Cats Connect with People, and Particularly Women, as Social Partners
Posted on February 24, 2011 Comments (5)
“Food is often used as a token of affection, and the ways that cats and humans relate to food are similar in nature to the interactions seen between the human caregiver and the pre-verbal infant,” co-author Jon Day, a Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition researcher, told Discovery News. “Both cat and human infant are, at least in part, in control of when and what they are fed!”
…
The researchers determined that cats and their owners strongly influenced each other, such that they were each often controlling the other’s behaviors. Extroverted women with young, active cats enjoyed the greatest synchronicity, with cats in these relationships only having to use subtle cues, such as a single upright tail move, to signal desire for friendly contact.
While cats have plenty of male admirers, and vice versa, this study and others reveal that women tend to interact with their cats — be they male or female felines — more than men do.
…
Cats also seem to remember kindness and return the favors later. If owners comply with their feline’s wishes to interact, then the cat will often comply with the owner’s wishes at other times. The cat may also “have an edge in this negotiation,” since owners are usually already motivated to establish social contact.
…
co-author Dorothy Gracey of the University of Vienna explained. “A human and a cat can mutually develop complex ritualized interactions that show substantial mutual understanding of each other’s inclinations and preferences.”
Readers of this blog already know how great cats are, but this is more evidence on how wonderful they are.
Related: The Evolution of House Cats – Cat that takes the bus – Video Cat Cam – Awesome Cat Cam
5 Responses to “Cats Connect with People, and Particularly Women, as Social Partners”
Leave a Reply
RSS Feed
February 24th, 2011 @ 11:42 pm
This is one study to which I can relate. My cats and I have mutual adoration and yes, they do manipulate me.
February 25th, 2011 @ 11:04 pm
It is not only because cats are cute? They are surely playful and the charm that women loves. Great article. 2 thumbs up here.I love cats, my girlfriend love to play with cute animals specially cats.
March 11th, 2011 @ 1:28 am
they are manipulative only bcoz we the owners love them too much
March 11th, 2011 @ 6:25 am
You have rightly said that cats have a great attachment towards women as my cat and i shared a great bond as a child and mother relationship.cats are not naughty as compared to Dogs and they are lovely in look also.. great blog.. thanks for sharing your experience..
May 6th, 2013 @ 11:38 am
My husband and i were so joyous when John managed to finish up his investigations while using the ideas he acquired out of your blog. It’s not at all simplistic to simply continually be giving for free key points the rest have been trying to sell. Therefore we see we need you to appreciate because of that. The main illustrations you’ve made, the straightforward site menu, the friendships you will give support to foster – it’s got everything awesome, and it’s really helping our son in addition to us understand this idea is satisfying, which is certainly unbelievably pressing. Thank you for the whole lot!