Domineering Men Do Not like Cats

Dominating men do not like cats because the cat is free and will never consent to become a slave.  He will do nothing to your order, as the other animals do.  The words are those of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

James Boswell. He wrote a famous biography of Samuel Johnson

He was making a clever observation about James Boswell.  James Boswell was the servant of Samuel Johnson.  Samuel Johnson, as you probably know, loved cats and he looked after a series of cats the most famous of which was “Hodge".

Hodge

James Boswell admits that he suffered from Jonson's intimacy with his cat Hodge because he was an ailurophobe -  he had a fear of cats and therefore became uneasy if a cat was in the same room as himself.

Samuel Johnson would personally go out to buy food for his cat Hodge (as reported by James Boswell).  He would do this because he did not want his servant (companion and Samuel's biographer) to feel imposed upon and end up disliking his cat.

So what about the idea that domineering men do not like cats?  Well, I think the observation has to be correct.  In the past I have talked about the alpha male human and his preference for dogs as a leader of a pack of dogs. As the domestic cat is an independent creature and has no hardwired innate necessity to be part of a pack he/she will normally reject any attempt to be dominated by a human caretaker.

If a human caretaker tries to dominate his domestic cat he will simply alienate him/her.  It will end up in tears and a failure.  So let's agree that Mr Russeau is correct.