DO NOT feed strangers cats. Water is fine. If you feed it, at best you're fucking up its diet, at worst you're basically abducting the cat.
Pet cats should live inside, with plenty of toys and people that care for them, not out killing bird populations and risking getting run over, etc. Outdoor cats have much shorter life spans...
The cat is abducting itself. They’re not dogs. They’re rarely loyal.
Back when my cat was alive I got occasional reports that he would enter various other houses nearby and meow by the fridge until he was given a cold cut.
I have one cat and a doggy door so it can go in and out as it pleases. A stray cat figured out it could use the doggy door.
I have two cats.
Further proof that if you're cute enough you can get anything you want.
Step 1:
Step 2:
Well I mean i would probably take in an alligator if it came through my window
Alligator can have the whole house, actually. It's okay, I'll move 👍
But then the alligator will be lonely :(
I don't know about that human baby thing.
Babies are real dude
Source?
How is babby formed?
Well, from HS bio, I remember urine is stored in the balls. So, maybe some other way to make babby?
Yeah that seems really far fetched. Humans are generally bad at communicating with mostly body posture and scent. We have no tail to wiggle, no easily movable ears and no chance to use cat pheromones.
So naturally the cat has the best chance to get a response by using vocalication/sounds. It is just coincidence that their kittens do also mostly respond to sounds in their first weeks.
The resemblance to baby vocalizations can be rather unsettling with some cats. I suppose it's somewhat natural since they're about the same size as a newborn human, but specifically adopting somewhat human-like (and thus baby-like, because that's the one they can imitate the best) vocalization doesn't seem that far-fetched.
I mean, I'm not sure cats are out there observing human babies and intentionally imitating them. They have pattern recognition machines in their heads just like we do. "Make noise = human pay attention" is about as complex as this gets. The fact that we're susceptible to the specific timbre of their voices seems likely to be evolutionary coincidence.
Yes and, you missed the last crucial step
“Make noise = human pay attention” "Human feeds and protects me = more kittens that probably know to pay attention" ... "Profit"
Right, but adult cats keep making those vocalizations well past that age.
It's not that far fetched that their neoteny is an adaptation to humans.
IIRC, it's more that they over time figure out what sounds and actions get their owner's attention. We respond better, unconsiously or otherwise when they meow at us.
My old cat figured out, before I did, that if she knocks shit off the coffee table I get up and check if her bowl is empty.
Generally wild/feral adult cats are more or less mute outside of anger/mating/territory calls, but domesticated cats keep their kitten vocalizations if we respond to them.
My current cat is very vocal and we responded playfully to his meowing as he grew up.
Edit: Here's a scientific american blog/article about it. I don't think it's something we have confirmation on, just a good hunch.
If meows sounded anything like human baby cries they would give me an instant headache and the desire to get rid of the cat
I hated cats. Then a cat decided he lived in my house. He changed my life. Now I have another trash cat living with me and I love them both so much.
actually what they say is "I live here meow"
I can’t tell if I hate cats or love cats but they are never neutral. In fact there is a wild one in my house right now
I don’t even know why is he in my house or how it happened but at this point I think we tolerate each other pretty good. He gets the hose sometimes, I get his piss hose on the floor sometimes. He gets the snacks, I get the purr and fluffiness. I guess I can live with this chaotic balance.
I guess for someone who likes to control things cats could be a nightmare as they will never be some obedient pets but that may tell more about the owner than the cat.
Kinda sucks that my floor and sofa is ruined tho, it’s like a mini tiger, wildlife in your house. I guess this is the pleasures of completely feral cats. It’s possible that with this experience I could take on some caracal or serval. Of course I am not crazy nor I approve to do this but I have a glimpse of what mindset and work it would take
The Cat is also a menace that cannot stand sight of any other cat and goes straight for the throat. Little fluffy psycho, quite lovely
Did they model their meows, or did they have a trait that happened to work in a new environment and then pass it on?
From my understanding, wild cats only meow when little and domesticated cats keep this juvenile trait into adulthood
Yes, but the question is if they model their meows to sound like human infants. We know they changed their behavior to meow when wanting attention from us. But I'd be willing to bet they didn't model their meows to sound like that. They just happen to sound like that because they're small animals with high pitch voices.
There's a good chance that it's just a mammalian trait that predates modern humans or house cats. Pretty much all mammals require some extra protection and care when they are young and vulnerable, so it being common among other mammals isn't exactly surprising.
To my knowledge that's a lot of how domestication winds up being.
What I found interesting was a study when they tried to domesticate silver foxes for the fur industry (because basically they didn't take to being raised in fur farms well). So basically they were selectively bread for not being aggressive to humans.
Which worked, but the drawbacks were effectively... all of their childlike traits remained. IE their ears stayed floppy, and they stopped growing the silver coat that was the whole reason the fur industry wanted them.
Basically I think it could be said that effectively... most domestication traits are more or less, keeping childlike mentality for life in animals.
Doesn't work on me, I just shoo them away. Gotta evolve harder if they wanna try manipulating me.
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