but were glad she wasn't ours. Another Siamese my late wife adopted in grad school had separation anxiety and was intensely vocal. She found happiness living with my in-laws, and with two big dogs she loved to hate though they paid her little attention. My mother-in-law loved the cat and revived her from a near death experience and maintained her on a heating pad where she (the cat) lived into her twenties, I think. But that same arbitrary nature also makes most cats companionable because they are complicated and interesting.
- Status