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Are Cats Really Wild Animals? Experts clash over whether they count as a domesticated species.
Slate ^ | July 5, 2015 | David Grimm

Posted on 07/07/2015 7:14:45 AM PDT by C19fan

The other night, before my wife and I put our 2½-year-old twins to bed, she began reading them one of their favorite books, Where the Wild Things Are. Juliet, in Dalmatian pajamas, asked, “Mommy, where are the wild things?” My wife glanced over at our gray-and-white tabby curled up on a chair nearby. “Well,” she said, “Jasper’s a wild thing.” Juliet looked incredulous. “Jasper’s not a wild thing,” she said. “He’s a cat!”

The dispute is understandable. Though cats have lived with us for nearly 10,000 years and are the world’s most popular pet, experts disagree about whether they’re actually domestic animals. Our feline companions don’t really need us, after all: They can hunt for themselves, and they go feral without human contact. A scientific paper published last year uncovered some of the first genes responsible for domestication—all in the cat genome—yet still referred to cats as “semi-domesticated.” Other scientists vehemently disagree with that designation. “There’s no difference between a domesticated cat and a domesticated anything else,” says Greger Larson, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Oxford who has studied the domestication of pigs, dogs, and a variety of other animals. “Good luck trying to get a goat or a sheep to spend the night in your house.”

(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...


TOPICS: Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: cats; domestication; kittyping
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To: C19fan

Our indoor cats only know how to catch geckos and bugs. however, they do watch our outside boyz bring rats and mice up near the back door and disassemble them. Not catch, but take apart, so they are at least familiar with that aspect of being wild. Catch one and how to kill it, dunno if they could figure that out. Some of those rats are large.


61 posted on 07/07/2015 1:53:25 PM PDT by doorgunner69
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To: Uversabound

What are you feeding them? Cats can have food allergies.

My dog is an example. The vet recommended a puppy food when I got my Golden Retriever. Poor pup! His hair fell out, and as the puppy food had ground corn in it and Goldens are, in general, allergic to corn, I fed it to the birds. So I started feeding him lamb and rice mix. He is now 5-years old, 80-pounds and all play!

Cats, unlike dogs who are generally tolerant of tubers and rice, cannot digest grains. You can feed them the following: finely ground chicken, fish, or rabbit, mixed with eggs, yogurt and human-grade calcium. You can make this in batches and freeze it, as it freezes well. Best of all, if you have a fishing license and raise your own chickens and meat rabbits, this is a good way to save money and improve you cat’s health.

Two things you will immediately notice is that their litter boxes will no longer stink of ammonia and their feces are very small. Your cats will not eat much because they will feel full sooner than they would eating kibble.


62 posted on 07/07/2015 2:03:11 PM PDT by SatinDoll (A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN IS BORN IN THE USA OF TWO USA CITIZENS)
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To: C19fan
Domestic cats are no more *wild* than, dogs are wolves. Ask any mouse.


63 posted on 07/07/2015 2:55:25 PM PDT by Daffynition ("We Are Not Descended From Fearful Men")
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To: goodnesswins

I got a cat at about 12 weeks. I think she’s a little feral,and like yours, she doesn’t tolerate being held. She will cuddle. She’s doing that right now. Doesn’t bite or scratch. Uses her box. Not a bad kitty.


64 posted on 07/07/2015 3:22:53 PM PDT by virgil (The evil that men do lives after them)
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To: rlmorel
"I see very little difference between a domestic cat and nearly any large cat such as a tiger except physical size, the domestic component, and the distance to the non-domestic/wild component."

I agree completely. Years ago I read a book called The Tiger On Your Couch (or something like that) which put forth the exact same idea.

65 posted on 07/07/2015 4:22:55 PM PDT by CatherineofAragon (("This is a Laztatorship. You don't like it, get a day's rations and get out of this office."))
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To: ETL; Slings and Arrows; Gefn

Efficient little killers! They’re cool like that.


66 posted on 07/07/2015 4:24:05 PM PDT by CatherineofAragon (("This is a Laztatorship. You don't like it, get a day's rations and get out of this office."))
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To: rlmorel; Gefn
"Somewhat true, but not always. I have had two cats who showed considerable consternation and concern when I was ill.

I think they show it differently than dogs do, when they do care."

Agree.

I had a cat that didn't like to see me sleep. I don't know if he thought there was something wrong with me, or what. But now and then I would lie down on the couch and pretend to be asleep, while watching with my eyes slitted.

The cat would sit there looking at me with this---I swear---alarmed expression. After a couple of minutes, he would walk halfway over and sit again, and resume concerned staring. Then he would come over, stand on his hind legs, and pat my face with his paw.

67 posted on 07/07/2015 4:29:34 PM PDT by CatherineofAragon (("This is a Laztatorship. You don't like it, get a day's rations and get out of this office."))
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To: Uversabound

If you feed high-carb dry cat food, that could be the problem. Cats can’t digest carbohydrates.

From what I understand. all-meat diets do away with the sensitive cat stomach.


68 posted on 07/07/2015 4:32:35 PM PDT by CatherineofAragon (("This is a Laztatorship. You don't like it, get a day's rations and get out of this office."))
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To: SatinDoll

Oops, I see you beat me to it.


69 posted on 07/07/2015 4:33:21 PM PDT by CatherineofAragon (("This is a Laztatorship. You don't like it, get a day's rations and get out of this office."))
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To: discostu

Actually, I’ve been around some cats that truly seem to be affectionate. Experts would say they are doing what they’re doing for other reason(s).


70 posted on 07/07/2015 4:55:25 PM PDT by ETL (ALL (most?) of the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: CatherineofAragon
Ever look into your cat's eyes when it has a living or freshly killed thing in its mouth? It looks completely wild and feral....like this:

Exactly the same look.

71 posted on 07/07/2015 5:45:40 PM PDT by rlmorel ("National success by the Democratic Party equals irretrievable ruin." Ulysses S. Grant.)
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To: Conservative4Ever

Cats can also control their weight. Watch a cat float from the floor to the top of the dresser, then experience the same cat jumping from the dresser to your stomach. Must be a tenfold difference in weight. They think it’s funny.


72 posted on 07/07/2015 6:51:35 PM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: CatherineofAragon

They are!


73 posted on 07/07/2015 7:02:21 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows (My music: http://hopalongginsberg.com/ | Facebook: Hopalong X Ginsberg | Instagram: hopalonginsberg)
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To: rlmorel

Yes! “Don’t mess with my food if you know what’s good for you, human.”


74 posted on 07/07/2015 7:16:33 PM PDT by CatherineofAragon (("This is a Laztatorship. You don't like it, get a day's rations and get out of this office."))
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

My husband looked this up recently. East of the Mississippi they are more commonly called donkeys and west of it they are called burros.


75 posted on 07/07/2015 7:21:40 PM PDT by married21 ( As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.)
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To: rlmorel
I have had several cats. They have all been affectionate and loving critters. They were all rescues.

I have come to the conclusion that cats are not aloof or withdrawn but it is that people treat them that way and so they respond in kind.

76 posted on 07/07/2015 7:26:09 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Proud Infidel, Gun Nut, Religious Fanatic and Freedom Fiend)
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To: married21

This is likely because west of the Mississippi, many of the donkeys are descended from burros. Mexico has about 3 million, and the semi-wild but friendly burros are a major tourist attraction in the town of Oatman, Arizona.

Here is a website loaded with trivia, mostly entertaining, but gives a better description of things.

http://tbnranch.com/2012/01/13/donkey-ass-burro-mule-hinny-what-they-all-mean/


77 posted on 07/07/2015 8:02:18 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("Don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative." -Obama, 09-24-11)
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

Thanks!


78 posted on 07/07/2015 8:11:40 PM PDT by married21 ( As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.)
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To: Uversabound

Sounds like kitty is trying to bring up a hairball. Mine will do that from time to time. Just a lot of clear fluid until finally up comes more fluid, with the hairball. Try feeding some hairball remedy or put a little Vaseline on the paw for kitty to lick off. It will help pass the hairball out the other end. ;)


79 posted on 07/07/2015 8:16:10 PM PDT by To Hell With Poverty (All freedom must be transported in bottles of 3 oz or less. - Freeper relictele)
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To: C19fan
Cats, like butterflies, need no excuse. - Heinlein

God made the cat to give man the pleasure of stroking a tiger. – François-Joseph Mery

The smallest feline is a masterpiece. - Leonardo Da Vinci

A loving cat can mend a wounded heart. - Anonymous

'No Heaven will not ever Heaven be; Unless my cats are there to welcome me'.- Epitaph on an ancient tombstone in England

< One small cat changes coming home to an empty house to coming home.- Pam Brown

What greater gift than the love of a cat? - Charles Dickens

Time spent with cats is never wasted. ~ Colette

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats. - Albert Schweitzer

It always gives me a shiver when I see a cat seeing what I can’t see. ~ Eleanor Farjeon

Of all God’s creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the leash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat. - Mark Twain Notebook, 1894

The cat, it is well to remember, remains the friend of man because it pleases him to do so and not because he must.” — Carl Van Vechten

To respect the cat is the beginning of the Aesthetic sense. — Erasmus Darwin

For a man to truly understand rejection, he must first be ignored by a cat. - Anon

I love cats because I love my home and after a while they become its visible soul. - Jean Cocteau

There are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat. - Tay Hohoff

With the qualities of cleanliness, affection, patience, dignity, and courage that cats have, how many of us, I ask you, would be capable of becoming cats? - Fernand Mery

Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons. ~ Robertson Davies

There are many intelligent species in the universe. They are all owned by cats- unknown

I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals. - Winston Churchill

There is the little matter of disposal of droppings in which the cat is far ahead of its rivals. The dog is somehow thrilled by what he or any of his friends have produced, hates to leave it, adores smelling it, and sometimes eats it...The cat covers it up if he can... - Paul Gallico

Beware of people who dislike cats. - Irish Proverb

80 posted on 07/07/2015 9:03:23 PM PDT by patriot08 (NATIVE TEXAN (girl type))
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