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- Oct 21, 2020
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I'm curious about other people's thoughts and experiences with personifying (i.e., projecting human-experienced thoughts and feelings on) our kitties. On the one hand, cats obviously do have a wide range of emotions. But on the other, they are built with very different instincts, so it seems silly to imagine that they always think like we do/would.
Just as a silly example, sometimes my Juno will interrupt a play session, right when she's missed catching the prey, to groom, and it always looks to me like she's trying to play down her failed attempt by pretending, suddenly, to be super interested in grooming. Like an athlete who exaggerates an injury after missing a goal or something. But I know that's probably just my human projection.
On the other hand, I've seen my kitty respond to being irritated with me (like when she's trying to get my attention while I'm working and I move her to her box) by darting over to her scratching post and feverishly scratching. It sure looks like she's sublimating her angry energy at me toward toward the scratching post. But maybe that's too far a leap.
Curious how other people try to understand their kitties using their limited human perspective.
Just as a silly example, sometimes my Juno will interrupt a play session, right when she's missed catching the prey, to groom, and it always looks to me like she's trying to play down her failed attempt by pretending, suddenly, to be super interested in grooming. Like an athlete who exaggerates an injury after missing a goal or something. But I know that's probably just my human projection.
On the other hand, I've seen my kitty respond to being irritated with me (like when she's trying to get my attention while I'm working and I move her to her box) by darting over to her scratching post and feverishly scratching. It sure looks like she's sublimating her angry energy at me toward toward the scratching post. But maybe that's too far a leap.
Curious how other people try to understand their kitties using their limited human perspective.