Further proof that if you’re cute enough you can get anything you want.
Step 1:
Step 2:
I have one cat and a doggy door so it can go in and out as it pleases. A stray cat figured out it could use the doggy door.
I have two cats.
Outdoor cats are responsible for the extinction of numerous bird species.
https://enviroliteracy.org/how-many-birds-killed-by-cats/
https://abcbirds.org/program/cats-indoors/cats-and-birds/
Outdoor cats are also at increased risk of contracting avian flu.
Yep
DO NOT feed strangers cats. Water is fine. If you feed it, at best you’re fucking up its diet, at worst you’re basically abducting the cat.
Pet cats should live inside, with plenty of toys and people that care for them, not out killing bird populations and risking getting run over, etc. Outdoor cats have much shorter life spans…
My cat figured out the dog door by watching the dogs. She’s inside 80% of the time but prefers to do her business outside if the weather’s clear and goes out for an hour or so about twice a day besides that.
Of all things, my part basset hound mix is a bird killing machine despite the stubby legs, broken hip and arthritis. I don’t know how she manages to do it, but lots of half eaten bird corpses started showing up in our yard right after we got her, but only in the back yard which she could reach via the dog door. Starting before the cat started using the dog door.
I can see the logic but it does feel like the cat’s already out of the bag on this one. There are so many free-ranging and feral cats that I wonder if it makes any difference at this point.
It does. Travel to a 3rd world country and look at the difference. Dogs and cats everywhere due to no cultural expectation to keep them indoors or neuter them.
Here is an article better clarifying the effect of our cute little killing machines:
Maiq has heard its dangerous to be your friend.
No lies detected.
That article seems very new-world-centric
Europe, Mainland Asia & Africa all have native small cats and so the birds and small mammals have evolved to deal with them, the issue is that in Australia & the Americas they haven’t and so that’s where all the risk of species actually being wiped out is - in the old world the cats largely just replace the larger predators that humans have killed off in the ecosystem
Even in the Americas we have wild cats though. Bobcats are slightly larger but not completely dissimilar. We even used to have ocelots across much of the US, and neotropical migrants will still encounter those for part of the year. So I find the claim that mainland birds are not able to handle cat predation to be a bit questionable. However I am not fully educated on this topic.
I’ve seen a lot of stats about cats and it seems very likely they have important conservation implications in island ecosystems where birds did not evolve with similar predators.
But I’ve not seen evidence of conservation impacts on the mainland where we do and did have similar predators in the past. Just stating that cats eat a lot of birds doesn’t mean they’re a threat to overall populations.
True, but that article says that over 350 of their prey species are at risk species, and that several of those are suspected to already be extinct.
I love cats—I think most people should have them—just be responsible with your furry murderers.
Again it would depend on where those are—threatened species are disproportionately located on those islands I mentioned. Furthermore it doesn’t assign any causation to cat predation.
Maybe cats are a serious conservation threat on continental areas but I’m just saying I haven’t seen evidence of this.
Here’s a study from Oklahoma State University specifically talking about the effects of mainland cats in contrast to island cats:
“Our review shows overwhelming evidence that, beyond causing island extinctions, where there were no native predators, and massive numbers of mainland wildlife deaths, cats can exert multiple types of harmful impacts on mainland wildlife species that are reflected at the population level,”
People buy cats from shelters, then let them be outdoor cats. It does matter.
On the flip side, I’ve homed three outdoor/feral cats in my house. They adjust to being indoor cats fine.
Cats are an invasive species in most places and are super damaging to the local fauna.
Most places is a stretch… They’re invasive in around ⅓ of Earth’s land area and where less than ¼ of people live
I don’t think it’s true that they’re native to 2/3rds of the earth, is it?
⅔ may be overestimating, but yes, they’re native to all of the Middle East and Africa, and most of Europe (outside of Scandinavia) and mainland Asia (outside of deserts, Siberia etc.)
No they are domestic animals
I guess you are going off of the genus Felis which is probably valid since I expect their hunting behavior is similar enough. However the map I saw showed they were absent from most of Russia and China, so there are exceptions.
Where I live there is practically no risk of them getting ran over. But yes they do catch 2-3 birds per yer.
The cat is abducting itself. They’re not dogs. They’re rarely loyal.
Back when my cat was alive I got occasional reports that he would enter various other houses nearby and meow by the fridge until he was given a cold cut.
Does a cat in me who has a Facebook group and pictures of him sat on everyone’s beds. In the summer he came into my house and ate my cat’s food. Cheeky bugger.
Toxoplasmosis gang.
Doesn’t work on me, I just shoo them away. Gotta evolve harder if they wanna try manipulating me.
😻mrow?
Shoo, shoo
😾 hissss
I don’t know about that human baby thing.
Yeah that seems really far fetched. Humans are generally bad at communicating with mostly body posture and scent. We have no tail to wiggle, no easily movable ears and no chance to use cat pheromones.
So naturally the cat has the best chance to get a response by using vocalication/sounds. It is just coincidence that their kittens do also mostly respond to sounds in their first weeks.
Right, but adult cats keep making those vocalizations well past that age.
It’s not that far fetched that their neoteny is an adaptation to humans.
Adult cats will meow at kittens.
My dog yawning would make me yawn.
Evolution is stupid.
The resemblance to baby vocalizations can be rather unsettling with some cats. I suppose it’s somewhat natural since they’re about the same size as a newborn human, but specifically adopting somewhat human-like (and thus baby-like, because that’s the one they can imitate the best) vocalization doesn’t seem that far-fetched.
I mean, I’m not sure cats are out there observing human babies and intentionally imitating them. They have pattern recognition machines in their heads just like we do. “Make noise = human pay attention” is about as complex as this gets. The fact that we’re susceptible to the specific timbre of their voices seems likely to be evolutionary coincidence.
It’s likely not a coincidence but something they learnt a looong time ago living among humans.
Here’s a study that goes into the frequency thing:
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(09)01168-3
If meows sounded anything like human baby cries they would give me an instant headache and the desire to get rid of the cat
it’s literally just that cats figure out that making noise draws our attention, and even better if they make a cute noise.
deleted by creator
actually what they say is “I live here meow”
Did they model their meows, or did they have a trait that happened to work in a new environment and then pass it on?
From my understanding, wild cats only meow when little and domesticated cats keep this juvenile trait into adulthood
To my knowledge that’s a lot of how domestication winds up being.
What I found interesting was a study when they tried to domesticate silver foxes for the fur industry (because basically they didn’t take to being raised in fur farms well). So basically they were selectively bread for not being aggressive to humans.
Which worked, but the drawbacks were effectively… all of their childlike traits remained. IE their ears stayed floppy, and they stopped growing the silver coat that was the whole reason the fur industry wanted them.
Basically I think it could be said that effectively… most domestication traits are more or less, keeping childlike mentality for life in animals.
I can’t tell if I hate cats or love cats but they are never neutral. In fact there is a wild one in my house right now
I don’t even know why is he in my house or how it happened but at this point I think we tolerate each other pretty good. He gets the hose sometimes, I get his piss hose on the floor sometimes. He gets the snacks, I get the purr and fluffiness. I guess I can live with this chaotic balance.
I guess for someone who likes to control things cats could be a nightmare as they will never be some obedient pets but that may tell more about the owner than the cat.
Kinda sucks that my floor and sofa is ruined tho, it’s like a mini tiger, wildlife in your house. I guess this is the pleasures of completely feral cats. It’s possible that with this experience I could take on some caracal or serval. Of course I am not crazy nor I approve to do this but I have a glimpse of what mindset and work it would take
The Cat is also a menace that cannot stand sight of any other cat and goes straight for the throat. Little fluffy psycho, quite lovely
Might be obvious, but have you ruled out infection? Sometimes cats pee in places they shouldn’t if they have a UTI.
I’ve been witness to the great cat distribution system.
Our current cat has moved house with us twice. The first house at lived at, we were on the ground floor of the place and this furball just waltzed in and took over. Much to the dismay of the cat we already had.
The preexisting cat was similar. She would hang out at a bus stop that my SO would frequent to get to work, didn’t take long before she followed my SO home. She was a shit, but she was cute enough to get away with it. Rest in peace Zora.
Anyways, I would submit that the only reason we haven’t had more cats distributed to us is that we lived on the fifth floor of an apartment for a long while. We recently moved into a house so that might change.
Meow playing Vision Video - I Love Cats
Twice*
Would people really let some stray live with them? Can’t imagine having a pet. They convert money and time into poop and stink and offer nothing in return. Never understood the appeal, yet I love all animals.
offer nothing in return
Warmth, company, fun…? Also, the experience of being responsible for and caring for another being can be very valuable.
Not to me, sorry. What benefit could i have from “caring for another being”? Me, personally? The other being, yes, maybe. But me? I could never care ADEQUATELY for any animal. they don’t belong in my company/house. Just because we domesticated the fuck outta them doesn’t make it better. And i also couldn’t neuter them or feed them this disgusting shit we call pet-food. And also I don’t want to take out the shit of others :-)
Your family and friends must adore you.
They actually do. Not that this is either anything of your concern nor the point. And guess what, friends are people i care about that I CHOSE TO. They didn’t get bought in a pet-shop and were forced to be in my vicinity, nor suddenly appeared in my house as strays. You maybe see the point somewhere there.
My point?
What benefit could i have from “caring for another being”? Me, personally? The other being, yes, maybe. But me? I could never care ADEQUATELY for any animal.
Hypothetically, if someone that was very close to you was in a terrible accident at has become paralyzed and no longer capable of taking care of themselves. What benefit do you have in taking care of them. Will you just abandon them? I would hope you are not cold hearted as such. Obviously there is such benefit as companionship with another living creature. Im not judging you for not wanting a pet, i dont have one myself. But you are coming off very cold.
You must’ve totally misinterpreted. Of course I’d care for those close to me. Even without having any benefit for me. But those people I selected. They didn’t just wander into my house like a stray and decided my decisions. I actually work for free in my spare-time with abused people. Just because it’s a thing a civilized species should do, but sadly doesn’t.
Do you think people go “oh darn… a stray managed to get by my defenses, i guess they live with me now”?..
Newsflash: people choose to have cats too
I don’t understand that either, I dislike slavery, i even pay our maid double because i feel bad she works for us. But it’s not like I’d force her to, like I’d force a pet to do so.
I… What would you force your pet to do again?
I need you to understand, nobody, except like dog fighting idiots is forcing their pets. A pet is around and chill with that, otherwise the whole thing is not enjoyable… fish maybe? But you seem to miss a fundamental piece of understanding about pets, and that’s fine but why announce your position about something you just never got to experience? Envy? You know you could get a pet today. And it would be a friend. Most likely. And that feels good. It’s a very basic human emotion you are trying to discredit here. And I will stress again, if you want to, you can go and get a pet whenever. It’s not like being with other’s pets.
Comment above is crazy but also, animals are not toys. It’s pretty crazy to want to own animals and make them live with you. Fortunately (idk) some animals co-evolved with us and became dependant of human farming/breeding/ownership
Having pets live with you is not (necessarily) the same as treating them like toys, though, is it?
No, of course
so like, you seriously look at stuff like this and don’t see the appeal? A small adorable fuzzball that obviously loves you, that doesn’t make you feel happy?
I never said I don’t like animals. I do pet them whenever I can and they want to. I really like interacting with any species and learn from it. But I, personally, don’t get anything else out of it, emotion-wise. The love of my wife makes me happy, because it’s a mutual feeling we can communicate about. The cat (or whichever else animal) does not “love” me. At best it tolerance or even likes my presence. That’s not inherently bad or anything, it just is and I wouldn’t lie to my it ain’t.
I could understand having a pet, but not taking in a random stray without question.
Some strange cat walks into my house? It gets plopped right back into the street, that ain’t my cat!
I took in a stray kitten that someone dumped at my work back in the fall. I wasn’t sure if i would keep her or not, but i felt obligated to clean her up and feed her while i figured out what to do with her. As soon as she started interacting with my other kitten, they became best friends and i couldn’t in good conscience seperate them.
Another friend of mine slowly took in a stray cat over the fourse of a summer. Leave out food for it of it hangs out around your house until it starts to nuzzle up against you. Then you can pet it, maybe pick it up, and then take it to a doctor to get it checked out.
It sounds to me though, that the other guy just doesn’t like animals.
I actually dunno what I would do, but I probably wouldn’t kick it out. I’d feed it and stuff, but ultimately won’t keep it.
