Complex Numbers

Insert Cat Pun Here

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/02/cat-psychopaths/583192/

When Becky Evans started studying cat-human relationships, she kept hearing, over and over again, about how cats are psychopaths.

First of all, cats aren't psychopaths (as the article goes on to explain). That's just more made-up bullshit, like the folk "wisdom" that a cat will "steal a baby's breath." Shit like that has led to the death and/or torture of more cats than I care to think about.

Second, there's a viral idea floating around the internet to the effect of "your cat is trying to kill you."

Stop that shit. Stop it right now.

To be sure, there are mean cats out there, just like there are mean dogs or people. But as a group? No.

Here's the problem: I've known a number of cat-haters in my life, the kind of people who, when they see a cat in the road while driving, deliberately aim for it. People who drown cats, or throw stuff at them, or shoot them. Stuff that, if they did it to dogs, they'd face a mob with torches and pitchforks, but for some reason, when it's a cat, other people just shrug it off.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not here to change anyone's mind about what animals they like or don't like. Not my business, though I could never fully trust a cat-hater. But there's a difference between not liking an animal (I'm not overly fond of dogs) and actively seeking to harm them (I never would).

And the whole "your cat is trying to kill you" meme just fuels the fire of cat-haters, making it that much more likely that they'll harm an innocent kitty. So that shit needs to stop.

Sometimes I wish that there were actually an afterlife, and your position in the hereafter is directly dependent on how well or poorly you've treated pets.

In the meantime, why don't we all try meeting other animals halfway instead of trying to anthropomorphize them? A cat gives clear signals when it wants to be left alone - at least, clear to anyone who cares to learn a cat's body language. It also makes it clear when it wants to be petted; just don't fall for the exposed-belly trap. Cats roll onto their backs to show that they trust you; tickling most cats when they do that is a betrayal of that trust. (Having said that, I do have one cat who loves to have her belly rubbed. The fur there is very soft.)

To summarize, cats aren't dogs. And neither cats nor dogs are people.