One little anthro

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Speaking cat!

www.1littleanthro.com

Speaking cat!

Easier than speaking to humans (at least for me)

Srikanth Ramanujam
Aug 29, 2022
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Speaking cat!

www.1littleanthro.com

Daily musings #585 - Monday, 29 August 2022

brown Scottish fold in brown thick-pile blanket
Photo by Mikhail Vasilyev on Unsplash

I am not a cat person. Partly because I am allergic to some and mostly because I did not grow up with animals much.

I was not a dog person either. But now we had had our dog for nearly 11 years. And it changes you. I grew up being programmed to believe that dogs were not welcome, they bite and you die. Etc. Etc. Victims of a bygone naive era where one was not expected to be questioning and curious. You just followed the thinking of the two previous generations. And so we grew up.

I am now exposed to various cats, one of my neighbors’ outdoor cats has befriended me, and last week I spent some time with another neighbor’s indoor cat whose owner was away on vacation. And from my interactions, I realized cats and dogs are totally different and had to go back to my drawing board on learning new techniques on “How to speak cat?”

Conveniently at the same time as my need, Netflix released an interesting research-based documentary “Inside the Mind of a Cat” and it was excellent in serving my purpose.

I learned several things by the practice of what I learned with both the cats I engage with:

  • Cats are not dogs, they know their name but don’t have a big vocabulary. My dog probably knows over 300 words in two languages.

  • Cats are fiercely independent and engage on their own terms. Approaches to reaching out to cats are different from dogs.

  • Cats are not food motivated. Training them is a patient repetitive process in small increments.

  • Tail usage and signals are different from dogs including a happy tail that is straight up.

  • Various types of purring patterns and ear shape responses for engage or foe and fight back situations. Differences in biting and scratching approaches.

  • The way they play is different. And cat bodies are hugely flexible and are able to predict their ability to squeeze their body through small holes using whiskers on the face and feet to predict that possibility in advance. And their ability to be buoyant and land on their feet by reorientation of their body during jumps.

So I have started speaking a little bit cat now. And I find that knowledge useful and appreciative of these little animals. And hope to grow it over time.


My previous dog tales:

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Dog tails of winter
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a year ago · Srikanth Ramanujam
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Quantum aging
Kobe’s 10 years old today. It is interesting to note that in dog years he is younger than me this year and will be older than me next year by his birthday. That is what we call quantum aging. A dynamic leap in aging. A term suggested to me by my daughter. And it feels like that when we look at how a dog’s age is compared to human aging c…
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a year ago · Srikanth Ramanujam
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Cradle to grave
In 2012 we wanted to get a dog. We had initially brought a dog home and it was extremely nippy and afraid and was barking all the time. We ended up returning the dog to its previous owner after a few days’ time. We decided next (sort of impulsively) to get a puppy and based on p…
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2 years ago · Srikanth Ramanujam
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No pack left behind
I am back to walking outside the house the last couple of days. I join in on the dog-walk sessions both morning and evening that are about 15-20 minutes long. But I am very slow at walking still - both from energy issues and the wounds on my leg impeding me…
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2 years ago · Srikanth Ramanujam
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8:05 PM
It was 8:05 PM. And my dog got up. Wanted to go out once finally before he went upstairs to sleep. Like clockwork. And he was back to his exact nightly routine at 8:05 PM. His routine had been disturbed for a week when he struggled with his routine and was confused due to the c…
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10 months ago · Srikanth Ramanujam
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Anthropological orientations
My dog is an anthropologist. He is always observing the humans and surroundings with a deep anthropological curiosity to learn from those patterns he observes. My dog has anxiety to be alone. So to quiet his senses I often talk to him about what I am doing. That reinforces the fact that I am only going for a specific task a…
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10 months ago · Srikanth Ramanujam
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And pigs can and do "fly"
If you are confused why the caption says pig and the title picture has a dog, I can assure you one thing, it is not a bait and switch of any sort. I love learning from animal behavior and I keenly learn from my dog, cats, squirrels, rabbits, robins, cardinals, and the…
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2 years ago · Srikanth Ramanujam
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Speaking cat!

www.1littleanthro.com
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