[INFP] INFPs and Catlovin

[BlackCat]

You're in good company though.

What do you mean by that? Context fail.

 

[JivinJeffJones]

What do you mean by that? Context fail.

I mean there are plenty of otherwise admirable INFPs in the same boat as you.

 

[Thalassa]

If your kid was very sadistic, would you let him/her be? Would you consider it part of their nature, or even part of their appeal?

No, but that's because animals have instincts and humans do not. It is cruel to punish an animal for being what it is instinctively wired to be.

Besides, it actually can be good that cats are mousers. Have you ever had a mouse problem?

Cats helped to partially deter the black plague, after all.

 

[OrangeAppled]

I love cats. The "mean" ones are amusing, I admit, but if that was their only trait I would not like them. Most cats can be very lovable. My cat is aloof with most people, but snuggly with me. I suppose I identify, as I am the same way - aloof with most, but snuggly with those I trust.

 

[OrangeAppled]

No, most predatory, carnivorous animals kill their prey as quick as they can. They don't spend hours torturing it.

Cats don't play with prey for fun
Why Cats Play with Their Prey: Felines Release and Recapture Animals to Avoid Injury | Suite101.com

 

[JivinJeffJones]

No, but that's because animals have instincts and humans do not. It is cruel to punish an animal for being what it is instinctively wired to be.

You don't think humans have instincts? I agree it's cruel to punish an animal for being what it's instinctively wired to be if it can't be trained. If it can be trained, I think the owner has a responsibility to just as they have a responsibility to train their kids. If it acts in a manner you would consider sadistic and can't be trained out of it (and that's known from the start), then I'd rather not have such an animal. Maybe that's the attraction of INFPs to cats, at that? They can't be trained, therefore no responsibility.

Besides, it actually can be good that cats are mousers. Have you ever had a mouse problem?

Cats helped to partially deter the black plague, after all.

If a mouse problem is your reason for owning a cat, there are plenty of other solutions out there which offer far more humane ways of dealing with mice. Traps, poison, ferrets etc. They also spare the resident bird population.

 

[heart]

I am tired of the anti-cat agenda. Some people really dig cats. Get over it.

 

[BlackCat]

I mean there are plenty of otherwise admirable INFPs in the same boat as you.

Ah thanks.

 

[JivinJeffJones]

Cats don't play with prey for fun
Why Cats Play with Their Prey: Felines Release and Recapture Animals to Avoid Injury | Suite101.com

Looks like mere speculation from cat-lovers to me, rationalizing away their pets' less endearing traits.

I am tired of the anti-cat agenda. Some people really dig cats. Get over it.

The pro-cat agenda never ceases, so I don't see why an anti-cat agenda shouldn't be given a little air-time. It always puzzles me why such a purportedly moral and animal-loving type has such a big, fluffy blind-spot.

I'm not particularly interested in the fact that "some people" really dig cats - some people really dig spiders. I'm interested in why INFPs in particular seem to really dig cats, and do so in such a public way.

 

[Biaxident]

I'm interested in why INFPs in particular seem to really dig cats, and do so in such a public way.

Because they "dig" me. They seek me out, even if I have never seen them before. I have already had four or five apparent strays show up here. And I haven't been here 3 months yet.

If I am public about it, it's because people ask to see them.

 

[Amargith]

Erm, I want to join and support my I-siblings in this, cats rule!

and:

Humans.

+100000

 

[erm]

I like cats because they are cute, cuddly, friendly, warm, simple and have funny personalities. They also don't take much effort to look after.

I'm a sucker for anything even slightly cute.

Humans.

Haha.

As if humans are even close to being as sadistic as cats.

I love my cats, but I accept that they would kill me without a second thought if they were larger than me. They'd toy with me and rip out my innards whilst I was still alive, much like they do with other smaller animals.
I'm glad most humans wouldn't even consider that. In fact, they would likely look after me if I was tiny.

Granted though, lots of animals are more sadistic than cats. Badgers, for example, try to kill anything they get close to. But at least they don't toy with them, like say, killer whales and monkeys do.

Murder, torture and rape are a lot more common amongst animals than humans (especially cats). Where I live, there's lots of ducks, geese and swans. People still act shocked that the males get together and go around gang raping females of any species vaguely resembling their own. You'd think people would have realised where humans got those instincts from in the first place

Some people seem to ignore the perpetual war animals engage in every day of their lives. "Your acting like an animal" is an insult for a reason.

There are some species less sadistic than humans. Maybe a few herbivores. Even then it's debatable, come mating season it's not pretty. They certainly never engage in acts of kindness to anyone but their own kin. So they aren't as kind as humans. Probably less prone to sadism though.

 

[The Outsider]

I'm allergic and they have a great potential to annoy the hell out of me. I guess they can be cute at times, so I'll go with "I don't care about them".

I love dogs though.

 

[Tiltyred]

Ok, I'ma chime in because I love cats without reservation and because my J is just over the line.

JJJ, you don't know jack about cats, is the problem. And most people don't know anything about cats.

I have had cats my entire life, since I was a baby. Cats are faithful companions just like dogs. I've never had a cat who wouldn't come when I called it, even out of a sound sleep. I've never had a cat that didn't meet me at the door when I came home. My current rescue Maine Coon runs straight to the bed and wants me to lie down so she can rub herself up and down me and she purrs so hard it makes the bedsprings vibrate. She seeks me out for affection, she paws at me to pet her, she chirps lovey sounds at me. She scratched me once, one time, because the comb I was using on her pulled her hair. She scratched me with such precision, one claw, one scratch down the center of my thumb that drew blood and stung like a paper cut. So you can see she was not trying to hurt me, just to tell me I was hurting her. When I showed her that the scratch hurt me, the next time I inadvertently pulled her hair while grooming her, she mimicked scratching me and made sure her claws never touched me. (I've since thrown that comb out.)

My cat sits in the window and cries for me when I'm gone more than three days or so. I've begun to take her with me when I have to travel, because she grieves so hard when I leave. This is from the pet sitter, not my own observation. The pet sitter called me and asked me if I would talk to the cat on the phone(!) because she seemed to miss me so much. She put the phone on speaker and I talked to the cat like I do when I'm petting her. The pet sitter said she was purring and kissing the phone.

You most certainly can train cats. It takes some patience and you have to have developed a relationship with the cat first. Then it is essential to realize about cats that everything they do involves a considered decision. They don't refuse because they don't know what you want; they refuse because they reserve the right to make their own decisions. I totally respect that. The best way to ask a cat to do something is to ask for it and then look away and display that you are totally unattached to the outcome and it is their decision. WHEN you make it clear that it is a request and not a demand, the cat will do what you ask, as long as it understands. It's not hard to make them understand, either. It's more of "Would you care to?" than "Do this."

Attributes of cats:
fidelity
devotion
gentleness
sweetness
grace
agility
intelligence
self-possession
poise
inquisitiveness
playfulness ...

Dogs are great, too, but yeah, I don't want a creature that I have to tie a rope around its neck and escort it outdoors to pee, otherwise it will void all over the carpet. I can take myself to the bathroom and so can my cat. I scoop her box the second she uses it, just like I flush the toilet immediately after I use it, and neither of our bathrooms smell.

I had one cat who pooped on my bed when I would not entertain his requests for attention. He only started that after I broke his heart by leaving for several days, and the cat sitter service I had hired did not show up for two days, unbeknownst to me. If I had not had 20 minutes to rush home and check on him, I would not have known. Anyway. He felt betrayed and he was angry, and if he wanted to be petted or me to stop what i was doing and play with him and I did not, soon after I would smell the evidence; he would poop on the pillow I lay my head on, not the other one. It was very clearly a message.

But see, a dog would turn around and eat that.

(That's right. I said it.)

I chalk up the anti-cat sentiment to ignorance. It's like people who think dogs are inherently vicious because they once saw one snarl.

I do not take for granted my cat would eat me, for pete's sake. Has anyone else seen the film about the two guys who raised a lion cub and then released him into (an appropriate) wild ... and how the lion remembered them and greeted them with huge affection even years later? Or the PBS film about the leopard and the baboons who teased him constantly? He finally got ahold of the female baboon who was most merciless, not noticing that she had a tiny infant attached to her. The leopard did not eat the infant and did everything it could to take care of it. The baby died of cold and starvation up in the tree next to the leopard.

 

[Domino]

I realized after I made the poll that my feelings towards cats are too ambivalent for the options I provided. I quite like some things about them but hate others.

Troublemaker.

 

[The Outsider]

So some people prefer cats and other prefer dogs. Is it really necessary to mock the other animal?

 

[OrangeAppled]

Looks like mere speculation from cat-lovers to me, rationalizing away their pets' less endearing traits.

It's all felines, not just house cats. And remember, no cat is truly domesticated

 

[wren]

Cats are a pet I've always been comfortable with.

 

[JivinJeffJones]

Great post Tilty. Loved the anecdotes. Contrary to popular belief, this is not intended to be a cats vs dogs thread. And you're right - I am ignorant of the kind of trainability, implicit accountability and demonstrative affectionateness (is that a word?) you seem to have experienced with your cats, never having seen nor heard of it before. Most cat-lovers I've encountered happily acknowledge their cats' lack of accountability and indeed consider it a laudable trait, and the foundation upon which they can project all manner of unjustifiable (and usually positive) anthropomorphisms. But if you can stop your cats from engaging in the kind of sadism I've seen them exhibit then my main objection to them as pets largely disappears. I guess a bell on the collar would help stop the behaviour, if not the nature.

As for the crack about a dog eating its own poop, have you ever actually seen that happen?

 

[The Outsider]

A well taught dog never voids in home, or even home yard, nor would they need a rope around their necks. Also, dogs don't eat their own poop, they are known to eat cats' though. They grow out of it though, at least mine did.