Cats. Are they actually domesticated animals? Or are they wild?
Dogs. No doubt whatsoever that they’re domesticated. Amazing that they go on putting up with us and even loving us after the things humans have been doing to them forever.
Cats. Are they actually domesticated animals? Or are they wild?
Dogs. No doubt whatsoever that they’re domesticated. Amazing that they go on putting up with us and even loving us after the things humans have been doing to them forever.
I think cats are semi-domesticated. Felines overall simply haven’t related to humans in the same way as canines have for as long a period of time. Their natural “loner” attitude has prevented them from trusting us as completely as a pack animal would. Some breeds, and many “domesticated shorthairs”, have traveled further with us than others. But as a whole, I suspect cats feel less secure around humans than dogs do.
Cats are cats. They will continue to defy easy characterization – as long as we keep feeding them and protecting them from larger predators. When that stops being true they’ll probably shit on our beds and move out.
Are cats just like dogs but in slinkier form, eager and able to be part of the human family? Or is there something truly feral about them—something wild and unknowable that will forever keep them from blending into our tribe? Put another way, are cats with us or against us?
What absurd questions. Cats are clearly not like dogs, because they’re cats. Just because they won’t cower at our displeasure, we’re supposed to wonder if they’re ‘for us or against us?’ How simplistic. Cats know when they’ve got a good deal. Generally speaking and with exceptions – for they are nothing if not individuals – they are neither for us nor against us. They are cats, and cats are for themselves. They’re not above showing a little affection, but mostly we have warm, safe laps.
“We don’t like loners,” he says. “We see a lot more of ourselves in dogs.”
What a Slate-type thing to say. What you mean “we,” white man? “We” are perfectly comfortable with companions that don’t jump at our command. Granted that dogs are more useful, so long as they’re big and mean enough to keep the coyotes at bay. Dogs need packs and pack leaders. Dogs are needy. I like my dogs, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t ‘see myself’ in my dogs. Personally my favorite dog is the one that doesn’t always jump when I tell him to.
My formerly orphaned cat, Chocolate, acts more like the wild animals I have raised than like the other cats I have.
She is very affectionate toward me- when she wants to be. If she isn’t in the mood, she bites (not too hard- just enough to say “Stop!”). Every night, she crawls in bed with me, licks my nose for a while, then crawls under the covers. She either lies beside my legs deep under the covers, or turns around so her head is out of the covers, where she lays her head on my arm and purrs for a while. She also demands to be held, on her back in my arms where she can reach up to feel my face with her paws, when I’m trying to use the computer.
She is the most frantically active cat I have ever had, and gets in to more stuff than some of the ferrets I have had. She’s like a cross between a cat and a monkey.
I have found out that other sibling kittens from her litter turned up later, and they are all extremely wild, and don’t let anyone near them. So, perhaps she has a bit of feral in her that hasn’t been present in some other cats I’ve had.
“Domesticated”? I’m not sure, but since I prefer wild animals over the domestic stuff, I guess she found the right home.
Dogs have always made me somewhat uncomfortable for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. I have known dogs I really liked, and who really liked me, but there’s just something about them…
The answer is obvious. Cats have domesticated humans.
Correction: Cats have enslaved humans.
I’m a bit astonished that this is being debated. Cats, at best, are semi-domesticated. That’s part of why I like them; they aren’t little furry slaves. Why they get along with humans and show affection is pretty clear- despite stereotypes, cats are social and they accept their humans as part of the colony.
cats are small furry republicans I’ve heard and not seen much to disprove it.
I think cats are Libertarian, Mark. Speaking as a co-habitant of a furry gray house panther.
More like ‘anarchists with delusions of dictatorship until they need snuggles.’
In other words….
Cats.
They are what they are. My fuzzy little friends never forced me to do anything against my will. Good enough.
Kent- “At night, when I try to get on the computer to write, Chocolate insists on being held.”
Just got around to checking F******k. Gorgeous!
For the record, most of my second novel was written one-handed, with Yuki insistently curled up in my left arm.
“For I am the cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.” — Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories
Dogs have owners… cats have staff. Some treat their staff better than others. 🙂
I’m allergic to cats, and have never cared for them as house pets, but I do admire their independence and valued them highly as an important part of managing my mini farm long ago.
My favorite story of all time is “The Door Into Summer” by Heinlein… and a major feature of that story is a cat.
But cats “domesticated?” I think not.
Dogs are domesticated by breeding and training. Cats are domesticated by choice.
I sometimes see the same dynamic in relationships. There are the ones who hang on your every word and want to be doing stuff with you every chance they get, and who tremble at the thought of you being angry with them. And then there are those who respect your independance and require that you respect theirs, and who will love you to pieces but who do so in their own way.
Some people prefer the former kind of relationship, some prefer the latter.
(It also depends on your definition of “domesticated”. Personally, I say that any animal that can be taught not to poop on the carpet or eat family members is domesticated enough for me.)
Cats are not domesticated. They only “play one on TV.” Humans tune in and take what they get. Dogs don’t ‘act.’ What you get is exactly the way it is. Both have their place. Right now it’s a dog who thinks I hung the moon. Why do I need a cat who would question that?
Cute giggle for the morning’s cat/dog discussion
http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/animals/20-hilarious-cats-who-are-basically-dogs/vi-AAcuwIM
“”Door Into Summer”” Heinlein
Thank you, Bear. I told her. She was unconcerned, but I appreciated it. LOL
OT: I recall that “doorintosummer” was George Potter’s email address at one time. I’m sure he got it from Heinlein.
And I’d like to thank Bill St. Clair for this link, https://billstclair.com/gloryroad/, which I just recently found while trying to locate some of George’s stories (lost when my computer went down several months ago).