one i get the vibe from that she's my old lady (which literally she is but the wife connotation is highly questionable)
What is the relationship in the felid mind? I've never gotten the sense that I'm a "master" despite the fact they know when I get annoyed with them or what is forbidden and they mostly come to honor that (turns out nobody or anything likes getting hassled)
Unlike dogs where you are part of their "pack", for cats you are their mother - seriously, your petting them is their mother licking their fur to clean it, and their purs help you realize that they are alive and well.
The odd part is that in the wild, the kitten doesn't stay with the mother all that long. So unlike dogs, we keep cats in a permanent juvenile state - that's why they don't (so much) "obey", bc they are confident in their special status of being loved by mother.
Ironically this holds a bit true for humans as well, not that we are stuck that way as you mentioned for dogs yet our gestation time most definitely is severely elongated. It takes us 9 whole months just to get out of the womb, then basically 20 years to reach adulthood. And with that increased plasticity of our brains we can learn so much more. 🐒
There's a theory that we were able to evolve our big problem-solving brains because we got access to higher-quality protein after teaming up with dogs as hunting partners. So did we breed them to be pets or did they breed us to be caretakers?
The odd part is that in the wild, the kitten doesn’t stay with the mother all that long.
That reminds me Cruela.
My cat Kika once got pregnant. We were able to give all kittens new homes, except one - that stayed with us. She grew into adulthood, not only pampered by the humans but also by her mum Kika.
Cruela would find an open window, take a walk, then come back after a few hours. And then when she was back, she'd ask Kika to be licked. And every single time Kika would lick her manchildwomanchild catkitten daughter for a few minutes, then meow angrily and paw her once or twice, as if saying "you're clean now you adult baby, now sod off!". Every single time.
I've heard that but I think it's not as deeply embedded in their root psyches. Like, cats can hunt in packs, whereas dogs flat are "pack animals". But I am no vet psychologist so we'll have to defer to the interwebs for that knowledge I suppose:-).
Siegfrieda: self-heating pillow, food bringer, good companion.
Kika: "it's a human so of course it's disgusting. But it slaps my butt so good~ A shame that it's too stupid to understand that it should be massaging me 25h/day."
I think I am his older brother or something along those lines. He is very social and loved by all humans but he shows more affection towards me and his real brother. They meet less than once a year because my sister moved far away, it is always interesting to see how much they still love each other (they are now 11 and have lived longer separated).
He calls for me sometime either for help with something or because he wants to be with me and can't find me. But he doesn't feel needy like a little kid toward their parents as long as I haven't been gone for long. He do need a lot of love every day.
I don't think he sees me as a parent but we have a very close relationship and mostly understand each other and he trust me a lot.
He is very polite when he is not at home, like waiting by the the food bowls without saying anything (for example when my parents takes care of him), at home do he come and ask for food and sometimes leads me to his bowl so it really feels like a kid who is reserved around other ppl when it comes to needs but is very social, outgoing and not shy at all when it comes to other things haha
One of em pays us no mind and just meows if she needs food or attention. One other shows signs of understanding the roles but not much else. And then there's the third one. Food is still the main motivation, but that little girl shows a lot of affection and love, joy, anger, appreciation to us. I've never seen anything like it.
I think of my cat as a lovable, kind of stupid, little brother. He usually wants to be involved in whatever I'm doing , follows me around the apartment, and so on. But also sometimes he just decides to do something ridiculous like climb into the dresser and get stuck.
I'm not sure how he thinks of me exactly. Seems affectionate!
I have two that are brother and sister. The sister has an oldest sibling personality - she's the calm, responsible one that has to slap the others around when they get out of line. The brother is the younger sibling - full of energy, curious, loves to play. Our third is a year younger and she's the baby. The others watch out for her and test her gently when she's trying to wrestle with them.
Then, there's uncle Todd. He lives down the street and stops by for supper and a nap every day. The older ones are very suspicious of him, but he's cool with the baby.
My cats treat me like a big cat. That's why they brush up against my leg, for example. Or wake me up at 6AM on Sundays.
I'm not the master. But they don't want to disrupt the harmony, and I'm the biggest, so they usually avoid doing things that irritate me, if I'm there to see it happening.