What the heck is with this trope that cats are jerks?

[GrownupGirl]

Cats rule and dogs drool!

 

[Riley]

Honestly, I think I prefer cats over dogs due to personal experiences with both reality and fiction.

On my worst days, I hate dogs as much as I hate orcas and rabbits.

 

[Smiley]

One of my cats is a jerk to the other non-humans. He's the one that's most friendly with people.

Sometimes the dog is a jerk too. The other cat is usually pretty chill - she just wants to be left alone.

 

[Robin Winter]

Cat's aren't jerks, they're complex. I've studied our cats' behavior over the years, they sense things people don't, like when someone doesn't like them for example. People who think cats are jerks probably already have a negative bias against cats, and the cats sense that. They're also very exacting about how they will interact, and in many ways it's different with each individual, and if that's not respected, they'll make sure you know it. Something I can empathize with quite easily, in fact. We just need to make the effort to learn their language and get to know them as an individual.

Another thing that ticks me off is when people claim that animals are solely instinct....every animal we've ever adopted has had a very distinct personality. One of our cats is far more independent than the other, never hangs out with us, we don't even see her half the time (except at bedtime, she joins us when we do our daughters bedtime routine, every night). When one of us is sick though, she comes in and lays with us on the bed, nuzzles us, makes biscuits on us, comforting things. The other cat is the complete opposite, she's emotionally needy, always with us in bed, when we're watching TV, etc., curled up against one of us. When we're not in our room she cries until we come back. But the minute I'm not well, she disappears into the other room and stays away until I'm doing better.

Cats are absolutely fascinating creatures.

 

[GrownupGirl]

A lot of people, especially non-cat people, think that when cats look at them with squinty, heavy lidded eyes that the cat is wearing a smug, arrogant expression. But when cats look that way it really just means they're relaxed and content.

Funny how I can understand animal expressions better than human ones.

 

[tree]

"...the tricky semantics of calling a cat a 'psychopath' when it is just … a cat."

"Cats... simply don’t have the facial muscles to make the variety of expressions a dog (or human) can. So when we look at a cat staring at us impassively, it looks like a psychopath who cannot feel or show emotion. But that’s just its face. Cats communicate not with facial expressions but through the positions of their ears and tails. Their emotional lives can seem inscrutable—and even nonexistent—until you spend a lot of time getting to know one.

Dogs, on the other hand, have learned to mimic humans. They do that thing where they pull their mouths back into something resembling a smile. They hang their heads in a way that looks super guilty. Just as humans have shaped the physical appearance of dogs, we’ve bred them to be extremely attuned to human social cues. Dogs that repeatedly raise their brows to make cute puppy faces are more likely to be adopted out of shelters."

Why We Think Cats Are Psychopaths - The Atlantic

 

[Tom]

Not really related but about cats at least.

 

[Book Reader]

We have three cats. Family of three. Each one has picked one of us as the owner. Mine is the black one. Sleeps with me every night. Cats pick you not the other way around. All three like me and they are great to have. Litter boxes better than walking a dog especially with my commute and work hours. It works.

 

[Clueless in Canada]

There is an article about this in The Atlantic which I just shared on Facebook. It boils down to people not actually understanding cats, the fact that dogs have been domesticated and conditioned to meet human needs while cats have not and it is a sweeping generalisation because cat personalities vary quite a bit.

 

[tree]

There is an article about this in The Atlantic which I just shared on Facebook. It boils down to people not actually understanding cats, the fact that dogs have been domesticated and conditioned to meet human needs while cats have not and it is a sweeping generalisation because cat personalities vary quite a bit.

Sounds like the article cited in Post #26.

 

[Clueless in Canada]

Sounds like the article cited in Post #26.

Yes, you are right. I missed that in my first scroll through.