How do your feline friends see you? An expert in animal behavior believes cats just think of you as a larger, non-hostile version of themselves.
John Bradshaw, a biologist who founded and directs the world-renowned Anthrozoology Institute at the University of Bristol, has published a book called Cat Sense and in it, he revealed his findings from over thirty years of studying cats.
Bradshaw published interesting feline observations such as how cats tend to see humans as larger, "non-hostile" cats and not as another species. By kneading you, for instance, your cat treats you like it would treat its mother so all those rubbing up against you aren't really an acknowledgement that you are your pet's human owner but likely a way to treat you as a big but non-hostile cat.
Cats may treat you as if you're the Mama Cat as well. An upright tail is actually a greeting sign between cats and is a way for cats to show their affection to you.
Here's another fact: despite appearing in countless Instagram photos and Youtube videos, cats are essentially still wild. Bradshaw writes that cats are far less domesticated than their canine counterparts because of relaxed standards of breeding. He explained that cats did not go though radical evolutionary changes because they were never bred to played specific role in the domestic life of humans. "The transformation of the cat from resident exterminator to companion cohabiter is both recent and rapid, and-especially from the cat's perspective-evidently incomplete," Bradshaw writes.
Bradshaw, who also wrote the bestseller In Defence of Dogs, says that one of the reasons why he wrote his new book is to project what the typical cat might be like fifty years from now.
"I want people to continue to enjoy the company of a delightful animal, but I'm not sure that the cat, as a species, is heading in the right direction," he writes. "The more I've studied cats, from the wildest feral to the most cosseted Siamese, the more I've become convinced that we can no longer afford to take cats for granted: a more considered approach to cat keeping and cat breeding is necessary if we are to ensure their future."
