Your cat doesn't need you

[josieposy]

time.com/4022357/cat-doesnt-need-you/


Cats don't seem to attach to their owners the way dogs do

Your cat doesn’t really need you, new study suggests.

According to a new study published in PLOS One journal, cats show little to no separation anxiety when they’re away from their owners and if/when they decide to stick around their human, it’s because they really want to.

Researchers studied the behavior of 20 cats after being placed in an unfamiliar location with their owner and with a stranger. The results suggest that our feline friends show little to no signs of distress when left alone in strange environments.

“Although our cats were more vocal when the owner rather than the stranger left them with the other individual, we didn’t see any additional evidence to suggest that the bond between a cat and its owner is one of secure attachment,” researcher Daniel Mills, professor of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine at the University of Lincoln’s School of Life Sciences, told the Telegraph.

Animal experts, however, say that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Cats don’t need humans to feel safe, and if they’re unhappy they have no qualms with walking out and not looking back. Therefore, when they feel comfortable enough to stay, they really mean it.

The study, too, is small and highly interpretative. Cats display distress and emotion in a variety of different ways — so perhaps your cat is different.

[StrawberryBlondie]

My cats clearly missed the memo.

[LeggsBenedict]

[twohearted]

My cat gets stress related eye infections when I leave for a few days. They needed to include Siamese cats in this study.

[josieposy]

Clearly 20 cats is not a big enough sample size. I mean just in my lifetime between adoptees and fosters and family cats, I've had around 15 cats. That's one person!

[emisi]

You put a cat in an unfamiliar place, either with a stranger or with their owner, their first instinct is to explore and make sure they know their environment. Of course they aren't going to show signs of distress right away - it is a literal instinct that they obey first, THEN they get distressed. Do these people only know how dogs behave or something?

[savan]

Bull plop. Then why does my asshole cat insist on trying to sit on my face for comfort when the cleaning ladies come over?

[pixy0stix]

They know who feeds them (dh), and who loves them (me). Guess who they love all over? Me.

[meshaliuknits]

Yeah. Kali barely eats & hides if I leave her somewhere strange. When I pick her up she's up my ass for the next week.

Darkness on the other hand, doesn't need me. We both know that, but this is a convenient arrangement. He gets food, I get snuggles.

[agnes]

DISAGREE. Princess Larrie freaks out when I'm not home at night. This does not happen with anyone else in the house. She even greets me when I get home from work. Maybe she's part dog?

[blink]

Nu-uh, MY CAT KNEADS ME! Sometimes she likes to pretend she doesn't, but we both know she does because she gets bent out of shape if I don't shower her with affection when I get home. And she hides when anyone but her feeder (DH) comes in.

Also considering she was an anti-depressants before we got her, I like to think we are a positive influence in her world.

[open24hours]

My cat cannot stand being on the other side of a closed door from a human. He yowls so much you would think he's dying.
He also yowls when H or I go outside to take out the trash, even if the other one of us is still inside.

[twohearted]

I would be interested in reading the original article and seeing what conclusions the researchers actually drew.

[forreals]

There, there, cat people. They were only talking about those other cats. Not yours (rose) 

[Deleted]

Geralt doesn't need me, but he loves me. He runs to the door and yells until I pick him up when I get home from work. If I'm gone overnight, he sleeps on the bed with us when I get home. That is the only time he sleeps in the bed (unless it's cold and he's using our body heat).

[omgzombies]

Sept 4, 2015 21:41:28 GMT -5 josieposy said:

time.com/4022357/cat-doesnt-need-you/


Cats don't seem to attach to their owners the way dogs do

Your cat doesn’t really need you, new study suggests.

According to a new study published in PLOS One journal, cats show little to no separation anxiety when they’re away from their owners and if/when they decide to stick around their human, it’s because they really want to.

Researchers studied the behavior of 20 cats after being placed in an unfamiliar location with their owner and with a stranger. The results suggest that our feline friends show little to no signs of distress when left alone in strange environments.

“Although our cats were more vocal when the owner rather than the stranger left them with the other individual, we didn’t see any additional evidence to suggest that the bond between a cat and its owner is one of secure attachment,” researcher Daniel Mills, professor of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine at the University of Lincoln’s School of Life Sciences, told the Telegraph.

Animal experts, however, say that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Cats don’t need humans to feel safe, and if they’re unhappy they have no qualms with walking out and not looking back. Therefore, when they feel comfortable enough to stay, they really mean it.

The study, too, is small and highly interpretative. Cats display distress and emotion in a variety of different ways — so perhaps your cat is different.

Bull.  Anytime we went away for a couple days we would come back and our poor kitties voice would be hoarse from mewling for us.  It was heartbreaking.