Skeptical about the cat-human bond? Ginger shares her thoughts.
Dear human,
Did you know that cats are the most common pet in many countries, including large countries like the United Kingdom, Italy, China, and France? [1]. It’s true! Despite this fact, many humans still doubt whether we cats are able to respond to and emotionally bond with you. Silly humans!
Research by scientists such as Dr. Kristyn Vitale [2], our April 2022 Cat Person of the Month, has found that the human-cat bond is just as strong as the human-dog and the human-infant bond. Dr. Vitale and her colleagues showed that most pet cats like to interact with people. In fact, we preferred to be near a person over eating or playing with a toy [2].
Dr. Vitale and colleagues also measured the cat-human bond by studying the relationship between cats and our human caretakers. They found that we cats attach to our caregivers—either securely or insecurely—just like human children and dogs do. Next, Dr. Vitale’s group researched cats living in shelters. The cats in shelters adjusted their behavior depending on how much attention a human gave them, showing that these cats tuned into and reacted to humans [3].
Another research study found that even cats living in colonies in the community will play and rub their heads against a human when the human interacts with them [4]. These scientists provided hard evidence to show that we cats want to and will bond with humans.
The skeptical human might say that we cats only “act” as if we like you so that you will give us food and shelter. However, Dr. Vitale and her colleagues showed that this is not the case. They compared cats who lived in homes with cats living in shelters. It turned out that shelter cats spent more time with humans, even when a human was ignoring them [3]. In summary, most of the time, we cats WANT to be with humans as long as the humans are not hurtful, even when we have shelter and plenty of food.
So who are all of these silly humans saying that we cats are not friendly? I think they are people who have not yet learned how to interact with cats. For example, some people are loud and scary. Because we cats have sensitive hearing and are much smaller than you, we can become afraid around people who are too loud or aggressive. How would you feel if a fifty-foot giant who was yelling at the top of its lungs ran up to you, picked you up, and began manhandling you? Put yourself in our paws!
When developing a relationship with a cat, here’s my advice. First, speak softly. Don’t run after us or make any quick movements. This will help us know that you don’t want to hurt us. Then, let us come to you. Once we come closer, ASK permission to touch us by holding out your hand toward us. If and when we begin to trust you, we will rub our face on your hand. This is the first step to enjoying the very real and potentially very strong cat-human bond.
Love, Ginger
Please share your comments and questions below.
References:
1.Bernstein, P.L. (2007). Chapter 3 The Cat:Human Relationship. In I. Rochlitz (ed.), The Welfare of Cats, 47–89. https://gwern.net/doc/cat/psychology/2005-bernstein.pdf
I love this article! Thank you Ginger!
Thank you for teaching me about the Cat-Human bond! Excellent article!
Glad you liked the story, DR. Happy May!
Thank you Ginger for this great article! Here’s to the cat and human bond!
Glad you liked the story!