My cat is down to the minute accurate on breakfast time, outside time, cuddle time, and who belongs where. That cat runs a tight goddamned ship, and if anyone or anything is out of line, the dog gets it.
Let me guess. All of those times are when the cat wants it to be that time.
The bedtime objection makes perfect sense. Cats evolved as hunters but not pack hunters, so they are careful to "share" territory by noticing when other cats are present, and avoiding the territory at that time. (Besides visual observation, they also smell the area and tell whether a foreign cat has rubbed up against the surfaces recently, as they can measure time by how much a scent has faded.). It's likely that the nighttime is the cat's "alone time" in the living room, and the humans are committing a faux pas by not appropriately sharing the territory.
The domestic cat is actually evolved from a decently social feline. In the wild they like to live in colonies where they care for young, groom each other and will bring excess food back to. They're not solitary, but they're not pack like wolves. They basically treat humans like members of the colony.
We think their affinity for routine comes from wanting to patrol their territory regularly and make sure nothing has changed, because change is alarming.
Just like the human pattern recognition system has some funny side effects like superstition, cat routine drive makes them seem really eccentric at times.
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Instead of confetti bombs, we just have envelopes filled with cat hair
Wau, I need to update my cat psychology knowledge, can you recommend any good books or articles? Thx.
I remember a couple colonies of stray cats around my grandparents house when I was a kid. You're right that I don't exactly remember them doing anything as a team, but at the same time, they were protective of each other.
I haven't seen such a thing in many many years. I suppose animal control got a lot more efficient at getting rid of them?
Often feral cats can't be rehomed due to behavioral issues like dogs can, they just don't have the mental framework for it, and there's so many kittens available that it's often not worth it to try.
They also pose a pretty gnarly threat to the local ecosystem, particularly birds (and children's sandboxes 💩) because their group behavior means they want to hunt more food than they need. That's why they bring you their kills, be it a cat toy or a real creature, and why they really don't like the food being empty, even if they don't eat it all like a dog would. They want a surplus and to make sure everyone gets fed.
Finally, a lot of no-kill or donation based shelters are extremely loath to cull cat colonies because it can reduce donations that they need to do other work, because no one likes donating money to killing cute kitties, even if it's necessary and that's not what's really happening. (Taxpayer funded animal control doesn't have that issue, but they might be stymied by other factors).
What a lot of places do as a result is to capture the cats, sterilize them, and then return them to hopefully keep the problem from getting worse or maybe even get the size of the population to drop. Others just remove their shelters and disperse the colony, and try to get anyone who's been feeding them to stop.
A faux paw, if you will.
Get out.
And then immediately come back in.
Or just sort of stand in the door, considering whether now is REALLY the time to go out or whether it would be better to go out later.
Good movie
First really good chuckle of the day. With a kitty standing on the armrest of my chair and howling at me for pets, I delay her gratification to salute you.
Can confirm. We have four cats and one likes me the most. My wife has dubbed her my "cat wife".
Most of the time, she'll at least meow at me if I call her name. If I call her after around 7 pm while in the bedroom, she'll haul ass into the room, jump on the bed, and immediately move to her spot, gracelessly flop over, and start purring. That's our bedtime routine, which she learned independently.
You go to bed at 7pm!?
No, but that's around the point where my cat's bedtime routine can get triggered.
There was a time when before sleeping i would bring my cat to bed with me for some hugs and pets before sleeping and nowdays whenever i go to my bed to sleep or not my cat instantly comes too because human going to bed means it is time for daily dose of pets
Mine does the same thing, unless I stay up to late and he wants to go to bed. Then he comes to me and starts tucking himself down on my lap so that he can get the night cuddles and go to sleep.
My ex's dog was that way. Once the sun went down, if either of us started to walk towards the bedroom she would excitedly scramble her way across the house to LEAP into the bed for cuddles.
My mom's dog knows exactly when 530 is (dinner time) and bedtime is no later than 10 - after that she will go into my mom's room on her own if she can and just wait outside the door if she cant.
Cats are surprisingly good at telling time. Daylight Savings Time messes with my cat.
Your cat and me both.
So you're saying I just need to get a cat and my shitty sleep hygiene will be cured? I'm in!
It's not the worst plan. One of our cats tells my wife it's time for her to goto bed at the same time every night by climbing on the arm of the couch next to her and just staring at her until she goes to bed. Then he takes her seat and naps next to me until I go to bed about an hour later, at which point he often moves to the cat tree, depending on where the cat that doesn't care about sleep hygiene is.
Not every cat cares about bedtime, but their love for routine is really funny.
The other cat likes to be let into my office at about nine so he can sit in the window and bird watch before my meeting at ten. Yesterday my schedule was off, so I wasn't in there at nine but was still in the kitchen getting caffeine. Poor buddy was screaming at the door for me to let him in, and was shocked when I came to open the door from the wrong side.
That sounds really cute.
Speaking from experience, cats will absolutely bully you into a routine.
I think I could do with that kind of bullying at this point in my life.
If you want to be woken up at the same time every day regardless of whether or not you will it or how much sleep you’ve had, a cat is a great way to accomplish that 👍
-running on 5 hours of sleep because I went to sleep too close to kitty breakfast time
that sounds ideal, you need to wake up at the same time to have a shot at going to bet at the same time, and being woken up by a pet is the best way to be woken up!
I hope your kitty appreciates it.
Absolutely not! She thinks she suffers more than anyone else ever has and that she’s starved to death three times a day. 😂 She’s an absolute princess and I love her.
Depends on the cat! You'd want to set up the routine first so the cat knows what the routine should be. Otherwise the cat might think random is bedtime.
Or you might get a cat like mine who cares not when bedtime is, just that it happens so she can cuddle.
Kinda. It makes life easier living with a cat if you go to bed at the same time every night.
Likewise if I try to sleep in my cats are like HELLO WHAT THE FUCK
Meanwhile, regardless of time of day, if we go anywhere near the kitchen my cats think it’s time to eat.
I feed a neighborhood stray (that I am trying and failing to win trust with) but I work chaotic hours. Every time I have a busy week kitty gets bitter and won't show up for a while.
Curious what country you live in and how you know it's a stray. I know some countries only have strays but if you're not in one of those then how do you know you're not just feeding someone else's cat?
I've been seeing it around since it was a kitten last spring. It has a notched ear which they do to strays when they are spade or neutered
Not OP, but usually you can tell if a cat is regularly let into a house, or at least you can tell if they aren't. If they look like they are clean enough to let into your house they're probably someone else's cat.
At the end of the street I went left instead of my usual right, my cat was going crazy meowing so loud and urgent.
No human, you will get lost!
My cat and I have zero routine. Sleep is anytime. She's a grazer so she has a full bowl of food and water she's eats whenever she feels like. Outside time is whenever I have the motivation to take care of my garden.
We moved to a bigger place and one of mine decided that since she has to walk to find me, she just yells until I tell her where I am. Apparently, I'm supposed to announce my travel plans.
ok so what im hearing, is that i shouldn't get a cat, or maybe i should get a cat.
Our cats know when feeding time is, will wait by the door for when we come in from work and at weekend evenings there is an excessive amount of walking around cause feeding time is later.
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