Cats Do Love Their Humans

[Cloverjo]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/that-feline-aloofness-is-actually-a-sign-of-affection-skqtbrwzv?shareToken=ed16f021e1cbfbe5caa76030c030dbdd

Of course they do love us. Mine loves me anyway.
Does yours love you?

[ummmm]

Only when he's hungry. He loves my son though.

[wolf63]

I understand dog body language and it's usually clear what mood the dog is in.
Cats are more difficult to understand. I actually fell for Merlin's invitation to scratch her belly. I got savaged for my stupidity.

They stick their bum in your face as a sign of love and affection - doesn't seem very affectionate to me.

I think Frankie trusts me and I hope that he loves me. He is totally ignoring me just now. Soon be lunchtime - he will tell me that he loves me then.

[Buenchico]

That report seems to regard 'attachment' and 'love' as largely synonymous. I'm not sure that other researchers would agree with that assumption.

My feline foursome definitely seem to miss me when I'm gone. For example, Moonbeam (who's happily curled up on my knee as I'm typing this) hates me going down the road to the Co-op just for a few minutes. He sits and howls as he watches me go and rushes up to greet me as soon as I come home. So there's undeniably 'attachment' there but is it really 'love'?

[Arksided]

You have a cat that howls Chris... sorry to break it to you but that ain't a cat. ;-)

When house-sitting their cats are very familiar with me and often do the paw padding thing (claws retracted) and nestle down on my lap... affection I like to believe so.

[wolf63]

I hope that you will be able to see these photographs. They have been taken by people all over the planet of interactions been cats and their humans.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/icatcare/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1291543554356959&ref=page_internal

It is an excellent organisation

[MrsLadyBug]

I am not sure if it love or just plain ' Centre of attention' thing.
Just had mine all over my desk stopping me from doing stuff on computer. She has now decided to curl up and sleep on top of my papers.
I actually put on one of those cat videos for a bit, just to see if they were as effective as claimed.
Not this one! Once she realised the birds weren't flying out of the screen into the room here she got bored.

[wolf63]

Arksided
My first cat howled, he would sit on the window shelf and howl at shadows and the moon. When he growled at my dad I was told that Cats don't growl, my dad was convinced that I had adopted a cat-looking dog.

Cats make stuff up as they go along, they each have their own vocabulary and they know how to get attention. They can also hear a fridge opening from miles around.

[craft1948]

Cats are the spawn of the devil...

[wolf63]

craft - Nah, Jack Russels and Yorkies are the spawn of the devil (and other rat-sized dogs that I can't spell the names of).

[MrsLadyBug]

Can't believe the hearing on my other cat, the one who refuses to use catflap.
Was going to give him a few lessons on entering and shook a bag of treats, hoping he was nearby.
Idea was to close door and sit with treats inside to get him through.
He was in door before I had chance!

[Arksided]

Wolf, honestly I never heard a cat Howl... now maybe that's because there's usually a pet dog about the place... typical cats eh... why bother.

[TonyV]

I have varying experiences in the past, never kept them housebound. 1st was a rescue cat that had been kept badly by previous owner who would follow me everywhere often of a night time when I was in bed asleep she would often bring me a "gift" that she had just caught. 2nd experience was with cat that I had from a kitten, eventually decided that neighbours was nicer and moved in there.

[Arksided]

Awe... awesome and sad at the same time Tony.

[MrsLadyBug]

Cats are very resourceful and will make whatever noise they can to get your attention depending on what they want.
My cat cries! (well it sounds like it)

[pastafreak]

Caspar definitely howls, and wails. He heads upstairs after eating and all I can hear is "wowww! Wowww! Wow wow!"...and it's very LOUD. Well, he is deaf after all, and needs to make sure he is heard.
He makes just as much noise coming down the stairs...

[ummmm]

Awww Tony, they just probably had nicer food!

[Cloverjo]

My previous two cats moved next door because the food was nicer - I was skint back then and could only afford the cheapo stuff. I thought they’d loved me before then.

My current one (a rescue) follows me everywhere, but barely tolerates my husband.

[Theland]

We have four. Two Ragdolls, a Siamese and a common Moggie. I am kind to them but they love my wife.

[wolf63]

Theland, are you not afraid that someone will kidnap your pedigree cats when they are out and about?

I fell asleep earlier and when I woke up Frankie was lying on top of me. He wanted to make sure I wouldn't get lost in my way to the bathroom on my own (he likes to go via his food bowl).

[campbellking]

Campbell cat loves the entire street (she knows how to work the public) and is on the good terms with the local traffic warden. Robbie on the other hand treats all strangers as a potential threat to life and spends most of his time indoors in case the bogeyman gets him.