This is a bit of a stretch of the imagination but it is a recognised condition. You might have experienced it. You see a cute puppy or kitten. You have an urge to smother her with kisses and squeeze her tightly. At the same time, you might clench your teeth. If you do the latter in a slightly careless way, you might damage them. That is the order of events.
Human cute aggression provoked by a kitten or puppy can damage teeth! Image: MikeB.
The experts say that these feelings result in a dimorphous physical action. The word "dimorphous" means existing in two forms. And in this instance, it means you have a feeling of euphoria in seeing something very cute which your verbalise and the other simultaneous form is doing something aggressive like squeezing the cute animal too hard or grinding your teeth.
That's the urge but of course self-control takes over and you don't actually squeeze the animal to the point where the action is aggressive and harmful.
In recognition of this known condition which I had not heard of before, a British dentist, Dr. Rizwan Mahmood, has claimed that idly scrolling through pictures of cute dogs and cats could damage your teeth.
I think that that he is successfully achieving a little bit of publicity and that may be the goal. If it was the goal then well done because it's worked.
If you grind your teeth at the sight of something cute, it would have to be persistent grinding to do any real damage. Like I said, it's a bit of a stretch of the imagination to see real damage occurring.
Social media celebrity, Molly Mae, who featured in the Love Island television series admitted that she has a habit of grinding her teeth to the point where one of them fell out! She blames cute aggression.
She said:
"I'm my own worst enemy because whenever I look at the cat or I look at Ellie Bellie (her stuffed toy elephant) I just talk to Tommy in a stupid baby voice, I do this thing where I grind my teeth. I bit down and my tooth literally came off last night."
The good dentist said:
"It's an instant physical response when humans see something cute like a fluffy kitten, puppy or rabbit which makes them react physically rather than verbally. It doesn't necessarily take too much pressure to do the damage either. So, if you are scrolling through footage on Instagram or TikTok, be mindful of your mouth. If you see something cute, verbalise it instead of physically reacting to it. It could save you a lot of money, and toothache!"
Nothing apparently really special about the video but it is special in many ways. This young man has created a beautiful relationship between himself and his cat companion. It is the human who runs the show. It is the human who dictates how well the relationship runs. It's their world and they create the cat's world. But when it is this good the cat is going to be very happy. And of course, that happiness is reflected in the caregiver.
An interesting little aspect of this repeating video is that the cat and man kiss each other. The cat really wants to kiss her man. Kissing is fine but it is very rarely done on the lips between cat and person.
Stress has long been recognized as a significant factor in the well-being of animals, including dogs, and has been the subject of numerous studies in both laboratory and shelter settings. These studies have shown that stress can have both physiological and behavioral consequences, including the production of the hormone cortisol (also known as the glucocorticoid hormone).
Volunteers sit with rescue animals to reduce stress during a storm. Image in public domain.
Elevated levels of cortisol can have negative effects on an animal's health and behavior, and it is therefore important to identify ways to reduce stress in animals, particularly those in shelters.
One key factor in reducing stress in dogs in shelters is human interaction. Research has consistently shown that social support, including interaction with humans, can help to buffer the stress response in animals, including dogs. This may be due to the fact that social interaction can stimulate the production of oxytocin, a hormone that has been shown to reduce cortisol levels and improve well-being.
Enrichment activities centered on human interaction, such as training and play, have been found to be particularly effective in reducing stress in shelter dogs. These activities can also help to improve the behavioral suitability of dogs for adoption, as they may reduce aggressive responses in temperament tests.
It is important to note that the effects of stress on dogs can extend beyond the initial exposure to a stressful event. There is evidence that long-term consequences of stress, including changes in behavior and brain function, can occur even after the initial stressor has been removed. This highlights the importance of addressing stress in shelter dogs not just in the short-term, but also in the long-term.
This Reddit.com user, Mary, asks whether any other cat owned by the Reddit.com community sits by the glass shower screen when their owner is in the shower as you see in the photo below. And they are asking why this is happening. I think I know the reasons.
3 reasons why this Persian cat always sits by shower cubicle when owner showers. Image: Reddit user: u/Maryy_returns
There are three:
The shower and the surrounding bathroom have a strong smell of the person showering who is the human caregiver of the cat waiting outside the shower cubicle. This is because the warm water and steam distributes the body scent around the bathroom. It is the body scent of the person showering which attracts this gorgeous Persian cat to sit and wait. It's an attractant to him or her. Domestic cats are very involved with scents and smells. They connect with a person through their scent, and they identify a person by their scent.
Another reason is that their owner (believed to me Mary) has gone behind a glass screen and therefore becomes inaccessible. It is almost as if the person has decided to leave their cat. It's as if from the cat's perspective that they have placed a barrier between themselves and their cat. This is slightly disturbing, and her is trying to figure out why it's happening. And he will wait until that barrier is removed which happens when Mary steps out of the shower cubicle.
The third reason is an obvious one namely that this cat wants to be with their owner wherever they are within the home. They probably have a very close relationship and while Mary is at home, they are together a lot. She might be away during the day and therefore her cat has a particular desire to be with her when they are at home. This is a great motivator and a background reason which when added to the above results in this Persian cat sitting patiently outside the shower cubicle.
I guess it is 90% common sense. The fact that cats are so switched on to body scent is also another reason why when their owner goes to the toilet in the bathroom their cat might routinely or might occasionally join them at least briefly and then perhaps wait outside.
They are attracted to the odours from the bathroom. That sounds a bit rude but for the cat, it isn't. It's a world in which scent plays an important role which is demonstrated in these ways.
Some domestic cats go even further. For example, the wildcat hybrid cats such as the F1 Savannah sometimes like to go into the shower cubicle with their owner. They don't mind the water and it puts them in direct contact with their owner which they enjoy.
It is that time of year when websites sometimes discuss the interaction between cats and Christmas trees 😎. And this is where it goes wrong 😢. There's one website from New Zealand called Stuff which has a title as follows: "Watch: 12 times cats tried to ruin Christmas trees". This is a big website with an influence, and I don't like the title (Kiwis don't like cats!). I am being too serious, but this is a title which imports speciesism into the discussion.
Domestic cat pulls over Christmas tree. See video below.
Domestic cats don't try and ruin Christmas trees. They try and climb them because that is what domestic cats want to do. They need to entertain themselves in the sterile human environment in which they are placed and forced to live. Strong words.
So why criticise them for trying to ruin Christmas trees? They are simply climbing them and enjoying the experience. If that results in the Christmas tree falling over and smashing to bits so be it.
It is not a conscious effort by a domestic cat to ruin a Christmas tree. I am spelling out the obvious and I'm sure that I am being incredibly tiresome and boring in doing so.
However, the title that I refer to on the Internet is a misdescription and a form of speciesism.
No doubt there are many videos of domestic cats pulling over Christmas trees. There are an equal number of methods to protect Christmas tree such as putting kitchen foil all around the tree. This works pretty effectively because it looks sort of Christmassy while at the same time protecting the tree because domestic cats hate to walk on tin foil. They don't understand it and it makes a funny noise which puts them off very effectively.
Back to Christmas trees. The video on this page I think is priceless. That is a bit of a pun because there is a financial price to pay when a cat knocks over a beautiful Christmas tree as we see in the video.
NEWS AND OPINION: I'm on my high horse again but I think that this is a very relevant topic. But first things first. The Kingston Humane Society has a nice photograph of a cat in one of their cages and what I like about it is the customised tent in one corner of the cage where the cat can hide.
It's sad and nice at the same time. It's sad because cats in shelters need to hide because they are frightened but it is nice because the shelter has provided cats with a means to hide. A sort of home-from-home environment.
Kingston Humane Society cat in a cage with a tent to hide in. Image: the society.
The fact that cats need to hide indicates that their true character is probably not going to be shown at a shelter because of anxiety induced by the shelter environment. This affects adoptions.
That's the first point out of the way. The second point is this: like other cat and animal shelters, this one has too many animals in their care. Their capacity is 144 and they currently care for 315 which is more than twice their capacity.
The director of the Kingston Humane Society, Gord Hunter, puts this down to the after-effects of the Covid pandemic and those long lockdowns during which some people impulsively adopted a companion animal.
And there is the problem: people adopted these abandoned companion animals on a known temporary basis. They must have known that the lockdowns were going to end within a defined time. They must've realised that at the end of those lockdowns they would have to go back to their normal work routine, and they should have asked themselves whether they would retain their cat or dog companion when that happened.
If they didn't do that and many didn't, they were not committed to being the caregiver of a companion animal for the life of the animal. And that is the only way to adopt a cat or dog. If a person can't make that commitment, they should not adopt.
There might be some culpability with animal shelters in this regard by adopting out cats and dogs to people during the pandemic perhaps realising that this was a temporary state of affairs.
For me, it's a question of raising standards of cat caregiving. I know it's boring to discuss this, but the flood of unwanted animals adopted inwards to shelters such as the one in Kingston indicates a less than optimal human-to-cat relationship and standard of care.
This state of affairs is one reason why there are feral cats which are a perceived problem to many people. There needs to be some way of raising standards in the interest of human society and animal welfare. Education is the best answer and regulations are a secondary solution.
3 reasons why cats love to sit on laptops. But do you want to!? Image in public domain.
I am not sure we need to discuss this in any detail because over the years a lot has been said on this topic on the internet and cat owners have learned a lot from the internet. And arguably the reasons are common sense. Here goes. The 4 reasons why cats love to sit on laptops are:
They are with their human companion and caregiver. People can sit at laptops for a long time! Me for one 😃😒. And as your cat wants to be with their human from time to time for common sense reasons, they have to be with them while they are at their laptops.
They seek attention and sometimes want to stop you using the laptop and pay attention to them instead.
Third reason: when a cat arrives at their human who's at their laptop, they often receive a reward; their caregiver pets them and says nice things to them. The owner informally trains their cat to come to them at the laptop. This does not always happen as I am sure that sometimes cat owners tell their cat to go somewhere else as it can be almost impossible to work productively and accurately at a laptop with your cat draped all over you. But in general, the reward is the normal human response. This is positive reinforcement training.
Fourthly, the obvious: a laptop emits heat. We see a lot of cats lying on laptop keyboards as a bit of heat is given off by the computer. Domestic cats love heat as it is in their DNA; inherited from their wildcat ancestor the North African wildcat which lives in arid, dry and hot conditions.
So, those are the 4 reasons why cats love to site on laptops. How to stop it? One way would be to place a pet warm pad (available on Amazon) next to you. Place your cat on it when he comes to you. He may get the message in due course.
Don't reward your cat for jumping up and onto your computer. You can't stop your computer giving off heat so there is no cure for that.
If and when they do it, gently lift them off and place them nearby on the warm pad! Yes, I am repeating myself. And pet them nicely at the same time with warm words.
Here is an infographic on the topic prepared by me:
Philosophical question: do you really want to stop you cat doing this? Cats rarely lie on the computer. They just want to be near you. Let them. It makes them happy. It is the caregiver's duty to make their cat happy at all times!
The solution is a compromise: allow your cat to be near you while you are on the laptop but not in a way which prevents you using it with ease. My cat lies on my legs behind the computer as I work in bed! Bed is the best place as I have a Tempur mattress which is kind on my bum. That's enough of the personal detail.
NEWS AND COMMENT-WALES: It has been reported that five cats have made an Asda store (a UK supermarket chain) their home. They stroll into the foyer of the supermarket and sit there. Clearly, they are coming in out of the cold seeking some warmth.
Some might be also seeking some company. These must be domestic cats because they're not frightened of people. They probably live nearby, and their owners are away all day, so they saunter into the store as a way of passing the time in relatively warm conditions during the winter.
Five cats make an Asda store their home after they stroll in and get comfortable. Image: Asada. Dan Roberts/Pwllheli Store Manager
That's my assessment. Initially there was one who routinely started to visit the store. That cat became a feature of the store, and it appears that the vast majority of shoppers accepted him or her. Some actually found his presence charming and I guess some fed him.
It appears that some of the staff tried to discourage the cat from visiting but he returned, and his presence has encouraged for others to join. On the face of it this presents a problem to the store manager because some customers will think that the cats are unhygienic.
There is this mentality about distancing domestic cats from the kitchen counter in the home. The reason behind that is because people don't want the cat to bring pathogens onto the counter which can contaminate food. I get that but this is an overreaction because domestic cats are no more likely to introduce pathogens to food than are humans.
So, these five cats are completely harmless in my view to the customers' welfare. They remain in the foyer in any case. Any disease that they might have will nearly always be not zoonotic. This means that nearly all feline diseases cannot be transferred to humans.
There is no genuine problem but there is a presentation problem in that it doesn't look good to have a group of cats in the foyer and I understand that. It's a presentational thing which goes against the culture of a well-run supermarket store.
But people shouldn't be worried about it except for the fact that if a gaggle of cats habitually start to gather in the foyer of this supermarket on a regular basis it is going to cause a problem. Some people won't like it and the manager won't like it. It depends if it can be contained.
Ciara Faulkner, the 'ambient manager' at the supermarket said that they tried to encourage customers not to feed the cats, but they can't monitor them constantly. They encouraged the cats to leave but they come back.
Fortunately, Ciara Faulkner reports that: "We have had one or two customers who aren't very happy, but most people think it's cute. They just sleep there really; they are not causing any harm."
That I think is the attitude to take. Leave them alone provided the existing maximum five cats don't encourage another five and so on! Then it will be a problem, not of disease transference but in giving the wrong impression that the supermarket has become a cat rescue centre!
Dr Bruce Fogle in his book 'Complete Cat Care' makes a statement which caught my attention: "Cats are naturally aggressive". We don't think of it like that very often. But it is true. And it is a source of potential trouble in the human-to-cat relationship.
Despite the beautifully relationships between cats and their caregivers all over the world, the domestic cat is a top predator armed with weapons: claws and teeth.
And they like to use them in play because play for domestic cats is play-hunting. All play is centred around hunting and hunting employs sharp canine teeth and even sharper claws on their forepaws.
They are programmed to hunt and kill. It is their major activity in life. And we know how cats act on instinct. This makes their genetic programming more effective as it is not tempered by rational thought.
Man used hand as a cat toy. Bad idea. Image in public domain and modified by MikeB.
Sometimes a cat caregiver can become annoyed and emotionally hurt by their cat as they feel that they've been respectful and gentle with them only to be scratched or bitten in return.
Perceived behavioural problems can lead to a breakdown in the relationship and the surrender of the cat at a rescue centre or to a neighbour. Aggressive behaviour is in the top 10 reasons for giving up a cat. Understanding the deep emotional need to be aggressive for cats helps to restore the relationship.
The classic form of feline aggression that pops up from time to time is the 'love bite'. It sounds innocent and loving but the cat love bite is not the same as the human version. We know that.
Another description of 'love bites' is 'petting aggression'. Your cat is relaxed and enjoying your company. You gently pet your cat without thinking too much about how you are doing it and wham, your darling cat companion crunches down on your hand with her sharp canine teeth while holding on with the forepaws.
To release from this uncomfortable situation, distract your cat with the free hand and in that window of opportunity release the trapped hand slowly. Or use the free hand to scruff your cat's neck and then release the other.
Cats' teeth are designed to pierce the skin and break the spinal cord of prey animals. Stroking triggers mixed emotions. Domestic cats enjoy touching their human caregiver and other pets normally.
My cat likes to reach out with his paw to touch my hand when he is with me. They like to be physically connected with their human companion, but they can become worried by it because the domestic cat's adult wildcat ancestor does not make physical contact with others except to mate and fight (normally).
Although community cats and domestic cats form friendships and can rest together in close contact. But there is a different relationship between cat and human. And there is a big size difference which can work against the relationship. Humans can be intimidating to cats.
When a domestic cat becomes 'emotionally confused' during petting, as Bruce Fogle describes it, they may start to become instinctively aggressive.
Human caregivers need to spot the signs of feline irritation such as a flicking tail and a tenseness developing in the cat's face and general demeanour. Your cat is warming up for an aggressive act by our standards. Not hers. It is play but all cat play is aggressive.
For people it is all about understanding cat behaviour and respecting it. All feline aggression in the home towards humans can be avoided and should be avoided by reading cat body language and understanding feline behaviour and their deep-seated instincts inherited from their wild cat ancestor which are just below the surface.
This charming photograph is on the quora.com website on a page which discusses the photo-editing of pictures of cats. And the person who started off the discussion said that pictures of cats should never be photoshopped because cats are charming enough as it is, and they don't need to be photo edited.
And you should never add human teeth to cats which, incidentally, is something we see a lot of on the Internet.
Anyway, one person who joined the conversation added a screenshot of a photograph of a 14-year-old cat head-butting an 18-month-old child and that is the photograph that you see on this page.
It is charming and it is to be expected to be honest. The ginger tabby obviously has a nice connection with this child. And he is doing what he would do with an adult person which is to scent exchange. That means he deposits his scent from the glands around his head onto the child and in doing that he receives the child's scent onto his head.
There is a metaphorical merging of minds and beings which is reassuring for him. It's a bit like saying that the child is part of his family. And as the child now smells more like him, he is part of the family.
Based on what I have read and seen on the Internet, domestic cats are curious about babies, and they often form good relationships with babies. I don't see any real danger to babies from domestic cats. There is a fear probably by some mothers that a baby might be harmed but it doesn't happen.
And there's quite a lot of work on whether a baby benefits from being in a home with a cat and indeed being close to a cat such as when sleeping with a cat on their bed at night. This is still work in progress but my reading of the science on this is that it can strengthen a child's defences against allergens.
In effect, when a baby is in a relationship with a domestic cat it desensitises them to allergens in the air for the rest of their life. But, as mentioned, the science is not entirely conclusive on this.
The feline allergen, Fel D1, is carried around the entirety of the home on cat dander, which is a kind of dandruff, but it is in fact small skin particles and bits of hair on which is dried saliva and the dried oils of sebaceous glands in the skin both of which deposit the feline allergen onto these tiny particles which are 5 µm across.
They are so small that they can float in the air very easily and they land on bits of furniture and so on which is why a person who is allergic to cats can feel the effects of the allergy even when they are a good distance from the cat in a home where a cat resides.
I have just written about a philosophy or religion or even a concept called "animism". It's hard to know what it actually is. I think it is a type of religion, but it is very far from the conventional religions of the West such as Christianity in which people worship a man. Christianity seems to be sexist to me. And I think that Christianity has left a terrible legacy to the world.
Shamans from the organization Tengeri conduct an offering ritual in 2013. Image: see bottom left.
Through the bible, Christianity preached and continues to preach that humankind has dominion over the rest of the world including all animals. That's at least partly why, I argue, there is mass and endemic animal abuse across the planet and has been for centuries. An also who sport hunters have no empathy with animals. It is completely missing.
And that is why humans think they can control and abuse nature to their own commercial ends.
But nature is striking back with global warming. And if everybody on the planet believed in animism, we wouldn't have global warming. Animism is respectful of nature, the landscape, the mountains and all these inanimate objects which are given souls by animism. They almost become sentient. They are part of our lives. They support us.
Animism believes that nature is more powerful than people. The landscape has dominion over people. People have a place within the landscape, within nature and the world. This forces people to be more respectful of inanimate objects and animate objects other than themselves.
It is hard to know whether it is a religion or not. It is certainly a belief system as I would call it. It appears that ancient tribal people tucked away in some far-flung lands are far more predisposed to believing in animism than the technocrats and capitalists of the West.
Technology seems to me to present a barrier between people and nature. Technology too dry. It lacks spirit. But if a person opens their mind and walks into a forest and tries to commune with nature i.e., talk to the trees, they will talk back. It's a question of being open-minded and 'feeling' nature.
Sadly, most people are so distanced from nature that they have lost contact with it completely. They won't understand animism at all. There are far more likely to understand football and the latest smart phone.
There is a distinct place in the modern world for animism. It is a growing philosophy or religion, and this is timely because the destruction of the planet by humankind would not have happened if there was a greater belief in it.
When people visit fantastic landscapes and sit within that landscape and contemplate or meditate, I believe that they can feel nature and in feeling nature they are practising the religion of animism even if they are unaware of it. That is my interpretation.
A person with a far more knowledgeable approach to animism is Justine Buck Quijada. She is an associate Prof, Department of Religion, Wesleyan University.
I think she sums up animism quite nicely in the following words written by her on The Conversation website:
"Instead of human dominion over the landscape, in animist cosmologies, humans live under the dominion of the landscape around them."
Her article from which I formed my thoughts is available for republishing under a Creative Commons licence and therefore I've taken the liberty, something I would never do normally, to republish it below. It should be interesting to many people who are concerned about the planet, nature and animal welfare.
‘Animism’ recognizes how animals, places and plants have power over humans – and it’s finding renewed interest around the world
Shamans from the organization Tengeri conduct an offering ritual in 2013 to Bukhe Bator, the spirit master of the Selenga River, Republic of Buryatia, Russian Federation.
Roberto Quijada, CC BY-NCJustine Buck Quijada, Wesleyan University
Most of these people are using animism in a very general, and inaccurate, way, to mean the belief that everything in nature has a soul. The renewed interest in animism stems from the hope that people will behave in more ecologically sustainable ways if they believe that the natural world around them is alive.
However, as an anthropologist of religion who works with people whose religious practices were traditionally described as animist, I believe the reality is both more interesting and more complicated. Animism is not a religion or even a set of beliefs about nature having a soul. It’s a term used by scholars to classify religious practices through which human beings cultivate relationships with more powerful beings that reside in the world around us.
A history of the term
The term animism was coined by an early anthropologist, Edward Burnett Tylor, in 1870. Tylor argued that Darwin’s ideas of evolution could be applied to human societies; he classified religions according to their level of development.
He defined animism as a belief in souls: the existence of human souls after death, but also the belief that entities Western perspectives deemed inanimate, like mountains, rivers and trees, had souls.
Animism was, in Tylor’s view, the first stage in the evolution of religion, which developed from animism to polytheism and then to monotheism, which was the most “civilized” form of religion. From this perspective, animism was the most primitive kind of religion, while European, Protestant Christianity was seen as the most evolved of all religions.
Tylor was not the first to make this argument. Scottish philosopher David Hume, for example, made a very similar argument in the “Natural History of Religion,” in 1757. Tylor was, however, the first to use the term animism and the classification scheme as part of what was then the nascent field of anthropology, the scientific study of human society.
Animism is therefore not a religion but a term for classifying a type of religion, one which was, in the 1870s at least, deemed by European and American scholars to be less civilized. The racist conception that some groups of people were less civilized than others was integral to the initial definition.
Around the turn of the 19th century, scholars used Tylor’s term to classify a wide array of rituals. James Frazer and Geza Roheim, for example, used animism to argue for similarities among the practices of Indigenous populations, ancient Greeks and European peasants. Animism was used to describe the psychology of Native Americans and Siberian shamans asking spirit masters to offer up game to hunters. By the 1940s, however, the term, and the practice of classifying cultures by their level of development, had fallen out of favor.
Why, then, are environmental activists embracing a term with this complicated history?
An alternative to ‘dominion’
In 1967, historian Lynn White Jr., himself a devout Christian, argued that the world’s environmental problems came from Christian dominion theology. In this reading of the biblical account of Genesis, humans are the only part of creation that is made in the image of God, which is usually interpreted to mean that humans, unlike all else in creation, have souls.
This theology gives humans – through Adam and Eve – dominion over the Earth. White argued that through its creation story, Christianity set up a dichotomy between inanimate matter and animate spirit that lifts humans above creation and turns the rest of the world – from animals and plants to rocks, soil and water – into “resources” to be used.
It is important to note that this is only one of many Christian interpretations of Genesis. On the other hand, White’s argument was that this idea of dominion is what makes environmental exploitation under capitalism possible, and that argument was compelling to many environmentalists, who began to develop an interest in Indigenous belief systems as a way to fix environmental problems.
Relationships of power and obligation
What is important to understand about animism is that it is not a religion per se, nor is it a matter of merely believing that a mountain or a glacier has a soul. Animism describes practices that establish a relationship between places and people, usually one that recognizes places, animals and plants have power over people.
The fabric offerings tied to this tree mark the location where people can make offerings to a being that resides in the landscape. Olkhon Island, Irkutsk Oblast, Russian Federation.Roberto Quijada, CC BY-NC
I study the way urban Buryats, members of an Indigenous population of Siberia, are reviving pre-Soviet forms of animism and shamanism. Many of their rituals involve asking for blessings and protection from beings such as rivers, lakes and mountains, and from ancestors who are located in the landscape – all practices that create relationships of obligation between people and place.
In all these instances, rituals establish relationships of obligation that tie humans to the land, and the land to the humans who live on it. Instead of human dominion over the landscape, in animist cosmologies, humans live under the dominion of the landscape around them.
No magic bullet
Animism is not a religion one can convert to but rather a label used for worldviews and practices that acknowledge relationships between nature and the animal world that have power over humans and must be respected.
New Zealand’s 2017 act recognizing the Whanganui River as a legal person, the culmination of decades of Maori activism, could be described as animism taking a legal form. Additionally, when Indigenous practices are labeled animist religion, it is easy to overlook the very real biological and ecological scientific knowledge of these communities.
Animist practices are as variable as the peoples and places engaging in such relationships. Indigenous and animist perspectives illustrate that there are many different relationships possible between humans and the world around them, and many environmentalists are finding these alternatives instructive, despite the troubled history of the term.
This is a cute video from Twitter of a very trusting cat literally throwing themselves into the arms of their caregiver. It is great to see such a warm and trusting relationship. The cat didn't check if it was okay to plonk down so dramatically. A very trusting action. It is about that: trust. It must have happened before as they decided to make a video of it.
Loving cat - loving relationship. Screenshot.
In fact, she must have done this countless times and learned that there was always an arm there to catch her.
It is another demonstration that nearly all domestic cats love to have contact with their owners. They love that physical connection. Some people lacking in cat behaviour knowledge still believe that domestic cats are 'solitary and aloof'. It is bollocks. They are very sociable nowadays and demand close contact with their caregiver. Of course, it depends on the individual cat.
If they don't get this connection by lying on their human, they might reach out with their paw and touch their arm.
Here is my late three-legged cat touching my arm. It is the same motivation.
Picture: MikeB
And of course, there is the physical warmth factor which is so attractive in combination with the emotional warmth they obtain when physically connected to their surrogate mom.
A lot of cat owners, I suspect mainly women, like to speak to their cat companion with a baby voice. It is entirely understandable indeed normal. And often people relate to their companion cat as a baby or a toddler, so it all adds up.
The Times newspaper reports on a study which they say found that talking to your cat in a silly voice helps you to bond and communicate with your cat companion.
Alia Butt and her white Persian cat. Image: Instagram.
They suggest that cats are notably less responsive when you don't put on a baby voice. But I think this report is incorrect. I'll tell you why.
The scientists decided that the cats that they assessed responded to their owner's baby voice. But they did not respond to their owner when they spoke in a normal voice. On this basis they decided that the baby voice is more effective in eliciting a feline response.
That is an error in my view. It is because the cat has become habituated to listening to their owner speaking in a baby voice that they respond to it. And they respond to the voice because they link their owner with nice things: food being given to them and cuddles, security and warmth and all the other things that domestic cats like.
This is a cat forming an association between a baby voice and nice things because the owner speaks in a baby voice and provides those nice things.
It is not about the baby voice per se encouraging a feline response.
The point is this, it doesn't matter how the owner speaks to their cat provided it is melodious, pleasant and warm and friendly. It is just that the cat will link that sound with their "surrogate mother" (the human caregiver).
That linkage is the key one. It is how a human caregiver can call their domestic cat to come to them. They are familiar with that sound, and they are familiar with the friendliness of their human owner and the benefits that he or she brings. That's the reward and cats are motivated by rewards like any other sentient being.
As the link described is not present in a stranger, domestic cats do not respond to strangers saying the same things.
And I believe that The Times author is reporting on this incorrectly in my view. Although they do add, correctly, that the scientists who carried out the study suggested that the response is not down to the tone of the voice but the fact that the cat came to associate their owner speaking that way with good things. That is what I am saying.
The study is published in the journal Animal Cognition. They write what all cat lovers already understand, namely that "Cats, who were not so long ago considered as independent and ungrateful creatures, are in fact very well capable of creating and fostering attachment bonds with humans." Domestic cats today are sociable creatures thanks to 10k years of domestication.
They analysed the responses of 16 cats who were played recordings. Some recordings involved their owner talking normally in "adult-directed speech". Some involved other people using cat directed speech and some were of their owner talking to them in the usual way which means in baby talk.
They report that there was a spike in responsiveness when cats listen to baby talk from their owner. Yes, we know why, and I have banged on about that above for far too long.
A video which confirms (if you need it) that cats ask for kisses and cuddles. Well, they ask for stuff that they like, warm human behaviour and things that pleases them like favourite food treats. That's the function of the infinitely variable meow. The video provides one example.
Cat asks for more kisses and gets them. Screenshot.
I love this relationship. There is a hell of a lot of warmth and a wonderful understanding between cat and human.
You can tell that they understand each other because there is great communication between them.
Thie couple are 'talking' to each other through their actions and vocalisations.
Please note that these embedded video stop working sometimes. I don't control them. If it has stopped: apologies. It was nice!!
What is this cat wearing, I wonder? It looks like he is dressed up. Not sure about that. He is a ginger tabby. They are nearly always males and I hear nothing but good reports on the ginger tabby personality.
Instinctively, I spend quite a lot of time observing my cat and finding out what he likes me to do. Yes, I know, it is a form of cat-training-human, but I like it. I feel that it is my duty to try and please him and it is no hardship to me. And you do this by interacting with your cat and observing the effect. Of course, it helps to understand domestic cats generally.
Gabs on top of the Sky television box which emits quite a lot of heat. Like many domestic cats he loves warmth. Click it for a large image. Image by MikeB.
My cat likes the back of his head to be stroked. He likes my hand to be placed on the back of his head. I think that he likes both the contact and the warmth. It has got to the point where he asks for it not by meowing but by looking up at me in a certain way which I now understand.
And this request always happens when he is on my lap, when I'm in bed, as is the case right now. It's about cause and effect. You do something with your cat, and you can tell if he or she likes it.
Another thing which he likes is to be flea comb around the cheeks and down the side of his neck. Also, on the top of the head. He likes the feeling of it, and he likes the way his fur feels afterwards I believe. These are areas that he can't get to and therefore it is fairly obvious that it will please him.
The benefits of doing this are twofold: you check for fleas and if there is one in that area you remove it and kill it and the whole experience is pleasurable both for cat and person. It is pleasurable for the person because it is a warm, friendly interaction which is exactly what people are after when they adopt a cat companion.
My behaviour in this instance is the same sort of behaviour that another friendly cat would perform when allogrooming. You often see two domestic cats who are friendly with each other licking each other. And they nearly always focus on the top of the head or other inaccessible parts. Perhaps that, too, is instinctive.
It is quite easy to get into routines with respect to behaviours that please both cat and person. The cat enjoys the interaction, and the person enjoys their cat's company and delivering a form of behaviour which their cat enjoys.
Here are some other human behaviours (not a complete list) that my cat responds positively to which I therefore do in order to please him:
When I sit down to watch television, I call him to come over and sit on my lap. He prefers it when I wear an old dressing gown which I guess provides extra warmth to him. He almost invariably comes over and takes up the offer.
I know that my cat likes warmth. Many domestic cats do. I do my best to provide it. In fact, he likes it on his belly. I know this because when he lies on my lap he spreads out and hangs over the edge of my knees while putting a paw on the coffee table. He likes to have one paw on the coffee table and to please him I bring the table towards him so that he can do this.
I know that my cat prefers to go into the back yard through the bifold doors rather than through the cat flap. So, if it is possible, I open the bifold doors enough to allow him through. This encourages him to go into the backyard and I join him there for a cuddle and to see what is going on. While in the backyard he likes me to pick him up for a short time of about 30 seconds. This gives a high vantage point, and it allows for an intimate form of contact. He lets me know when he wants to be put down by looking at the ground.
I know that he likes to sleep in a place where there is protection above him. I know this because he likes to sleep on a chair, the lower half of which is under the dining room table. He likes that feeling of protection that the table above him provides. A lot of cats have the same feelings. Therefore, I have splashed out and bought him a special little "bedroom". I have not constructed it yet but when I have, I will provide a picture on this page. It was expensive and had problems on its delivery. It's manufactured in Poland, and I was not aware of that when I bought it online. There were duties to pay i.e., VAT which I wasn't aware of. I renegotiated the purchase price with the manufacturers, and they gave me a discount which was more or less equivalent to the amount of VAT. But the point here is that a lot of cats including mine like to sleep with something above their head for protection. It allows them to sleep more soundly. This is an example of finding out what your cat likes through observation.
Google offers the world Google Trends. It's a useful service to see what people are thinking what they are doing in real time. It provides background information as to what is bubbling under the surface of the news and what we see happening around us. And today, Google search trends 2022 indicates that the searches are driven by heightened emotions. This applies to people across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. This implies that people in America are not suffering from heightened emotions.
This is probably because the major source of heightened emotions is the Ukraine war which is a long way away from America and I sense that Americans feel distanced from the Ukraine war whereas it is on the doorstep of Europe.
And I say "suffering" because it seems that these emotions are anxiety or apprehension.
Peoples of Europe are apprehensive. Cuddle your cat. Image: Image by Prettysleepy Art from Pixabay.
And a reason why this exists is because of issues with personal finances due to high inflation which is destabilising the economic systems. With high inflation you have higher interest rates in order to suppress inflation and with higher interest rates you going to have far more costly mortgages when they are on variable accounts. This puts in jeopardy keeping one's house because some people can't afford to pay their mortgages anymore.
This leads to anxiety. There is just one example. And of course, you have the Ukrainian war which is costing the world about US$2.3 trillion in terms of trade and loss of revenue. The Ukraine war is seriously damaging economic growth and prosperity which has a knock-on effect in the way people feel and of course it fuels inflation because Putin has stopped the supply of gas and oil to Europe which has forced up energy prices dramatically. This has fuelled inflation and the consequential high number of problems that emanate from that.
And on a very basic and raw level, the Ukraine war threatens the lives of Europeans and arguably people across the world. It may expand to a world war and that would affect everybody including America. This possibility generates anxiety.
But after Covid people want to socialise, they want to get out and do things. The end of Covid brought an optimism but this has been counteracted by apprehension. Google trends say that there are two moods in place: optimism and uncertainty. They say, "We are curious but cautious and were turning to search for answers".
Health is a bigger issue with people because of Covid. Long Covid is a major issue. It is believed that it affects the heart, and a substantial number of people suffer from it. And in the UK the NHS is broken causing long waiting lists which affects health treatment which of course affects the health of the citizens of the UK.
So, two fundamental problems exist which cause apprehension: health and wealth! In the background is the Ukrainian war which is like a disease that affects everything insidiously. It undermines society.
I would suggest that apprehension is outstripping optimism. I am not optimistic but I'm naturally pessimistic, I guess. I can see things getting worse not better all because of Putin and his mad escapades. He is digging himself into a massive hole.
Just recently the Nord Stream Gas supply pipes were blown up. There's a big question mark as to who did it. I think it is somebody in Europe we did it in order to ensure that Europe never goes back to Russian gas. It's a method of preventing Europe having two minds about going back to buying Russian gas because of the difficulties of doing without it. So, I think it's people who want to hurt Russia and to strengthen Europe's independence of Russia's energy supplies.
But it all adds up to more apprehension in European citizens. Which brings me to my last point: cuddle your cat! I had to get domestic cats into this discussion somehow, but we know for a fact that if your cat is sitting on your lap as mine is at the moment, keeping you warm and keeping you company, you feel better. You feel reassured and your cat feels reassured. You have a companion; you have a friend.
And cat companions are far more reliable than human companions. They will always be there for you. Good human caregivers reciprocate. For 15 or more years you have a relationship which improves your life and which chips away at that apprehension which world events, out of our control, generate.
A social media user asked: "Does my cat understand when I pick him up and hug him, or is he just waiting to be moved/put down?"
Does my cat understand when I pick him up and hug him, or is he just waiting to be moved/put down? Image: MikeB based on image in the public domain.
The answer to the question depends on the circumstances. However, if you have the habit of picking up your cat gently and gently talking to him and gently loving him and you do this as an expression of love and friendship, your cat will understand what it means and respond accordingly.
However, if you regularly pick up your cat and transport them to another place under certain circumstances and you do it over and over again then your cat will understand that picking them up and transporting them means just that and it is not an expression of love towards your cat.
Like I said it's a question of circumstances and how a cat links your behaviour with those circumstances to deduce what is going on.
Sometimes when people treat their cat as babies the cat can become a little anxious. In which case they will want to be released. And cats vary tremendously in their preferences.
Some cats like to be carried or jump on to their owner's lap while others are less keen. Some cats actively dislike being picked up and carried and they'll complain. For them, picking them up and hugging them cannot be a pleasant experience of affection from their owner.
And clearly, there has to be a good general relationship between cat and person. If the relationship is slightly tense or fractious, a cat will not wish to be picked up because it will only tend to make them nervous. The opposite will happen if there is a good relationship, and the cat likes to be picked up and understands that it is a demonstration of affection from their human caregiver.
This is a story about a woman who found joy in a robotic cat after the loss of her cat companion. And I think it points to some situations when robotic cats can perform a function which is superior to the real thing. The truth is that people can become attached to robotic pets that are sufficiently lifelike particularly if the person involved perhaps has intellectual disabilities or perhaps a head injury or they might be autistic or simply elderly with dementia of some kind.
Linda Williams with her robotic cat which pleases her. Image: WIS 10.
Tri-Development Centre of Aiken County runs a program with a mission to provide, promote and coordinate community services in that county for individuals with "autism, head and spinal cord injuries and intellectual disabilities". South Carolina Department of Ageing runs a program to help people who are socially isolated.
Linda Williams has been provided with a robotic cat by the organisers of the Tri-Development Center.
Linda said:
"She makes me feel good. I’m going to hold you up so they can see you."
The lead residential service provider in this program, Precious Green, said that she was happy that Linda Williams is happy with her robotic cat. Obviously, it is much easier for the organisers to take care of a robotic cat.
There's none of the usual issues such as dealing with cat litter and feeding a cat. There is no possibility of cat scratching or biting. There is an instant connection between person and robotic cat which can be quite different to the real thing because it takes time for them to get used to strangers sometimes.
And under these circumstances it can work beautifully as Linda Williams loves her cat companion. There is, I feel, a place for these sorts of devices which provide companionship.
It's a device on which a person can off load their need to love somebody or even something. It's a recipient of love and if the device makes the right sounds and is reasonably accurate in terms of appearance then it works. It should not be laughed at as some sort of ridiculous concept.
Both domestic and wild cats can "catch" a yawn from each other. However, domestic cats don't, it seems, catch a yawn from their owner. The information comes from a research paper which is published online and from personal experience. And there is a video on the Reddit.com website of a mother cat yawning and her kitten immediately following the behaviour (see below).
Yawns are contagious between cats, but must they be related? Image: MikeB from Twitter images from the account of Twitter user @nanao_ssan.
With respect to cats, the question that I have is whether the yawn is contagious between unrelated domestic, stray or feral cats or whether it is confined to related cats and even mothers and their kittens. The point is not clear to me at this time. Yawns are certainly contagious between mothers and kittens. I think they are contagious between related cats or at least cats who are close associates or friends but beyond that it is unclear, and I doubt whether it exists.
Yawning is due to boredom or fatigue and if a human copies another human yawning it performs a social function. It is a form of empathy stating that they agree that they are bored and or tired. The question is whether when cats 'catch' a yawn, they perform the same social function. I suspect that they do.
There is a difference between dogs and cats in this regard. It's been found that yawns are contagious between people and their dog companions. In other words, when a dog owner yawns their dog might follow and yawn as well. This difference is probably based upon the fact that a dog considers their human family a pack in the same way that the dog's ancestor, the grey wolf, follows the alpha wolf and perhaps occasionally catches a yawn from them.
Note: This is an embedded video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source, or the video is turned into a link which would stop it working here. I have no control over this.
The research paper referred to: Contagious Yawning in the Domestic Cat (Felis catus)
by Ariel Lombardo Aghishian submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Animal Behaviour and Conservation, Hunter College City University of New York.
What do you think? Are these the wise words of a young man on TikTok or just a nice, convenient analogy? I don't think it is as straightforward as he makes out. It get the message but you can't pigeon hole all females in the same group in terms of their attitude towards dating and the same goes for males.
It is all depends on many things. Today in particular with the woke movement, you cannot pigeonhole all females and all males as separate groups. There is an entirely fluid group in the middle made up of members of the LGBTQIA+ community and so on.
The sexual preferences and gender of all humanity is a spectrum. You cannot compartmentalise it in the little boxes. It is far better to visualise it as a continuous spectrum. Nonetheless, I quite like this bloke's analogy which he delivers with confidence and clearly with first hand experience.
Note: to run this video, click on the center play button followed by the play button bottom-left 😎. High tech.
Although there is another error in his analogy. He says that when you pick up a cat the cat becomes pissed off. This is not necessarily correct.
If a stranger picks up a cat, she/he will likely be frightened, be pissed off and jump out of the person's hands. The person may get scratched if they resist. But often a cat will want to be picked up by their human caregiver and be given a nice cuddle. Cats often ask for this. Mine does in the garden.
It just depends upon the circumstances and who is picking the cat up. I know I am stating common sense but it is wrong to paint all domestic cat with this behavioural trait. It ain't true. There is a general truth here about not forcing a cat to do something. That never works. It is far better to use one's intelligence and trick a cat to do something or you train them! The same applies to women 😎. The cat's 'independence' comes out when you try and force them to do things. That said the same also applies to men, don't you think?
Dr Fogle DVM says that some cat owners treat their cat as a dog (or as babies) which is not going to work very well. Dogs are far more obedient than cats.
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