Ask not what your cat can do for you...

[eridani]

http://www.nationofchange.org/ask-not-what-your-cat-can-do-you-1397742517


I'm pretty sure what my former cat was thinking: "What's the least I can possibly do and still get her to feed me liver patties and otherwise leave me alone?" I'm not far off, author John Bradshaw seems to confirm.

One can guess from the title which partner does the heavy lifting in this relationship. For the human half, "owner" is not the appropriate descriptor, according to Bradshaw, an anthrozoologist. This is a common misbelief and one that buyers of the Fancy Feast variety pack should get over quickly.




Now for the bad news on what you may think is evidence that your cat loves you.

Purring. "Long assumed to be an unequivocal sign of contentment," Bradshaw writes, purring "is now known to have more complex significance."

Whether it's a kitten suckling from its mother or it's a pet being stroked by its person, a cat purrs "not to show that it is contented, but instead to prolong the circumstances that are making it so."

The bottom line is that by purring, a cat gets the human to give up whatever he or she is doing and attend to its pleasure. The ancient Egyptians didn't create Bastet, the cat goddess, for no good reason

[Curmudgeoness]

1. That doesn't apply to MY cat. He loves me.

But I do have to wonder about that purring business. My idiot cat purrs when I grab him and hug him all over, while fighting to get out of my grip.....what's with that???

[Ino]

2. I've heard some cat purr under stress.

My one cat purrs at the vet's office. She is NOT contented or happy there. Neither does she want to prolong that experience, as the article says. I think this is probably the case with your cat.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Don't ruin it for me.

I just pretend that he likes it.....like when I was a kid and my dad would tickle me. I hated it because I was so ticklish, but in a perverted way, I loved it too. I will have to pay more attention to him and see if he seems stressed by it, but I don't think so....since it happens the same time every day, at the same spot every day....at the top of the stairs after I change from work. He could easily avoid me at that time instead of coming toward me. Or maybe he is really dumb. Or is into S&M.

[Ino]

5. OK, how about this...

He purrs because he loves you, but he struggles because he doesn't really like being hugged?

[url=http://yoursmiles.org/t-kitten.php?page=3][img][/img][/url]

[Curmudgeoness]

6. LOL, you are right...he doesn't like being hugged.

But I like hugging him, and I am the boss here.

[ginnyinWI]

4. well then why would they want to prolong a behavior

if it isn't pleasurable? What they said doesn't make sense.

My cat purrs when she is happy, which is when she curls up next to me to go to sleep at night. I'm not doing a thing to her; I'm just there.

My foster kittens, 8 weeks old, purr when they settle down to sleep too, and also when they are being fed. They don't purr before they get the food, only as they are eating it.

All of which says to me that they purr out of pleasure.

Some cats do purr when they are stressed, as if to comfort themselves.