I don't buy this because cats will react totally differently to cats than people. Regardless of posture. If my cat sees someone walking down the street she doesn't get angry. If my cat sees a cat outside she's already on the defense.
this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2025
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I've heard this a few times and doubt it. At least with my cat. He howls at other cats and tries to attack them. He loves humans.
I think my cat is a big stupid cat so we are even.
😂
I've been wondering if that actually holds any water - or is it just some outdated, poor-quality study (or Sunday newspaper article) that was quoted so many times that everybody believes it now?
If it were the case, how would one prove it or even show evidence for it? And similar question for if it isn't the case, how would you disprove or show evidence against it? I'm not even sure how one would prove that cats have a concept of species.
Yeah it's so dumb. Cats obviously don't think the things over ten times their size that walk on a different amount of legs are the same as them.
Further, another "fun fact" I see a lot (equally questionable) is that cats meow only to communicate with humans, not cats. But that's mutually exclusive with cats thinking humans are the same as them.
Let me ask my cat. She just keeps saying Mao. I guess she’s a communist.
All cats are communists, obviously. They have no respect for concepts of "ownership" and expect to be housed and fed according to their needs.
That's pretty rich given that they're the ones who are big, stupid cats. 😡🤬
A dog is an herd animal and need an lider to follow, a cat (except lions) are lone hunters, they don't even have the concept of an lider, the can have anarchistic groups and friendships when they have with it advantages to obtain food.
The dog thinks, he takes care of me and feeds me, he must be a god
The cat thinks, he takes care of me and feeds me, I must be a god
an lider
Leader*
*Litre
LIDAR. Cats don't even have the concept of it.
Have they even started work on Maxwell's Equations?
I can't even get one of my cats past intermediate algebra, and the other keeps confusing the Kronecker delta with the partial derivative delta. I'll keep trying, I won't fail them.
he believes cats are semi-feral and that they think we are cats too
Ok, so it's just something someone believes, it's not very scientific... They don't really provide much evidence other than belief
Ermmm actually you "just believe" the earth is round. /s /most obvious s
Cats don't see you as cat, but also not as someone superior, they can see you as friend, but you have to gain it, if not, you are only an tin opener and food supply. They are anarchists by nature.
They are more like little dictators.
What the article implies is that they do not understand that we are different species. The relationship between cats and humans is a whole other area. But I don't believe cats are stupid or have somehow evolved to believe humans are the same species as them.
Certainly they are far from beeing stupid, but they simply don't have an concept of leaders or hirarchy. You can even train them to do tricks, but it is more difficult as with dogs, not because they are more stupid, but because they must see a reason and have the desire to do it. It's in their nature, in nature it's up to their own strategy and decisions whether they're going to eat or not, there's no herd or a leader that tells them what to do. This is the difference with dogs, nothing to do with intellectual capacity, perfectly equivalent, females are usually somewhat smarter than males, but just as in dogs, there are individual differences, as it also happens with us humans.
tbf i don't think my cat is 100% domesticated lol
When I had a dog, I used to think my dog thinks he will grow just as big as me and will join my daily routine, which was a bit depressing when you think about it
Probably this is yet another case of a journalist spinning yarn out of some poor researcher's paper summary, and then being quoted out of context.
No, they have absolutely no idea about nuclear war and apparently no clear sense that we might be some other species, despite not quite having the strokably hairy torsos they enjoy.
Speak for yourself, my torso hair is luxurious.
This will totally dox myself to anyone who might be in or know someone in an old friend group.
I'm a very furry person - I joke that I put the hair suit in hirsute - but at least it's soft! Years upon years ago, I had a one night stand with my then future partner's (now ex's) best friend. It was bad. Really, awkwardly bad. The kind of bad where I woke up the next morning and, instead of trying for another go, groaned inwardly because they were still there, a living reminder of how bad it was.
I took out my phone and hastily messaged my best friend, asking her advice on politely dealing with this. Unbeknownst to me, my guest was awake, messaging my future partner. She described being barely awake in the early morning, petting my cat. I didn't have a cat or any pets. As she became more aware, she realized she was petting my chest.
Apparently some humans think I'm a big stupid cat too.
P.s. She also thought the sex was awful.
Thank you for sharing this story.
My cat knows about nuclear war. He simply hasn't chosen to exercise the knowledge.
True, it's common knowledge that all cats know the exact time and date when the first bombs are going to fall, leading to the fall and eventual extinction of the human race
But they all refuse to tell us because they're silly furry goobers
Common misconception. Not all of them, just the ones that change colors around radiation.
I would insist on a regular inspection protocol. Cat could have an underground relocation system for averting defensive preemptive strikes.
meowmeow
Did I miss the explanation of why this person thinks such a fuckin stupid thing?
The thing I've seen is that when they show dogs an image of their owner while the dog is in a PET scan, and show the dog pictures of other animals, the same part of the brain lights up, while showing the dog pictures of other dogs lights up a different but close area of the brain. Doing the same test on cats had one area lighting up for other animals, but the same part lighting up when shown their owner and when shown other cats
While it is scientific people should provide the context that we don't really understand brains fully yet and this doesn't mean that his belief or conclusion is correct
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They only meow at humans
Kittens meow, but adult cats in the wild don’t. So they literally speak baby talk to us.
And they KNOW humans provide sustenance on a regular basis, and protection, so I can’t believe they think we’re just giant hairless monstrous cats. They’d have to think everything else is a cat otherwise. Look at the flying cats, mom! I’m gonna catch and eat one!
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