Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Cats ARE neurotic - and they're probably also trying to work out how to kill you, say researchers
UK Daily Mail ^ | October 31, 2015 | Tom Wyke

Posted on 10/31/2015 8:05:19 AM PDT by C19fan

They are well loved for their immaculate fluffy coats and unique personalities but new research suggests cats do have a much darker side.

A study carried out between the University of Edinburgh and Bronx Zoo compared our beloved domestic cat with its wilder relatives.

Compared with the snow leopard, the Scottish wildcat and the African lion, researchers found these larger predators shared similar characteristics of aggression and neurotic behaviour to domestic cats.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: cats; neurotic
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-84 next last
To: libstripper

It was a little puppy and cute as a button. She and mom hid it downstairs from me for 2 weeks.


41 posted on 10/31/2015 8:47:00 AM PDT by Gaffer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: C19fan
I didn't like cats until my wife and son decided "we" had to have one. A quarter of a century later, I'm a cat apologist.*

I consider cats to be - on the average - dumber than dogs, but more interesting to have around. Too many people have cats when they aren't equipped to accept a cat's idiosyncrasies, and both they and the cat end up in a standoff.

I suspect that cats (and dogs) are probably less neurotic and malevolent than the people they have to deal with. While every cat I have known had what I term "a cat's temper," I've never had a cat come close to doing me actual physical harm for no reason, whereas I can't say that about dogs.

Mr. niteowl77

* Especially orange cats.

42 posted on 10/31/2015 8:48:21 AM PDT by niteowl77 ("The truth is that this thing is not worth fixing up anymore.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ETL
Revenge due to our ancestor space astronauts:


43 posted on 10/31/2015 8:51:26 AM PDT by DCBryan1 (No realli, moose bytes can be quite nasti!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: A Formerly Proud Canadian

Folks that hate cats were rats in their last life.


44 posted on 10/31/2015 8:51:43 AM PDT by BullDog108 (A Smith & Wesson beats four aces!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: C19fan

45 posted on 10/31/2015 8:52:07 AM PDT by DCBryan1 (No realli, moose bytes can be quite nasti!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59
Cats are good exterminators...Roaches are non existent in the house.

They are also natural mousers.
Cats are also clean creatures.

There is a family up the street who has the exterminators in EVERY week. THEIR problem is filth. One needn't be a "seer" to guess which culture THEY are from. Their restaurants get closed with regularity over, er, "lack of sanitation." Their logic: "Why clean? The restaurant will just get dirty again the next day."

46 posted on 10/31/2015 8:54:37 AM PDT by cloudmountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: niteowl77

When we married, my wife introduced me to her two cats. One was very skittish, anytime anyone came to the house, the cat would hide.

The other cat was the exact opposite. Friendly to a fault. The cat would hang around the dinner table and tap us for handouts during dinner. If we did not listen, she would pop up on a chair and sit there looking at us like a guest would.

At night the cat would sleep on my arm in bed. This cat was so much like a dog should have named it FIDO. I loved that cat and miss it much but we are in no more pets (NMP) mode. Losing them both was a heart break.


47 posted on 10/31/2015 8:56:00 AM PDT by Mouton (The insurrection laws perpetuate what we have for a government now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: C19fan
Once the cats get their humans properly trained, the relationship is smooth.
And I say that as a cat fan.

48 posted on 10/31/2015 9:02:44 AM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DCBryan1
I am afraid to go out into the neighborhood there is a vicious pack of cats roaming the area attacking people and eating their dogs.
49 posted on 10/31/2015 9:02:44 AM PDT by dvan (Send Them Home!Napolatono)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: niteowl77
I didn't like cats until my wife and son decided "we" had to have one. A quarter of a century later, I'm a cat apologist.*
I consider cats to be - on the average - dumber than dogs, but more interesting to have around. Too many people have cats when they aren't equipped to accept a cat's idiosyncrasies, and both they and the cat end up in a standoff.
I suspect that cats (and dogs) are probably less neurotic and malevolent than the people they have to deal with. While every cat I have known had what I term "a cat's temper," I've never had a cat come close to doing me actual physical harm for no reason, whereas I can't say that about dogs.
Mr. niteowl77
* Especially orange cats.

I saw a guy running with his dog. The guy jumped off a five foot embankment but the dog couldn't handle that. So the dog stopped, looked around, sniffed a bit, then figured out that the STAIRS, which were behind it, could get him down the stairs...and so the dog back-tracked a bit and followed his master.
The cat would have WAITED until someone rescued him...and maybe howled a bit.

Dogs ARE smarter AND are willing to be guide dogs, helper dogs, rescue dogs. They are a FABULOUS gift from God. (God is dog spelled backwards...OLDIE.)
Those who turn dogs into mean brutes or fighting dogs are, in my opinion, misusing them, horribly.

Off the topic: Some MISERABLE people are vicious and cruel to both cats and dogs. And I SINCERELY hope that there is a VERY hot place for them in eternity, for eternity.

50 posted on 10/31/2015 9:03:34 AM PDT by cloudmountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Mouton
I loved that cat and miss it much but we are in no more pets (NMP) mode. Losing them both was a heart break.

My husband had "Sammy," a pound-hound. My hubby nicknamed him "the little turd." When he died....

No more pets for me either. It just hurts too much when they die. HEARTBREAK is the right word.

51 posted on 10/31/2015 9:06:32 AM PDT by cloudmountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Gaffer

You can cure the biting by simply swatting her a little and raising your voice when she bites. Thereafter, that tone of voice will get results. The “bothering”? That’s what I love about kitties. :-)


52 posted on 10/31/2015 9:09:35 AM PDT by SgtHooper (Anyone who remembers the 60's, wasn't there!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: ichabod1
And I don't think rodents will go anywhere they smell a cat has been.
I once read that a pope declared cats creatures of the Devil and ordered the people of Europe to get rid of them. Not long after the outbreak of rats led to the Black Death.
53 posted on 10/31/2015 9:12:42 AM PDT by Hiddigeigei ("Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish," said Dionysus - Euripides)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra

“I’m convinced that none of the “researchers” has had a cat, as they seem to know very little about cats in a good domestic setting. Just look at the “subject” cats!”

Exactly what I was thinking.


54 posted on 10/31/2015 9:13:32 AM PDT by This I Wonder32460 (Ideas have consequences.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Sequoyah101
Silly yes, but they are just funning with me. But, it is a generation thing as well...they think the little preciousness ANIMALS belong in the house.

Old country folk know they are mostly "work animals, herding, mousers and such", or they aren't worth their keep.

Ok, animal "lovers", I'm funning with you now, don't get hysterical.

One of the worst ads on TV, is from ASPCA folks or whoever puts those just "50 cents per day, will feed", crap. Disgusting ad. I don't care if they die.

55 posted on 10/31/2015 9:15:08 AM PDT by annieokie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: ETL

That cat should be dead, or maybe the parent who allowed that cat near their child.


56 posted on 10/31/2015 9:16:57 AM PDT by annieokie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Gaffer
I’m gonna accidentally let her outside one day and let Mr. Coyote get acquainted with her. It will be a terrible tragedy over which I will lament greatly to my son and wife.

Don't overplay your hand - they might get you a kitten to heal your "grief."

57 posted on 10/31/2015 9:18:05 AM PDT by CommerceComet (Ignore the GOP-e. Cruz to victory in 2016.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: annieokie

Little brat shouldn’t have slapped the cat in the head like that. He was about to do it again when the cat jumped on him.


58 posted on 10/31/2015 9:21:50 AM PDT by ETL (Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better and safer America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: SgtHooper

All you have to do is hiss at them. If they jump away and turn their back to you in respect, you’ve got a good, trainable cat. (I learned this taming my “feral” who is now a permanent porch fixture and loves to come inside and watch football as long as snuggling is involved.) The dog, by the way, hates this.


59 posted on 10/31/2015 9:25:31 AM PDT by ponygirl (An Appeal to Heaven.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: Hiddigeigei
I once read that a pope declared cats creatures of the Devil and ordered the people of Europe to get rid of them. Not long after the outbreak of rats led to the Black Death.

Many areas of Europe were obsessed with witches and believed witches could inhabit cats. As a result people did not want cats around. I don't think any pope played a role in this.

There is actually pretty good data showing that areas with cats had much less plague than other areas.

60 posted on 10/31/2015 9:31:06 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Liberals support high taxes on alcohol, tobacco and wealth. And all for the same reason.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-84 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson