Are cats psychopaths and do psychopathic animals exist?

I think this is a question that should not be asked. It's a dangerous question to ask in my opinion. Psychopathy is a human concept that relates to humans. It's a way of measuring human behaviour which is antisocial, amoral and which demonstrates the inability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships. Psychopaths fail to learn from experience and express extreme egocentricity. So I don't think you can measure animal behaviour with a tool that is designed to measure human behaviour. You get into all sorts of complexities and problems if you try and do that. You end up at a dead end.

Psycho cat. This is an anthropomorphized cat in the human image. It shows that we are applying human concepts inappropriately to animals.

But they say that cats are inherently psychopathic. They say that all domestic cats are psychopaths. But this is instinctive, natural behaviour by domestic cats. I suppose what they're referring to, the experts, is that domestic cats like to hunt and prey on animals and show no remorse. They even play with animals before they kill them. An act of barbaric, unfeeling callousness. It's horrible by human standards but entirely natural by the standards of a predator. So all predators are psychopaths if we get into this kind of discussion.

On a finer point, it is believed that 1% of men and 0.3-0.7% of females can be classified as psychopaths. People are human-animals. We are animals to put it bluntly. And therefore psychopathic animals do exist by definition.

But as animals' brains function differently to human brains I think you will need to devise a test for animals if you want to measure whether their behaviour is psychopathic or not. Even that might be pointless.

Also, when we measure a person a psychopathic we measure that person's behaviour against norms, and moral standards in human society. In order to decide if a person is psychopathic you must measure them against society's norms as we see them. You can't measure cats and other animals against human society norms and moral standards. It is going to fail.

This is a subject which is not been formally studied by scientists. Although you will see slightly amusing stories in the news media about domestic cats being psychopathic. It's the kind of article that journalists like to write.

The fact of the matter is that when intelligent people discuss whether domestic cats and other animals are psychopathic, they end up at a dead end. They come to a place, once they've thought about this, where they can't make a decision and provide an answer to that question. That's because the question is inappropriately formulated. As mentioned, psychopathy is a concept which describes a small percentage of humans.

In any case, I would argue that it is an artificial concept. It is people labelling other people. But there is a wide spectrum of human behaviours. We don't need to label them at the extremes. You could argue that a psychopathic person is behaving normally at that end of the spectrum of human behaviour. We can expect people to behave like that sometimes.

My thoughts have come to a dead end. It's not worth discussing this. It doesn't get you anywhere. It doesn't enlighten you. We should never apply human concepts to animals. We should get into the heads of animals and try and sense what it is like to live in their world to understand them but not brand them and label them with human mental conditions.

P.S. Humans have a habit of labelling other humans. On a slightly different subject, humans are finally understanding that the sexual preferences and genders of humans is a continuous spectrum from one extreme to the other. In the past we labelled people as female and male, as women and men. But because of the woke movement people are being forced (and this is a good thing) into relating to other people in a more refined and fluid way. Sexual preferences and gender is not a black-and-white situation. I don't think we should label anybody in any way. Perhaps one day we won't. Everyone with any sexual preference and preferences regarding their gender should be accepted as normal even if it might be unusual.

Why do cats wag their tails?

Definition: wagging a tail means moving it from left to right horizontally. Cats do this when they are unsure of what to do. It is an indicator of uncertainty which may lead to irritation. Some say tail wagging indicates annoyance. I disagree, unless the irritation leads to annoyance.

Tail wagging in cats reflects an uncertain state of mind. Picture: MikeB

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Tail wagging mirrors the tail's function as a balancing tool. It moves from right to left horizontally when a cat - wild or domestic - needs to correct balance usually when climbing.

The word 'balance' is important because a state of uncertainty is a mentally balanced state. A position between two outcomes. 

So, the tail reflects a state of mind which is between two decisions. When the decision is made the tail stops wagging. Tail up is a friendly greeting. 

You will find that some websites state that when a cat wags her tail, she is annoyed. In short, it is a symptom of annoyance. I think this is probably incorrect but "annoyance" is very close to "uncertainty". I'm arguing that a cat wags her tail when she is uncertain about what to do next as a kind of visual balancing act between making one decision and another. Uncertainty creates a little bit of irritation and irritation is quite close to annoyance and therefore I see an overlap here.

The thing is that dogs wag their tail as a clear signal of happiness and excitement and perhaps a bit of nervousness. This knowledge may misguide us in interpreting domestic cat body language and behaviour.

I am following, and I agree with, the best expert on the planet in respect of domestic cat behaviour. His name is Dr. Desmond Morris. He wrote the world-renowned book CATWATCHING. And he starts off his page about cat tail wagging by stating, "Most people imagine that if a cat wags its tail it must be angry, but this is only a partial truth."

He then goes on to say that "the real answer is that the cat is in a state of conflict". The cat wants to do two things at once and each desire blocks the other. You might see this when your cat wants to go outside but it is raining. His tail may start to wag as he sits behind the cat flap trying to decide to go out. 

He may go out but becomes wet and therefore more uncertain about his decision and so his tail may wag more furiously. He decides to come in again. At that point he's made his mind up and his tail stops wagging. This is because he had resolved his conflict. The mood is not one of anger but of frustration and irritation.

This balancing act between two decisions occurs under a wide range of circumstances. That said, I do not see my cat wagging his tail very often. If he does, it'll be because he is on the lawn behind an object waiting to stalk a pigeon feeding on birdseed. 

He will have to traverse the lawn in his final rush to capture the pigeon. He is uncertain as to whether he can be successful or not. Can he make it to the pigeon before the pigeon flies off? Should he hold back? His mind is in mental conflict and as a consequence he wags his tail by being brushed across the lawn from left to right.

Cat in mountains on leash. Bad or good cat caretaking?

This tweet shows a beautiful grey cat on a leash high up in the mountains on a rocky ledge overlooking a beautiful lake. It's a great picture and for me it is the best sort of cat caretaking you can do. Do you think it is good or bad cat caretaking? If it's done properly with care and responsibility and with a healthy dose of common sense that it must be good for a domestic cat to do this. 

Video screenshot

It gives the domestic cat, who is perhaps confined to a home, the chance to smell the mountain air, feel the dirt and grass under their paws, and pretend for a while that they are just like their wild cat ancestor. If you can give a domestic cat the chance to behave safely as their wild cat ancestor did you have done them a good service. 

You've injected some mojo back into their lives. They really do need this and if you think I'm wrong I'm sorry because there is no doubt that I'm correct. I'm not saying people should take their cat to the mountains like this guy. I'm saying that somehow cat owners have to let their cats tap in to their raw wild cat personalities and satisfy that personality in order for them to be whole.

From @nassy_kitty ⁠: “Guess what attracted my attention? I am so excited to meet new wildlife😍” #catsofinstagram pic.twitter.com/xXMxUXZNc7

— Cats of Instagram (@catsofinstagram) November 25, 2020

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Are cats self aware?

No, is my answer from experience of living with cats for a long time. You must have read about the mirror test. Certain animals, usually Primates, pass the test. The animal is marked with two odorless dye spots. One would be visible in a mirror. The other is not - a control. If the animal behaves in a way consistent with recognizing the spot that should be visible in the mirror while looking in the mirror, then he or she has self awareness. Cats have not passed this test.

I just don't think they are self aware from simple observation. This is not say that they deserve less respect or that they are not sentient beings (the ability to feel, perceive or be conscious).

I am not sure what it tells us about ourselves that we are self aware. Maybe it is worse for us. Maybe it achieves nothing and distorts behavior. Are cats self aware? No seems to be the conclusion.

Comment from VG a friend: "I certainly think Ms. Cat pays attention to what she does, and pays attention to my reactions.  So, that seems "self aware" on her part."