
What cats can teach us about how to live - Hooke
http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2017/02/what-cats-can-teach-us-about-how-live
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wila
> Marra and Santella make some attempt to appeal to cat lovers by suggesting
> that cats be kept indoors and allowed to work off their excess energy on
> feline versions of hamster wheels.

Huh? A cat isn't a hamster, no way they will run in a hamster wheel. If you
want your cat to run, you'll have to play with it.

> “they can get a leash and walk their cats as tens of millions walk their
> dogs”

Well.. cats can walk on a leash. I happen to do so on a daily bases, but it
certainly is not comparable to walking a dog. The cat walks and sniffs around.
It is the cat who determines where we go. Not the human. It is more often
standing still as it is walking. Spending half an hour on walking 200 meters
is not uncommon.

For the rest I'm not sure what the title on the article has to do with the
content of it but OK. :)

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rmvt
are you sure cats won't run in a wheel?
[https://onefastcat.com/](https://onefastcat.com/)

~~~
slavik81
Their price tag is interesting. They initially display $250 to get you start
thinking about its value, then about a second later animate its drop to $199.

When I first saw it, within a split second I judged it was probably worth
$250. The drop to $199 left me feeling like I just saved $50. Somehow it was
more effective than the "but wait, there's more" bit you always see in
infomercials, perhaps because it was unexpected.

~~~
Animats
If that thing has a BOM cost over $20, someone is doing it wrong.

~~~
bitJericho
Haha I was just thinking 20 bucks in wood and carpeting and you could build a
really cool wheel.

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bitwize
1) Cats hunt alone but in the wild they live in colonies, and there _is_ a
pecking order. Much of cat behavior stems from colony life; for example, cat
feces are a scent-marker of who's boss in the area. Cats bury their turds to
disguise their scent, so that the dominant cat won't see them as a challenger.

2) Dogs have an instinctual tendency for symbiosis with humans that cats do
not have. Accordingly, if you want a cat to stay with you, you have to _earn_
its respect. For this reason a human-feline relationship can be extremely
rewarding.

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Ygg2
How do you earn cats respect?

~~~
bitwize
That depends on the cat. For starters, feed them, play with them, keep them
company, keep them and their living area clean, don't mistreat them, etc.
That's a good start. Jackson Galaxy may be a better source than I on the fine
points of feline respect. All I know is it can take some time and effort --
sometimes much of the lifetime of a reticent cat. Totally worth it in the end,
though.

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theobold
I volunteer at an animal shelter and sometimes see cats that have neurological
problems or have lost a limb or an eye. I always admire how little this seems
to matter to them. They don't get depressed or sad, they just carry on playing
even if they are so wobbly they can barely stand or so hobbled they have to
awkwardly hop everywhere.

~~~
nommm-nommm
I have a missing limb cat. She doesn't let it slow her down, not even a
little. She even somehow manages to routinely use the scratching post upright
with her only front leg. She just takes everything in stride.

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kdamken
Opened up article, was met with politically charged ad asking me to subscribe,
closed tab.

~~~
21
Opened up article, was not met with anything because I use an ad-blocker.

Opened article in different browser to see said politically charged ad. I
would say it's a decent ad, it just states the facts (Trump is president, thus
his era began, role of media is to keep power in check), not sure why it
offended you, and said publication is pretty fair and balanced in my view.

~~~
keyboardhitter
One can dislike advertisements without being offended by them.

~~~
Dylan16807
Calling it out like that for being slightly political comes across as being
offended to some extent.

~~~
kdamken
Not sure if you saw something different, but I think slightly political was an
understatement.

Hacker news is one place I go where to try and get away from all the political
noise out there.

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yarper
Please don't try to make cats vegan or vegetarian - and please stop anyone
that does - I'm surprised the author didn't bring this up.

~~~
colanderman
And may I suggest if you are vegan and want to adopt an animal companion,
consider a rabbit (a bonded pair if you can). They are wonderful loving
creatures who will cuddle next to you while you sit on the couch, and their
diet is naturally 100% plant-based. They make a perfect DINK pet too since
they sleep during the workday. Unfortunately many end up in shelters after
someone's kids grow tired of them.

~~~
maxxxxx
Do they chew on furniture? This is a serious question. I would like to have a
non-meat-eating pet after our dogs are gone. I used to have rats but I
couldn't take them dying every 2 years.

~~~
greenhatman
Rabbits live 3 years. And they eat cables.

~~~
maxxxxx
Rats too. They also like sweat pants and bed sheets.

~~~
pavel_lishin
Rats can chew through concrete and anything you love.

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freeflight
I'm not really sure what I was supposed to learn from that article or to be
more specific: From cats? Because the vast majority of points made apply to
pretty much all non-domesticated animals that live in close proximity to
humans and probably also those in the wild.

The author also seems to consider himself a mind-reader of cats, while never
even considering the possibility that other, non-domesticated, animals share
these very same traits. Are pigeons busy looking for a "meaning in life"? Are
squirrels not "at peace with the world"? Can raccoons suffer from depression?
And who really knows if cats can't suffer from it?

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hellofunk
This reminds me a lot of how wolfs eventually became domesticated into today's
dogs. It was covered nicely on an episode of Cosmos. The path they took was
not unlike what is described here for cats.

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george_ciobanu
Worth seeing their darker side as well:
[https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/12/do-
cats-c...](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/12/do-cats-control-
my-mind/282045/)

------
kyleschiller
It's funny how we attribute human qualities to animals that literally lack the
neurological capacity. Sharks are not ferocious, dogs do not love you, cats
are not independent.

There's nothing wrong with reasoning by analogy, and to be perfectly honest I
don't know enough about animals to argue convincingly that cats don't, on some
level, want to be alone, but we should understand that having this discussion
is mostly just anthropomorphism.

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caconym_
I think this sort of argument is inherently troublesome because it assumes
that our experience of consciousness is totally unique and no non-human animal
shares any part of it in any amount. If you fail to draw that line precisely
between humans and everything else, then you can't draw it anywhere else
either. I think it is not possible to do the former (some animals clearly
demonstrate significant cognitive capabilities), so it follows that there _is_
no line that can be drawn.

I think it is good to keep in mind that the majority of non-human animals
likely see the world through a very different lens than we do, but I think we
must also keep in mind that we are related to the rest of the animals and not
maybe as special as we think we are.

Also, the idea of "anthropomorphizing" emotions in animals (like love) is IMO
kinda silly since I'm not sure we can precisely define or quantify just what
it is we are supposed to be experiencing that animals _definitely aren 't_.

Not trying to be hostile; just registering my two cents.

~~~
KON_Air
While I agree, anthropomorphizing is still a problem when it comes to
relations with animals. I mean we are a wee bit special and we tend to expect
too much from other animals. They really are simplier beasts in comparison.

But then again sometimes we can't explain how or what we feel to ourselves,
let alone what other fellow humans do. So I belivie it is presumtious to say
"animals do not have emotions like we do!" or "they do!". The best we can do
is being "optimistically cautious" I says!

Edit: also the article is a great guide on how to drive your cat insane.

~~~
bitwize
All I know is that when a cat walks his paws up my leg, insistent that I grasp
him under the armpits and lift him into my arms, and subsequently puts his
paws over my shoulder and purrs at the top of his lungs once I indulge his
wishes, he derives some form of succor from my having been there; and that is
no small thing indeed!

