If I raise a kitten with lots of loving and playing and cuddles, can I make it be really friendly and loving (unlike most felines) when it's grown up? Almost like a dog
>>2117613
No. Actually, you want to do the exact opposite. Don't engage the cat at all. Pet it when it comes to you for petting, only after it touches you first. Never pick it up when not necessary, never make it feel like it can't easily escape a situation (don't hold it, let it rest on you. there's a difference)
... cats want everything on their terms so they can feel secure. unlike dogs, cats do not desire to please you. they live for themselves. it is up to you to be a part of their life, not the other way around.
After a few years of that, you'll have the clingiest fucking cat in the world because they learned that, without a doubt, you are not going to interfere with their life and it's safe to come to you for some scratching and company, and they know they'll be free to leave whenever.
Antisocial dogs and social cats are outlyers. Dogs because of long term domestication encouraging friendly traits, and cats because they're simply independent by nature. Some cats are just super friendly with no interference or trust-building period. It happens. Maybe you'll get lucky.
>>2117613
No. All cats are predestined to be assholes.
Depends on your breed somewhat. Some breeds of cats bond with their owner much more, but it also means they'll be bigger assholes to strangers (siamese or bengals for instance). Others are just more affectionate all around like maine coons and especially ragdolls.
Of course these are just tendencies. My friend has two domestic shorthairs who are from the same litter and were raised the same way. One of them is the most affectionate cat I've ever seen, he's a purring machine who will even cuddle up to complete strangers; the other is rather shy though he isn't mean either.
Cats are every bit as affectionate and loving as dogs. People are just assholes to cats and don't treat them like a valued member of the household. If you are affectionate and kind towards your cat, your cat will bond very strongly to you.
Part of the problem is misperception since cat body language is apparently difficult to understand (?). Part of the problem is that people seem to think that leaving a cat outside is acceptable. Outdoor only or outdoor mostly cats are not fully socialized. Of course they'll bond to whoever shows them more care than their neglectful owners.
>>2117820
>Cats are every bit as affectionate and loving as dogs.
This is what cat people actually believe.
>>2117820
>If you are affectionate and kind towards your cat, your cat will bond very strongly to you.
Please go read up on cat behavior - why they do what they do, and how to interpret their body language. You are talking out of your ass in that whole post. The worst thing you can do to a cat is lay it on thick when they're not asking for it. They have to be in control. You do not initiate until they give you the all clear.
A lot of people come on these boards and are like "I do feed the cat, do the litterbox, and pick him up and play with him and love on him, but he always goes to my roommate/dad/brother who doesn't pay attention to them at all and lays next to him instead of me" .... it's because they are talking the cat's language. Cat recognize being ignored, not looking at them, and not touching them as a show of trust.
I'm not gonna sit here and debate it with anecdotes. Do your own research. Google isn't hard. It will pay off in the end.
>>2117820
>>2118563
you guys are both wrong and right
being affectionate and huggy with your KITTEN is the right thing to do, because it gets them used to the idea of that, while socializing them as kittens also helps make them more friendly with people and animals.
forcibly petting and hugging your grown up cat however is not right, you have to let them come to you or get lucky and have one with an overly friendly and affectionate personality.
>can I make it be really friendly and loving (unlike most felines)
where does this perception even come from, are people reply that bad at interacting with cats and reading their nonverbal language?
I work in a shelter and a lot of the cats are extremely loving and affectionate, they're just inherently different animals than dogs, so they're not going to act the same
>>2118595
You siply can't compare the level of affection a dog and a cat show towards thir owner, and that's what people base their preception from. Any and all dogs will fucking piss themselves in happiness to see you and will jump onto your arms and lick you, and jump around, and be overall the happiest things this world has yet to see.
Cats will give you a cute headbutt, sit on your lap for 20 minutes and disappear from your sight the next three hours.
>>2117617
Could this work on my 2 year old cat? She isn't snuggly in the least.
>>2117734
All dogs are predestined to be killers
>>2118599
>owning something that would be happy to kill you if given the chance
>owning something that will bite a kid at some point in its life and you get to watch as they put it down
Dog owners are bat shit crazy. My brothers exes boxer killed her little dog for no reason. Best friends for a long time. The boxer knocks my brother down and he hits his head so hard he passes out. The boxer killed the little dog while his ex is sad about the big dog getting put to sleep. She changed her name to the dead dogs name.
They're different animals with different ways of socialising and bonding, so if you're really set on something outgoing and dog-like, you're probably better off getting the dog instead of getting a kitten and being disappointed when you can't make it act like a dog through the power of loving it really hard. Cats do bond with their owners, but they tend to be quieter, less demonstrative and more independent animals, and it's not because no one's ever tried loving their kitten lots and lots. Alternatively, look at adult cats and see if you can find one that has the right personality, there are some cats that are more friendly and outgoing than others.
>>2118599
>Any and all dogs will fucking piss themselves in happiness to see you and will jump onto your arms and lick you, and jump around, and be overall the happiest things this world has yet to see.
sounds like you don't actually have a lot of experience with a lot of dogs. they can and do kill people. I've seen an unprovoked dog pin an old lady to the ground and maul her so bad she needed several surgeries and doesn't have ears anymore. a lot of dogs will growl or give warnings if you touch places like their mouth or paws and they don't like it. a lot of dogs will become possession aggressive. a lot of dogs don't like other dogs and will attack them.
I've worked with dogs and cats for a long ass time, and while I personally like dogs more, I'm not a deluded moron that thinks they're all inherently these affectionate animals. they're not. if you bother to socialize a cat (a lot of people don't, which is where issues come from) and know how to read them they're wonderful companions. just because you're too stupid to understand doesn't mean it's not true, anon
>>2118616
I'm talking about the relationship between the animal and its owner, not the animal with any fucking human, sorry if I wasn't clear enough.
I know dogs can be dangerous, but the amount of times something like your story has happened is very, very small, compared to the amount of dogs that are simply an hyperactive ball of fur and unconditional love.
I do prefer cats, though.
>>2117613
My cat hated us and everyone when we got here 7 yrs ago, didn't take her more than a few though to be like a dog as far as friendliness goes - I think the key is to get a breed of cat that doesn't like other cats - we have a Tonkinese, they don't even like other Tonkinese cats unless they are of the same litter and even then maybe only the opposite sex.
>>2118603
>Could this work on my 2 year old cat?
Yes, but it takes time. A lot of time. Just make the behavior part of your life. After a few months, it will kick in slowly. The cat I have right now was 9 years old when it moved in with me (it came with my wife). It took somewhere in the area of 6-8 months of being ignored before it started choosing me over her.
The funny thing is the cat was still sleeping on HER head. But the cat would come to my lap on the couch. Probably because I pet her without knowing it when I'm awake, but not asleep.
There are some other tricks to ignoring a cat. For example, ever notice when you look at a cat, they will squint their eyes and look away? That is them saying "I trust you not to hurt me, and I want you to know I'm not going to hurt you either" ... so do that to them if they catch you looking at them. Close your eyes and turn your head the same way they do .... if they don't do that to you now and then, then the cat doesn't like you for some reason (some cats are just not trusting). Oops.
>>2118605
>Dog owners are bat shit crazy.
When you start a post with that, no one is going to listen to anything else you have to say. Even 99% of cat people will admit that not all dog owners are completely insane. Most are just negligent or ill informed, but they're not all on Joker's level.
Besides, crazy rarely affects the dog. Completely unrelated. The craziest woman I know (an ex-girlfriend's mother with BPD) had a fucking 175lb timber wolf. She took 10x better care of that wolf than she did her daughter. But, hey, easy lay because her daughter was cracked, so that's good. Nice dog, too.
>>2117613
cats are friendy and loving if you just feed them and cuddle occasionaly, its just that they are cats, they got lives of their own, youre just a dear friend/parent, not the bee all end all god-alpha as dogs see it
>>2118563
Wow. Chill.
I never said to force affection onto a cat. I said that they're every bit as affectionate as dogs and that people just don't understand because they don't understand cat body language.
I'm the Anon with the cat (Sunny) that would sit and play piano with me, that I used to share yogurt with, that I would play with outside, that would walk me to and from the school bus when I was a kid. And the cat (C.C.) that I rescued when I was 12 that would freak the fuck out if I wasn't in visual range, that slept with his head in my hand every night, that I got an apartment while I was in college just so I could bring him with me (!), and who I could take camping and hiking with me. I've completely tamed adult ferals (cats, dogs, horses, goats) and have had very positive relationships with wild animals in recovery (deer, various birds, marmots, skunks, opossums, various amphibians, etc, etc, OMFG).
I was going to get a DVM until I volunteered with my vet for 2.5 years and decided that the lack of pay + witnessing the truly horrific things people do to their pets completely destroyed that plan.
Chill dude.
Mammals have different ways of showing affection. I wouldn't try to play fetch with a horse. I would lean against a horses shoulder and gently scratch it's back. I wouldn't get into a tickle fight with a dog, just a rat. I wouldn't pick up and cuddle a rabbit, but I would lay on my stomach and touch noses. Dogs don't like it when you hug them, but if you bounce around and squeal with joy around them they go wild. Different mammals, different ways to show affection.
Cats are amazingly affectionate and loving animals. That just show it differently than dogs or other mammals.
Worked for me, but we got my little guy from essentially a flea closet where the kittens would take chunks out of each other over a piece of salami. My brother and his girlfriend were always dicks to him, putting him in build-a-bear clothes and shit but I always got them to cut that shit out. The cat is really submissive to me, let's me touch his hands and pick him up like a baby and over my shoulder. Maybe it's because I'm the only who can be arsed to pay attention to him when he's stampeding through the house and mewling at 2am.
>>2117613
In my experience cats may adora a person more if they don't bother them all the time and they feel safe near that person.
>>2117820
>there are actual morons that think felines have the same social psychology as primates
Top kek you cat thinks of you as a slave.
>>2117613
if you want unconditional affection then get a dog. cats, though loving in their own way, are more of tsundere type of love if you will
>>2119567
>>2119577
The more safe and secure you make a cat feel, the more demanding they'll be for attention and affection. Let the cat come to you. Give the cat awesome soft places to stare out the window. Make sure the cat knows that it has a safe, special place on the bed with you at night. When you pick up your cat, hold it in a way that the cat can jump down freely at any time. The more loosely you treat a cat, the more the cat will come to you. Don't be demanding. Offer to play. Pat your lap if you want some petting/cuddling time. Never force a cat. Cats also like to be at head level. So sit on the floor while your cat is on it's cat tree and play with it that way. If you play with your cat often enough as a kitten, your cat will learn how to use it's claws very softly with you. It's kinda cool. You'll gets scratches at first, but your kitten will learn really quickly what actually hurts you and will become gentle even in play.
You can even teach your cat to do stupid cat tricks. I would make the "ok" hand sign and hold my hand above my cat and he would stand on his hind legs and touch my hand. Stupid cat trick. Cats are awesome. You just have to learn their body language and be willing to be patient and figure out what they're telling you and then they'll follow you everywhere you go and be an awesome buddy.
Actually, since I'm talking about training cats,
I had a cat that was trained to put away her toys when she was done with them. When she wanted to go outside, she would go get her harness. She would put small pieces of trash in the trash can for me. Cats are so fucking easy to train. People just have this weird perception about cats that's totally wrong.
We had cats and dogs. The dogs would gleefully eat the cat food if they had access to it. So the cat food dish was on a small portion of the counter in the kitchen. The cats knew that they got that one portion of the kitchen counter and that was it. All we had to do to train them is just use "disappointment voice" and pick them up and put them on their portion when they weren't on the right part of the counter and then praise them and pet them whenever we found them on their part of the counter.
My cat (Sunny) who would wait for me to dry him off if he had been out in the rain; that part of the counter near his food dish is where he would stand for me to dry him off.
When I went away to college and took C.C. with me, he was the only pet I had so he no longer needed a counter space. So I just picked him up off of the counter whenever I found him up there and within a week he understood that he didn't get counter anymore.
Disturbing lack of affectionate kittehs in here
I desire a kitty
>>2119178
Interesting piece of information, thank you anon.
>>2118604
Hey hey hey, hold up. Not all dogs are pit bulls, mr.journalist.
>>2119178
I make the squinty eyes at my cat and my boyfriend teases me because he says it looks ridiculous.
Depends on breed, personality, and how soon you got them.
My family had to keep a male kitten that still hadn't opened its eyes yet and feed it and such and once it could be safe outside of its "crib" we would keep it close to us and it basically acted just like a dog. No survival instincts whatsoever, very little "normal" feline body language, very affectionate.
On the other side we also had a female cat we had picked up from a shelter when she was around 2-3 years old. Like any normal cat she hated unwanted attention and was wary even when seeking people out; eventually I moved out and took the female cat with me, and she's MUCH more affectionate in her new environment. She even waits for me at the front window when I leave and sleeps on the pillow next to me.
>>2119649
>Cats love to be at head level
I hear that, and I see it in most cats, but for some reason my old cat has some really strange behavior.
She seems to insist that my head be higher than hers. If we're both on the floor and I'm bending down or laying down to put my head at the same level as hers she'll start lowering her head like she's bowing
>>2120000
weird
>>2117613
>get a young female dog
>get a baby cat
>cat is gonna think dog is mummy
>dog is gonna think the opposite
>mother dog will teach cat how to be a dog
>cat will start behaving like dog
>....
>Profit???
worked on mine tho. Dogs are also fucking scared of her when she starts defending her territory. Lot's of hurt dogs that tried to snack her dogfood. Her mother was an anti-police husky
>>2118558
I don't understand.
Some cat's can be extremely loving. I have 2 cats. One is skiddish and hates everyone but me. With me she is extremely loving and will sit in my lap and cuddle all day long but with strangers or even my GF that has lived with me for 4 years she wants nothing to do with them.
My other cat fucking loves people. He loves everyone. He will jump into anyone's arms and kiss and love on that person all god damn day.
My mom's cat on the other hand use to be really loving as a kitten as well but my nieces and nephews use to fucking torture the poor guy. Like drop him, pull on his tail, throw shit at him ect. I fucking hate those kids. Anyways, now that he isn't a kitten anymore he is extremely aggressive even to my mom. He only lets her pet him early in the morning and late at night. When he wants food he will start biting and snipping at people's legs.
It makes me really sad. He use to be an amazing cat and loved to play. But those fucking kids tortured him in his most important development ages.
>>2118605
that's cause little dogs are fucking gay and total assholes. theyre basically less shitty cats. 90% of the cats that my family has owned have been feral assholes. you can rehab a fairly shitty dog. if a cat sucks, it sucks for life
if you want an affectionate cat, go to a shelter and play with a bunch of cats, take home the most affectionate one
works every time
>>2120029
Well thats just outside cats in general. They see a dog they will fuck it up
My cats have always been somewhat dog-like, I think. They play and cuddle, they always demand to be in the same room as you even if they're just sleeping, they like it when you rub their tummies and toes, they enjoy hugs and so on. They talk to me and lick me. I raise them gently, I think, but I don't really follow any of the behavioural bullshit about them having to be in control. I pet them and play with them whenever I wish but stop if they seem annoyed, which is almost never. They come to me when I look at them or call them, love company and always greet and play with guests.
Not that I especially want them to be outgoing and playful, they just turn out that way. I'd love them either way.
I've had one exception though: my friend visited me when I had a couple of kittens. He loves cats and was really excited to see them, so he picked one of the kittens up by surprise and held the uneasy cat for a while. It ran away and hid, and to this day it's super shy and runs and hides the whole day after hearing the doorbell.
My friend, he has a few cats as well and they're all asocial assholes with no exception. Well, he adopted one and the cat was pretty friendly for a few months until it slowly picked up the memetic "asshole cat" personality that most households seem to cause.
>>2119654
i'm confurious how do you train your cat to put away their toys/go on walks?
or do you need to start training while they're still a kitten
![f9ba40_5e57e3e8b9874472b052cbb82c763c70[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/KMk7652.png "f9ba40_5e57e3e8b9874472b052cbb82c763c70[1].png")
>>2119576
>Top kek you cat thinks of you as a slave
He doesn't think of you as one
You ARE his slave
If I came into your house and you cleaned up after me, cleaned up my shit, and fed me, and all I had to do was lay around, sleep, and play when I felt like it, then take a wild guess at what you are, slave boy...
>>2119197
>youre just a dear friend/parent
No, you're the guy who brings the food when the cat is too lazy to hunt for it
In only one month my cat was already sleeping on my lap and meowing to get my attention.
I just played with her, put her food and petted her, and she's one of the most sociable cats I've ever seen. She can't stay alone or she'll start to cry until someone shows up.
So yeah, cats CAN be all friendly with you if they trust you.
>>2123860
Slaves don't have the right to drop their masters in a shelter when they get tired of them though
I napped with my kitten a lot, letting it sleep on my neck and stomach (I'd close the door so it couldn't get out and I would lay on the floor or bring it up on the bed so it could to me easily) and doing that made it the most affectionate adult cat ever. She is very clingy and follows me around all the time.
Not sure if there were other factors, but I guess she's always had a friendly, outgoing personality ever since she was a baby.
>>2123800
She wasn't ever let outside unless she had on her harness and leash. At first it was a battle since cats don't like it when you play dress up. Eventually she realized that the harness and leash are a good thing and got her what she wanted. She would then attack me if I didn't harness her up quickly enough.
The toys thing was more of an accident. I was going through a super tidy phase and just constantly put anything that was lying around away if it was being actively used. The cat picked up on it. So she'd pull out whatever toy she wanted, play with it for a while and then put it back. The only difference was that her idea of where the toys went and my idea were different. But considering that she was actually picking up after herself, eventually all her toys just started getting stored in the dog toy basket too.
Cats train very easily with consistency. It's the same thing with the kitchen counter. They never got punished, they just got moved and the counter got cleaned again. Eventually they figured it out and everything was awesome.
Don't make a fuss, just be very, very consistent.
>>2117820
>Cats are every bit as affectionate and loving as dogs. People are just assholes to cats and don't treat them like a valued member of the household. If you are affectionate and kind towards your cat, your cat will bond very strongly to you.
Absolutely this! Dont yell, don't play rough and use toys to make sure it gets its energy on the toy and not your hands. Yes sometimes breed can play into it, but a cat is a wonderful companion ... just give lots of love and sweet talk, praise it when it does something good, keep that litter pan cleaned everyday, feed it quality food on a schedule.
My older cat doesn't like to snuggle but he wants to be by me all the time. Our new kitten is a lover boy (foster kitten raised around kids and dogs so it was already socialized amazingly well) and just loves head kisses and laying in your arms. Every cat will be different in a way of course, but every cat that I've ever known responds VERY well to calm, sweet voices and not over stimulating them. Just my 2 cents after years of working for a vet. Ended up disliking dogs and loving cats even more go figure.
>>2117613
>>2117617
Pretty much what this guy said, I got extremely lucky when I adopted this 3-5 week old stray who's mother had taken off. I was out back havin' a smoke when this tiny thing just came up to me meow'ing up a storm, I didn't do anything to him he just decided on his own I was going to be his friend and he climbed right up me.
This tiny kitten who I'd never seen before just clawed his way straight up to my shoulders and perched there. I remember my grandmother saying it was going to be the coldest night of the season that day so I took him inside, fed him, and here he is a year later.
Keep him well fed, don't try to force any interaction, pretty much the opposite of what you'd expect to do to get a friendly kitty and he'll grow a strong attachment. It gets kind of annoying how sometimes he'll just decide its time to play and I'm busy. He'll climb up and just plant his ass on my keyboard or climb into my lap and lay his head on my arms.
But ya, give him some space and hope he has a natural affinity for friendliness
>>2126001
black cats best cats
