What Cats Think Of People

Cats have been around humans for about 9,500 years, keeping many of their instincts intact, so at times it’s hard to tell whether they love us or simply take advantage of us.

For that reason, today we will take time to meditate on this. What do cats think of people?

Cats are one of the favorite pets when choosing a companion animal. In the United States alone, 80 million cats live in homes and, according to statistics, on the planet, there are 3 cats for every dog.

However, there are still many things that we still need to discover about these cats, for example, how they feel about their caregivers.

Trying to give an answer to this, some researchers at the University of Bristol have devoted themselves to observing a group of domestic cats for some years, coming to the conclusion that, socially, cats perceive us in a different way than other pets, such as the dogs.

what does the study say

The study was based on the analysis of the way that domestic cats interacted in order to understand their social structure.

Through this observation, it was determined that cats have different dynamics that were structured according to particular conditions, in the course of the feline’s life.

For example, differences were found in free cats or cats that live in stray colonies, and cats that live in shelters.

They considered play patterns (eg, how they handle toys) and studied the different behaviors they have during the day.

One of the interactions that most caught the researchers’ attention were those between felines and humans. This is due to the fact that, in the case of dogs, it is evident that they understand that we are different, so they relate differently to how they would relate to other dogs.

However, in the case of cats, social behavior towards humans is not very different from what they would have with other cats and this is evidenced in attitudes such as putting their tail in the air, rubbing themselves around our legs, or sitting with us. That’s exactly what cats do among themselves. Did you get an idea of ​​what cats think about people? Let’s move on.

what cats think of people

Taking into account the play dynamics observed during the study, it was concluded that:

• Cats are aware of the difference in size, but not that they are a different species. Therefore, they treat people as a pair (which is why they rub against humans, as this is something they would not do with a creature they consider inferior).

• They may think that, as playmates, humans are slow, so they get irritated or bored quickly.
• They enjoy the company of people once they get used to them. This is very evident in the deterioration of the mental and physical health of cats when they are removed from their caretakers.

The researchers were able to observe that, after being separated from their caregivers, the cats began to show signs of stress and to develop skin and urinary system problems. Also:

• They know how to provoke specific reactions in their caregivers depending on the meows they make, because they  use vocalization to communicate to their caregivers about different types of needs.
• They treat each member of their human family differently, and this is based on the amount of benefits that they can receive from one or the other.
• The relationship that cats have with their caregivers is similar to that they would have with their mother, for example, kneading, tail lifting, rubbing and purring.

• They think people belong to them, so by licking or rubbing someone, cats are actually infusing the person with their scent to “mark them” as their property.

Image courtesy of Cassia Afini.