Cat personification

[Juniper_Junebug]

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.

 

[susanm9006]

They do have different instincts and experiences than humans but they do share some emotions that we have. Fear and anger for example, so why not others? One of my former cats loved to knead on a sofa blanket but if you looked at her while she was doing it she immediately stopped and would quickly do something like wash herself. It seemed to me like embarrassment. Another liked to leap to the top of the door just as I was leaving, which then involved me getting a stool to take her down so I could leave. Was I really seeing amusement on her face? Did she know how annoying this game was? I think so.

 

[fionasmom]

I have seen male ferals back out of a potential fight that they know they will lose by looking away, moving slowly away, and sometimes grooming themselves. Someplace along the way, I did read that it is a compensatory behavior designed to "save face."

Jamie definitely remembers things that anger him. If he has to be held in place for flea drops or subQ fluids (which was a real disaster), he seems to direct most anger at my husband who is only doing the holding part. For about three days after, he will walk up to him and give him a big Dracula hiss and walk away as if to say, "I trusted you and you betrayed me."

I personally think that we don't really know the extent of animal emotions.

 

[tarasgirl06]

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.

Liking the feedback so far. I was born and raised "with cat" so cats are FAMILY for me. Many experts say cats are more sensitive than humans and we all know cats are very intelligent. They understand us quite well; WE are the ones who don't understand them so much, but those of us who love them and share life with them definitely experience camaraderie, friendship, and love, and we see the full gamut of emotions and feelings. We just have to be aware.

 

[DreamerRose]

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.

I think you've accurately described Juno's reactions, and I don't think you're projecting.

When my kitties are disappointed or chagrined or rejected, their will lick their lips and turn away. I've seen that in the case of negative emotions many times.

Mingo will flop down on the floor in front of a door when he knows I'm trying to leave. It doesn't take an Einstein to realize he doesn't want me to go. Or when he scratches glass doors or rattles jewelry while I'm sleeping, you know he wants me to get up.

Just because cats express their emotions differently than we do, it doesn't mean they don't have them.

 

[Silver Crazy]

Pandoras box...I can write a 299 page essay on this subject.
Cats are emotional manipulators..if you stand back and take a wholistic view of your life over the last 5 years with your cat/cats you will quite successfully do some projecting.

 

[Caspers Human]

Of course, we personify Casper!

It's half the fun of having a cat!

Do we think it's real? Well, sort of...
When Casper does something he's not supposed to and we scold him, he definitely gets a look on his face like he's saying, "You're no fun!"

Casper is not allowed to go down to the basement. That's where we keep all the stuff like household chemicals, tools and other stuff that could hurt him or make him sick. Besides, how many horror stories have we heard where somebody's cat gets stuck behind the furnace or something like that. We keep him out of the basement for his own safety.

We all know that cats will be cats and, if there is one place where we don't want them to go, that's the one place they'll try to go the most. No different with Casper. He only wants to go down to the basement because he KNOWS he's not allowed. It's his "forbidden fruit," so to speak!

If we go down to the basement and forget to close the door behind us, it won't be long before Casper notices and tries to go down. If Casper's Girl-Human is carrying a load of laundry down the stairs, she can't always close the door all the way, as much as she tries. Her hands are full.

If we're down in the basement and Casper finds the door open, we'll often turn around to discover that he's half way down the stairs. All we have to do is clap our hands and holler, "Casper! Danger! No!" He'll scamper back up the stairs and, when we come back up, he'll be sitting there, near the door, with a decidedly pouty look on his face that we just KNOW that he's thinking, "Aw, you never let me have any fun!"

Even though it's not possible to know what Casper really thinks, it certainly seems like that's what he's thinking.

As long as we understand that it's all in fun, there's no harm in anthropomorphizing our cats.

 

[Anne2021]

I totally anthropomorphize where my cats are concerned, and most of the time I think it's a fair and accurate representation of what's going on with them. We know they get afraid, angry, jealous, bored, tired, irritated, naughty and more, and if we spend enough time with cats and especially our cats, we get to know them pretty well.

I started a thread a couple of days ago about difficulties with a new high energy cat and her effect on my resident kitty and on me. The new kitty is a crazy, zooming, knock things over trying to play on them, force. (They are the same age and my resident kitty is fun and playful. It's just that the new one is extraordinarily hyper). I have a drying rack set up with a netted frame for drying sweaters spread on it and a towel spread over that. First kitty taught me to leave that out because she loved it when I would dry sweaters. New kitty likes it too and was going nuts on top of it with a mouse on a wire and wand toy. In a short time, she backed up too far, tumbled backwards off the contraption, everything went falling to the floor and the drying rack folded up on itself. First kitty dashed out of the way just before it all fell down. (This kind of stuff happens ALL the time with new kitty). First kitty looked up at me and I could just see it in her face: "And how long are you going to let this go on?" . I could go on and on about our senior cats who just went to live with my adult daughter who is bonded to them.

 

[catmamacass]

I totally anthropomorphize where my cats are concerned, and most of the time I think it's a fair and accurate representation of what's going on with them. We know they get afraid, angry, jealous, bored, tired, irritated, naughty and more, and if we spend enough time with cats and especially our cats, we get to know them pretty well.

I started a thread a couple of days ago about difficulties with a new high energy cat and her effect on my resident kitty and on me. The new kitty is a crazy, zooming, knock things over trying to play on them, force. (They are the same age and my resident kitty is fun and playful. It's just that the new one is extraordinarily hyper). I have a drying rack set up with a netted frame for drying sweaters spread on it and a towel spread over that. First kitty taught me to leave that out because she loved it when I would dry sweaters. New kitty likes it too and was going nuts on top of it with a mouse on a wire and wand toy. In a short time, she backed up too far, tumbled backwards off the contraption, everything went falling to the floor and the drying rack folded up on itself. First kitty dashed out of the way just before it all fell down. (This kind of stuff happens ALL the time with new kitty). First kitty looked up at me and I could just see it in her face: "And how long are you going to let this go on?" . I could go on and on about our senior cats who just went to live with my adult daughter who is bonded to them.

I have a similar situation ^ with my recent rescue kitten I brought in at 6-7 weeks old (fairly sure born to ferals) – crazy high energy, and my two 14 year-old seniors who barely tolerate him.

I also agree that anthropomorphizing is half the fun of having these amazing creatures in our lives
I love observing them and witnessing their personalities, behaviors, and moods. I actually went on a bit of a dive for info on different cat vocalizations a while back, though I feel after 14 years I have a good sense of what they mean from my cats. I found an article that was really specific on the moods attached to their sounds and found it really entertaining and interesting.

I've been meaning to read Cat Sense for years after listening to author on Fresh Air so long ago now. Learned so much from that interview back then.

 

[vince]

They do seem to feel embarrassment. I catch my Chesterfield having a clumsy attack, then he'll sit and groom like he's trying to dismiss it.

Sir Eats-A-Lot seems to have grumpy spells, where he hisses at anything that moves near him.

Meep seems to have a stubborn streak. If I catch her misbehaving and take her away from the source of her misbehavior (like foraging in the trash), she'll make a beeline back to it, just to spite me.

 

[Anne2021]

They do seem to feel embarrassment. I catch my Chesterfield having a clumsy attack, then he'll sit and groom like he's trying to dismiss it.

Sir Eats-A-Lot seems to have grumpy spells, where he hisses at anything that moves near him.

Meep seems to have a stubborn streak. If I catch her misbehaving and take her away from the source of her misbehavior (like foraging in the trash), she'll make a beeline back to it, just to spite me.

Oh! That reminds me of our orange and white tabby male who just went to live with my daughter. He is a real stinker and would be one of those cats that if he was all I ever knew of cats, I probably wouldn't get another one. He gets in trouble repeatedly just doing things he knows you don't like and is very demanding when he wants food (and don't leave a loaf of bread on the counter overnight). Anyway, when he is naughty and gets caught or wants something and you don't give it, he turns to walk away with a toss of his head. I can't even describe it, but it's like a snotty teenager or something - and his version of rolling his eyes to demean you and show irritation. Oh, how he could put me in my place with that head toss.

 

[vince]

I know all about leaving out bread. I bring food in from grocery shopping and I can't even take a bathroom break before putting it away. They'll be into the bread by the time I come back (among other tasty things in the bags).

 

[DreamerRose]

So true. I had to buy a bread box to keep Lily from eating my bread. She even ate a jalapeno bagel once.

 

[Meowmee]

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.

Cats have an extensive range of emotions & reactions just as humans do, the idea of “personification” has mostly been a false notion for me made up by supposed “ experts” / researchers/ behaviorists etc. That said they certainly have differences as well and a varying code of cat interactions. We must remember that we are animals as well and we have a whole set of our own primal responses.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Cats have an extensive range of emotions & reactions just as humans do, the idea of “personification” has mostly been a false notion for me made up by supposed “ experts” / researchers/ behaviorists etc. That said they certainly have differences as well and a varying code of cat interactions. We must remember that we are animals as well and we have a whole set of our own primal responses.

EXCELLENTLY SAID, Meowmee .

 

[Caspers Human]

Some people talk to their teddy bears but most people don't think that teddy bears are real.

Why can't we talk to our cats the same way without people thinking that we believe it's real?

It's the exact, same phenomenon. What's the difference between cats and teddy bears?

 

[tarasgirl06]

Some people talk to their teddy bears but most people don't think that teddy bears are real.

Why can't we talk to our cats the same way without people thinking that we believe it's real?

It's the exact, same phenomenon. What's the difference between cats and teddy bears?

Well, the differences are pretty much endless, the top ones being that cats are living beings, sentient mammals like we are, and possessed of higher intelligence.
I don't think I've ever talked to a teddy bear.

 

[Musiaka]

I personificate Musiaka mostly for my own entertainment - there's just something so funny about saying that he's disappointed, busy or worried, when he's clearly just being a cat thinking his predator thoughts
Like in the mornings, when he refuses to stay in bed with me cause he wants to get everyone in the house up and going so that we can feed him or take him outside, I usually say that Musiaka's too preoccupied with running his morning errands and it makes me smile so much. Or when he's just sitting in a loaf position with an expression that looks so damn sad to me but he's clearly just neutral/sleepy.

So I'm really aware that Musiaka's emotional range is quite primitive and most of his thoughts are about fullfilling his own basic needs, but that kinda makes me love him even more. It's just so funny that this creature is so well adapted at living with me and manipulating me. And that he likes living with me.

And there's also something that isn't just primitive in him. After all, cats have been living by our side for so long, they must have gotten a tiny bit of human emotions in them too.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I personificate Musiaka mostly for my own entertainment - there's just something so funny about saying that he's disappointed, busy or worried, when he's clearly just being a cat thinking his predator thoughts
Like in the mornings, when he refuses to stay in bed with me cause he wants to get everyone in the house up and going so that we can feed him or take him outside, I usually say that Musiaka's too preoccupied with running his morning errands and it makes me smile so much. Or when he's just sitting in a loaf position with an expression that looks so damn sad to me but he's clearly just neutral/sleepy.

So I'm really aware that Musiaka's emotional range is quite primitive and most of his thoughts are about fullfilling his own basic needs, but that kinda makes me love him even more. It's just so funny that this creature is so well adapted at living with me and manipulating me. And that he likes living with me.

And there's also something that isn't just primitive in him. After all, cats have been living by our side for so long, they must have gotten a tiny bit of human emotions in them too.

...and human emotions aren't primitive? From my perspective, they may just be the most primitive of all. Looking around and seeing the state of society in the USA and many other places, "lizard brain" is a term I use to describe too many. Cats, on the other hand, fulfill our universal basic needs of eating and sleeping, and if not spayed/neutered, procreating as well; they also exhibit higher emotions/feelings/attributes like love, loyalty, and altruism. So who's the more primitive? I know what my answer would be...

 

[Caspers Human]

Well, the differences are pretty much endless, the top ones being that cats are living beings, sentient mammals like we are, and possessed of higher intelligence.
I don't think I've ever talked to a teddy bear.

Cats and teddy bears are similar because we project our thoughts onto them then imagine that they are thinking what we want them to.

They are different because cats are alive and teddies are not. However, it is the same phenomenon of psychological projection happening with both.

It gets funky when you consider that cats are intelligent while bears are inanimate. Cats can move, make sounds and change their body posture to give us clues about their state of mind but the problem is that nobody truly knows whether a cat's actions and postures actually mean what we think they mean. We can make inferences about cats but, in the end it is up to the human's interpretation. Different people could see the same cat, performing the same gestures and get different meanings from them. There is a lot of common understanding but, in the end, we can only guess what's on a cat's mind.

It doesn't matter whether we know. We keep cats as pets because we can project our thoughts, feelings and beliefs onto them.

That's a big part of the fun of having a cat.