Can cats tell if someone is bad, good or in-between?

A user of quora.com asked the question whether cats can tell if someone is bad, good or neutral? The person cited the example of a person who came around to their home to adopt a kitten. The person thought that the man might be a bit dodgy and therefore told him that they would have to check out his references. The man went away. He thinks that his cat "gave me a very disgusted look and took the kitten [the kitten that was going to be adopted] and laid with her all night. Luckily the man and his kids never returned."

He thinks that his cat recognised the potential adopter as a bad person. Is he right? I think we have to take a commonsense, more scientific approach.

I don't think cats can read the minds of unknown people with whom they have had no previous experiences if the person is doing nothing. I don't think cats have a telepathic ability to pick up bad vibes from a person. So, I don't think, without more, a cat can tell if a person is good, bad or in between the two.

They can tell if a person is bad through their actions obviously. If a person abuses a cat that cat will then be fearful of that person if it happens more than once. My thought is that if a person inadvertently harms a cat but then is loving towards the cat afterwards, the cat will forget. But consistent abuse of any sort will clearly make the cat fearful of that person.

And there's no doubt that in good relationships between a cat owner and their cat, the cat warms to the person and a very close bond is created. So, cats recognise good people through their actions.

The big question, I admit, is that whether cats can sense if a person is bad. I don't think they can. A favourite author of mine and a renowned biologist, Dr. Desmond Morris, says that cats tend to go towards people who dislike cats if in a group of people there are those who dislike cats and those who like them.

He argues that cats do this because people who dislike cats don't look at them and when people look at cats, they can stare at them and staring can be off-putting to a domestic cat. That's his theory. I am not altogether onside with that theory.

But he is more or less saying that a person who dislikes cats and therefore is liable to be unpleasant around a cat can draw a cat in. This indicates to me that the cat is not picking up the fact that a person might be a cat hater and therefore to be avoided. Cats operate on simple physical, visual, olfactory and auditory signals to decide whether to go towards or move away from people and other animals.

Charles Barkley just said a cat is not a real pet because it’s not a dog

Charles Barkley. Image: Getty.

Charles Barkley has a presence and a voice on American television (see about him below). He is a sports pundit and recently made a rather strange statement: "A cat is not a real pet because it’s not a dog".

"Man, Chuck can never cease to surprise us with his opinions and takes. NBA Twitter heard the same and they couldn’t help but troll."

What does it mean?!

No one knows!! Seriously, I'll take a pot shot at interpreting this bizarre statement made on television.

As is probably typical of many male American basketball players, he is almost certainly a dog lover to the point where he regards dogs as the only true companion animal. This excludes cats.

He may believe that cats are too independent and not domesticated enough compared to the fawning, obedient and human-worshipping dog to be classified as pets.

He may be scared of cats! A lot of people are. They think they are aloof and sinister. They don't understand cats and don't take the time to try and understand them. Cats make great companions to hundreds of millions of humans across the planet.

Joking

I am sure that he was at least half-joking. Having a bit of fun. Male banter. That kind of stuff. With a little hint of truth from his perspective. 

Reflective of his true feelings?

The statement probably does reflect a dislike or even a hatred of cats. A spontaneous utterance revealing the truth in the deepest recesses of his conscience!

About Charles

Charles Barkley is a retired American professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 16 seasons. He was born on February 20, 1963, in Leeds, Alabama, USA. Barkley is widely regarded as one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history, known for his fierce competitiveness, physical play, and exceptional rebounding ability.

Barkley played college basketball at Auburn University and was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1984. He played for the 76ers, Phoenix Suns, and Houston Rockets during his NBA career, and was named an NBA All-Star 11 times. 

Barkley also won two Olympic gold medals as a member of the United States men's basketball team in 1992 and 1996.After retiring from basketball, Barkley has worked as a television analyst for TNT's "Inside the NBA" and has been known for his candid and often controversial opinions on various topics related to sports and society.

Joe Rogan f-words all the way through his loud, rude (funny?) diatribe about the cat

I guess Joe Rogan is like Marmite: you hate him or love him. He screams out the fact that he is right-wing - far-right? He must be a bigtime republican with a cabinet full of guns and dogs whimpering at his feet. 

He's just admitted to using the n-word in his podcast multiple times. He says that he's not racist and the use of the word was taken out of context by people who want to get at him. 

He has promoted the anti-vax movement which has cost lives. He admits that he should have been more careful. A lot of criticism has been dumped on him by artists with Joni Mitchell and Neil Young quitting Spotify.  

And others are following. He is on a $100 million contract with Spotify. They can't get rid of him. I guess he is too popular. People like this brand of rude comedy and hard-boiled chat.

I hate the crude way he denigrates the domestic cat. He knows a bit about cat behavior and has used that knowledge to take the piss. The F-word is used copiously. Too much for me. It sounds crude after a while. He even rolls over on his back and pretends to lick his dick in mimicking a cat grooming. Charming. As I said: crude. Do you like what he says and his attitude? 
 

Note: This is a video from another website which is embedded here. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Prophet Muhammad's love of cats transformed a Muslim cat hater to a cat lover

Qais Hussain's mother had an irrational fear of cats. She suffered from ailurophobia. Her son, Qais Hussain, in complete contrast, is a confirmed ailurophile; a cat lover. He has written a very interesting article for The Guardian. During the coronavirus lockdowns he wanted to adopt a kitten like many other people in the UK. As he lives with his mother it was impossible to introduce a kitten into the household.

Muslims with cat at mosque. Photo in public domain. Not all Muslims are this kind towards cats however.

He believes that her irrational fear of cats may have started when she watched a scary video about a cat in her childhood. She remembers seeing a black cat with green eyes jumping into a man's mouth and suffocating him. He also says that his mother actually hates all animals believing that "Cats are Satan incarnate, who use their cuteness and their adorability to bewitch and do the devil's work."

It seems to me that his mother had also been indoctrinated by many stories of mediaeval Europe when black cats were the familiars of witches and persecuted for hundreds of years. During that black era of humankind's relationship with animals, the black cat was seen as the devil incarnate, which is exactly what his mother believed.

He was desperate to adopt a cat and had the idea of reminding his mother of the stories of the Prophet Muhammad's love of domestic cats. There are many hadiths about how domestic cats and indeed stray cats should be treated by Muslims. Hadiths are believed to be a record of the words, actions of the Prophet Muhammad. They are reports of what Muhammad said and did. And therefore, they carry great weight.

IS DESEXING A CAT HARAM?

Once Qais Hussain's mother had been reminded of hadiths it flicked a switch in her brain it seems to me. She fully accepted cats and embraced their company. Her change in attitude allowed him to adopt a kitten who she adores. They named him Milo and she treats Milo as her fifth child.

IS IT HARAM TO SELL CATS?

Initially she was fearful and unsure around him but gradually got to know him. One day Qais returned from college to see Milo sitting on her lap while she watched TV. She now looks after him and in his words "she runs down the stairs to kiss him in the morning."

It's a good story. I'm not sure why his mother didn't already know the stories of the Prophet Muhammad and his love of cats but that's neither here nor there. She now loves them which is the right attitude!

I just hope that now she can learn to love other animals as well. As a postscript, Qais admits that Muslims treat dogs unfairly. Dogs are treated incredibly unfairly as they are regarded as unclean. Cats are regarded as clean. This is speciesism and I would hope that the senior clerics in the Muslim faith clear up this false anomaly.

A bird who can fight back when attacked by a cat

A bird who can fight back when attacked by a cat. Photo: Reddit.

This is just a bit of innocent fun. The picture of this parrot which works well motivated me to republish it on this website. I suppose, on a more serious note, it would be better for everyone except the domestic cat if birds could fight back when attacked. They are so vulnerable. All they can do is to evade capture which means flying away or staying out of the way. Domestic cat predation on birds is one of the big criticisms of the existence of the domestic cat. It is an existential crisis in some ways. If something approaching half of the human population either dislike or in extreme cases hate the domestic cat, domestic cat predation on birds doesn't help the welfare of the cat. It can lead to abuses but I won't go on. This is a bit of fun that is all.

Trespassing Cats: A Neighbourly Battle Of Biblical Proportions

Lady releases trapped cat

It happens everywhere especially, as far as I can tell, in the United States of America.  A neighbour likes cats and looks after lots of them. She can't help it. She just loves cats too much and can't stop herself from helping them.

Her next door neighbour either dislikes cats or is neutral about them.  His young boy is allergic to cats. His neighbour's cats wander into his yard. They urinate in his yard and occasionally defecate there as well. He puts up with it but after a while he decided to put down traps then take the cats that are trapped to the local rescue centre.

The cat loving neighbour finds out that she is missing some cats and then discovers what is happening so at 4 in the morning she sneaks out of her property onto her neighbour's property and releases the trapped cats. The person who trapped the cats figures out something is going on because he knows the cats were in the traps at one stage.

We have the makings of a war between neighbours which is something to be avoided at all costs.

Anyway the guy who set the traps sets up surveillance cameras to record what happens at 4 in the morning when his neighbour comes onto this property to release the cats he has trapped. He uses the video material to tell the police what has happened and she ends up facing what in America is called a “criminal trespass charge" for walking onto her neighbour's property.

Trespass is normally a tort meaning a civil wrong and not a crime. In addition, I do know what crime she has committed. Opening traps? Perhaps she damaged the traps.

This must be an American law.  Anyway she will probably end up with a criminal record and the guy who got her prosecuted will end up with an extremely angry neighbour who will carry on doing exactly the same thing as you did before.

No one's a winner, everyone's a loser.  The answer has to be a common sense answer which is that the lady who'd like to look after cats continues to do so but at the same time respects her neighbour's rights and wishes in order to keep the peace with her neighbour. I say that being a cat lover but even cat lovers need to respect other people's rights.

Being a cat lover does not trump everything: the behaviour of a cat lover has to fit in with society just like the behaviour of everybody else.

This is not a made up story but a real one. The lady who looked after the cat is Jean Kerdock-Locke and her neighbor is Ben Sanchez. The live in southeast Albuquerque, USA.

Woodsman001 aka Jim Stevenson - Feral Cat Hater - Bird Lover

Jim Stevenson aka Woodsman001

Woodsman is the notorious feral cat hater/shooter and internet troll. He professes to shoot feral cats in their thousands.  He is proud of it and he gets away with it. He considers it his duty because feral cats spread disease and destruction, he declares (frequently).

Jim Stevenson

Jim Stevenson

Jim Stevenson

He admits to using  a .22 calibre rifle. You may have heard about him.  He spends a lot of his time writing very long comments below Internet articles and they're all the same.  Everyone comment he writes is pretty much the same in basic content.  The tone of the comment is identical as well.  They are classic rants.  They insult people. They indicate that he has a lot of hatred for people who like cats and the cats themselves.

He likes to use the phrase “cat-licker".  This is reference to a cat lover and I think he got the idea from the picture of a woman who likes to lick her cat.  It stuck in his mind - his damaged mind - because believe me does have a damaged mind.  How do I know?  His comments strongly indicate it.

His hatred for the feral cat and indeed all cats that go outside, originates in his ornithological activities. He likes birds and birdwatching.  He is the founder of the Galveston Ornithological Society and his father (or mother) was/is an ornithologist.  It is in his blood. He is programmed! He is what we call a “twitcher". He is about 60 years of age, I believe.

Although I am not 100% sure that the pictures on this page are of Woodsman001, this notorious internet troll, I do believe they are and that his real name is Jim Stevenson.

He was outed when in 2006 he was spotted shooting a cat in Galveston County and ended up in the criminal court being prosecuted for it.  I believe a photograph was taken off him by the police. Because he went to court there was discussion about him and his activities.  A .22 calibre rifle was found in his white van which squares up with what we know about his activities shooting feral cats. He uses a scope on his rifle.  He likes to shoot feral cats and I'm sure he's very good at it. He calls himself a mobile abortion clinic or something like that, meaning he aborts the lives of cats. He wants to exterminate them all to protect birds.

On the occasion he was caught shooting a cat, we are told that it was because he wanted to protect a piping plover (a shorebird).  The cat he shot was stalking this bird.  That also squares up with what we know about Jim Stevenson.

He was on trial in Galveston, where he lives. His lawyer said:

"Six or seven people got struck because they thought it was the biggest waste of their time," Nelson said. "They couldn't believe they got called down to court to talk about a bird and a cat. Much of those people were more dog people than cat people. Some of the people on the jury have cats and are professed cat lovers. I don't think it comes down to bird versus cat. I think it ultimately comes down to the law."

The central question was whether he shot a pet or a feral cat. The latter is unprotected in Texas from being shot. The domestic cat is obviously protected. But if a person takes pot shots at cats in general they are open to killing a pet. Obvious. I don't know the outcome of the criminal trial. Can someone help in a comment?

For some time, I have wanted to know who Woodsman, the Internet troll was.  I think I have found out.  It is important to know who he is but now we need to make a direct and hard connection between his Internet troll activities and himself.  He uses a proxy servers and other fancy methods to avoid being detected as an Internet troll.

If we can build up evidence that Jim Stevenson, the ornithologist, is the notorious Internet troll that people know as Woodsman, it may be possible to prosecute him for these activities.  I don't know the law in America but in the UK to troll on the Internet the way he does is considered a crime and a number of people have been prosecuted in the UK for this sort of activity.

Jim Stevenson, if he is this person, has many Internet names and e-mail addresses.  You can see some of them on this page.

Anybody who reads this webpage curve further information about this person then please do so in a comment.  It would be great if we could stop him one day.

Finally I agree that cat populations need to be controlled - long overdue in fact. I don't like to see cats prey on birds. However, for a cat, birds are well down the list of prey items at about 6% of prey items. Small mammals are preferred because they are easier to catch. Cats don't decimate bird populations.

We have a moral obligation to control feral cat colonies and in a way that is humane and decent because the feral cat originates in the careless activities of people. At present TNR is the only humane way we know.

So I am not against the basic concepts of Jim Stevenson's thoughts. I am strongly against how he does things.