The Feline-Human Bond…
– – Cats are often given a bad rep by those who don’t share life with them; they’re reputed to be cold and aloof, wanting only food from their owners.–Well, in research to be published in the journal Behavioral Processes, scientists observed the interactions between 41 felines and their human families during lengthy four-part periods. Researchers also observed all behaviors of both cats and humans, and assessed their personalities as well as their influence over one another.
What was seen was a mutual social interaction in which both both cats and humans signaled to one another when they wanted to socially interact by petting or being petted. Reciprocity was also in evidence, with the cats more likely to respond to owner-initiated contact if the owners had previously responded to theirs…they accordingly remember and respond to kindness, and are not cold fish (so to speak)…
Explore posts in the same categories: animal behavior, animals, furry, scienceTags: feline-human interactions
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FOXSYLVANIA 
March 2, 2011 at 2:59 pm
My favorite s.f. author, when I was a kid, was Andre Norton. And, I remember reading an excerpt of an interview she did, where she affectionately referred to her quintet of cats as “my five owners.”
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March 2, 2011 at 8:18 pm
And as the saying goes, “If you want the best seat in the house, you’ll have to move the cat!”
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March 3, 2011 at 10:00 pm
Or, in the case of a certain over-territorial red tabby tomcat (who once scratched up my arms multiple times when I tried to separate him from my permanently disinterested female red tabby): more than one way to skin one!
*Insert fiendish laughter here.*
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