Dogs do not seem to be biologically able to hide their feelings. Shaking, wagging your tail or sniffing your nose are signs of satisfaction, nervousness or great pleasure. Therefore, we can easily understand the symptoms of how dogs feel
Cats also have a refined and complex body language. They express their feelings by energetically moving their tails, twisting their feathers or putting on their ears and mustache. And when it makes a bubbling sound, it is often - not always - a show of kindness, friendship and satisfaction.
It's a reliable way to find out if your kitten is in a friendly condition or leave him alone.
It is interesting to note that while we can maintain friendly bonds between us and the dogs, and even though pet cats have given us their company for thousands of years, cats still suffer from a somewhat negative mental image of others' thoughts. Freedom, which many consider an advantage, some consider conservatism or greed. Hating cats also say they show love only when they are hungry. On the other hand, the owners of these animals say that criticism is unnecessary and that the friendship between them and their cats is stronger than expected between dogs and their owners. So maybe we should ask the question, why do we paint a cat as a surrogate, hostile, alone? Is there anything valid in that belief?
At first, it seemed a positive thing that the fact that this "independent" image of the cat did not hurt the popularity of cats as a pet. An estimated 10 million domestic cats live in the United Kingdom alone. According to a study conducted on it in 2012, it is also believed that about 25 percent of households have at least one cat.
The negative mental image that dominates some aspects of cats may be due to the way they were originally raised. This is much slower than what happens to dogs, and cats also take the lead, even on a large scale.
The first domesticated cats began to appear in villages in the Middle East during the Neolithic period, about 10,000 years ago. During this distant period, he did not rely on his human hosts to provide him with food, but he was encouraged to take it himself and protect plants and food supplies from rodents and other harmful organisms. .
But from the beginning, our relationship with cats was less intimate and friendly than with dogs, the animals that helped us hunt and relied on us in exchange for their share of the prey. In addition, a cat that now lies on your sofa or stares at you with glowing eyes at the top of the library may retain many of the instincts that were present in the ancestors of the first cat, such as wanting to hunt or patrol the surrounding countries. for protection. Since the entry of other cats into it, these animals are closer to the character of their ancestors than anything among dogs. This means that our breeds of cats pull them a little out of nature.
Veterinarian Karen Hestand, who is also responsible for an international cat charity, says it is largely due to "misunderstandings on the part of humans in the nature of this species. There is a great similarity between dogs and humans. The two species live side by side." Finally. And in a way, the two are evolving together. "As for cats, they're done later because they come from a lonely, introverted ancestor who's not a social species."
A wild cat from Africa, where our pet cats come from, tends to live alone and kittens of their species often come together for rent. "The cat is the only animal we keep," Heistand said. "For all the other animals we love, social ties predominate in their herds."
And since cats tend to live in isolation from other animals around us, it's no surprise that we may not understand their signals. "Cats are becoming more popular because they are so independent and able to take care of themselves," Hestand said. "But it doesn't matter if our lives suit them or not. People expect cats to be the same as them and dogs. It's not."
Recently, studies have accelerated the flow of studies on cats' emotions and the question of their willingness to communicate with others after researchers - for many years - were not interested in them compared to dogs. Although most of these studies are still in the early stages, they have already shown that the tendency of cats to interact with humans is complex and has many factors.
Here Hestand says, "It's very different, it's related to genetics. The interaction aspect can also come from what cats go through in the first six or eight weeks after birth. If their experience at this early stage of their lives is positive." they are good. Maybe you love people and want to spend time with them. "
On the other hand, the issue of cat breeding is less complicated. Stray cats often hide or run from humans, follow in the footsteps of their ancestors, live in the wild. In places like the Middle East and countries like Japan, fishing villages are witnessing growing groups of "stray cats without habitat owners."
These cats are friendly enough to flatter the people who feed them. In Istanbul, for example, the people feed and care for stray cats. These animals also became part of the city's identity, which led to the creation of a documentary about them. This complexity also includes the animals that live with us. Some remain relatively far between themselves and their owners, while others enjoy human connection. So what should we be careful about if we want to build a strong, friendly relationship with cats?
Initially, cats - like dogs - are largely dependent on communication with others, on the movements of their body, not on the sounds they make. "I think it's harder for people to read kitten body language than for dogs," says Christine Vitale, a doctoral student who studies cat behavior, which may not be a cat's fault. But there is another important feature that makes dogs closer to our hearts than cats, a study at the University of Portsmouth in Britain revealed. The study showed that dogs learned to imitate children's expressions, thus awakening the desire of their human owners to educate and care for them. This ability has been shown to be due to muscle development, in which dogs can raise the inner eyebrows of their eyes, which is not the case with their wolf ancestor.
The saying that the appearance we see in the eyes of dogs reflects true innocence or naivety is therefore not just a stereotypical analogy, but represents what we might describe as "a unique thing related to evolutionary science," he says. leashes and cords that exist between humans and dogs
relationships are formed between them and them in the early stages of their lives
The bad news for cats is that they lack this particular muscle. As a result, seeing cats looking at things and the people around them seems cold and hostile, and indeed, for every two cats to look at each other, it can often be a prelude to a fight between them. But looking at a cat with a view that is interspersed with the slow movement of its eyelids, known as "winking", can be a completely different thing, that is, to express love, because a kitten expresses a feeling in this way. . Instead, a cat that raises its head to one side should not be a sign of contempt, but a sign that it is relaxed.
Vitaly drew attention to a study he was doing at an American university, where dogs and cats were left alone in a room for a while and then suddenly returned to their owners. Interesting - according to the researcher - is the similarity of dogs and cats in their reactions to the sudden return of their owners; The animals of both species greeted and greeted briefly before returning to re-examine the room. The researchers described the calm of the animals when their owners returned them as a "safe bond", suggesting the presence of a strong emotional bond between the two sides.
Vitaly said that prejudices in people's expectations about animals and what they do affect their behavior towards them. Trying to force cats to behave more than dogs, such as bathing us in their attention, is an attempt to divert their attention from their normal behavior.
Part of the problem, according to Hestand, is our historical failure to know that cats are different from dogs. Even professionals wh
o have many years of training in cat care are not safe in this situation.
In this regard, Heistand says he felt a "complete idiot" when he went to a conference in 2007 where he realized that he "did not know" all this basic information about cats, such as the fact that they want their food and drink on two different places. "
Think, for example, of the problem of cats rubbing against the bodies of their owners. Although it is common to consider such work as being done by feral cats on trees or any material in the area where they live, instead of posting a sign proving their ownership of the area, people often show signs of belonging and belonging. . . In this case, cats want to transfer their scent to your skin and at the same time transfer your scent to their fur. That's exactly what wild cats do with other cat allies. Thus, this quality is a way to create a "common scent" of recognition between the enemy and the friend.
Finally, according to veterinarian Heistand, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that a cat's comfort prepares her for friendship. He points out that kittens begin to explore social relationships when they are provided with water and food, are prepared with the bedding they play with and where they sleep. So don't be disappointed the next time your cat controls you quietly or starts barking lazily as she stumbles across the hall, she tells you - in her quiet way - that she likes to see you.
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