sticking a finger out for them to sniff and rub against is another good one. hypothesis is that it's not dissimilar from the way cats bump noses and rub their scent off on each other
I also like making myself small and crouching and being as still as possible. I've befriended many skittish feline this way
I really like cats :)
bharatsuthar 9 hours ago [-]
I do all that plus I growl, hiss, rub my nose/cheeks against theirs, lick and groom their neck and forehead area just like cats. I imitate a dozen more cat behaviours.
I'm blessed with a lot of stray cats and slow-blinking alone helped me become friends with the most feral and aggressive tomcats here.
yesitcan 2 hours ago [-]
Do you think that licking cats helps you befriend them?
BlackRabbit1 12 minutes ago [-]
Lots of research assistants will have to lick cats to reach a significant Sigma for proving this statement.
All on-campus cats will be very very confused for a while.
8 hours ago [-]
moron4hire 8 hours ago [-]
Toxoplasmosis
bharatsuthar 8 hours ago [-]
Original comment got deleted so I assume it was about parasitic/bacterial infection? Not something I lose sleep over because my risk appetite is pretty high. The actual danger is physical. A muscular alpha male cat can overpower my hands for a couple of seconds and that's all it takes to get bitten or scratched deep. I've had some fairly significant injuries to my face over the years.
Glad I wasn't the only one instantly reminded of the catshite parasite.
prox 2 hours ago [-]
This works for most dogs as well, or any pet really. Scent is very important for them and builds trust.
aaron695 41 minutes ago [-]
[dead]
INTPenis 1 hours ago [-]
Most animals show relaxation and stress through the eyes.
I use the same trick for dogs, I narrow my eyes slightly to show that I'm not staring at them wildly. Even if they just stare back.
Staring is a stress reaction, you're 100% focused on a potential threat.
justnoice 3 days ago [-]
My apartment bans all pets. The agent even told me I can't keep fish.
I really wish I could fall asleep next to a cat. Their purring is absolutely mesmerizing.
fnordian_slip 3 days ago [-]
Do saltwater aquariums fall under pets? Technically they're animals, but maybe they're not defined as such in your contract.
Just an idea if you want some kind of animal hobby :)
toast0 9 hours ago [-]
> Do saltwater aquariums fall under pets? Technically they're animals, but maybe they're not defined as such in your contract.
I don't see how an aquarium is an animal??? It's just glass/maybe plastic and framing.
Anyway, probably a saltwater acquarium is ok, unless you fill it or have something living in it. Acquariums with water are often specifically prohibited because of the posibility of failure and subsequent water damage.
hualapais 9 hours ago [-]
Just experienced this with one of the reclining mountain lions at the San Diego Zoo; the same two short blinks followed by an extended slow blink in response to my own. There were others nearby but we alone seemed to be “sharing that moment”.
at_a_remove 16 minutes ago [-]
I sometimes am asked to explain the behavior of friends’ pets, as I often on the end of joshing about me being a Disney princess, since folks’ animals get glued to me.
A cat of three years residence, the mother was frustrated that only her son was tolerated by the skittish animal. No lap, no pets, just distance. They went out of town for a few days so I was to cat-sit. First night, I sent a picture of the cat in bed with me, not quite touching.
I had done some experiments and the cat just did not like eye contact at all. Additionally, she prefers to be at fingertip distance, if one stretches. I sat in the bed, next to and facing the wall. Ten minutes of headboard staring in, the cat is parked about six inches behind me.
Full Raiders of the Lost Ark mode. After my suggestions, the cat was less distant. Now, when I visit, I put my jacket on the couch about three feet off. Poof, a cat appears on my jacket. I do not acknowledge. Sometimes my hand dangles near the floor and I get a brush-by. That is what she is comfortable with. You have to take them as they come.
All cats are neurotic; each cat is neurotic in its own peculiar way.
AnotherGoodName 3 days ago [-]
Another cat one is that i’m pretty about is that sitting or sleeping in another's usual spot is in no way a sign of dominance.
My cats do this to each other and it’s clearly taken as an invitation for affection by the other cat. They’ll sit in my chair and be happy when i gently wiggle in with them too.
It leads to a lot of stolen dog beds due to the interspecies communication barrier but i’m absolutely convinced it’s not the assholery it’s perceived to be. Merely a miscommunication.
totetsu 3 days ago [-]
Growing up with cats I feel like I just learned this naturally.
meredithbloom 2 hours ago [-]
For me it's like reading that someone just discovered that grapes are sweet and wrote an article about their discovery.
cubix 9 hours ago [-]
Me, too. Conversely, my wife seems to have little intuition for what cats or dogs are feeling. She grew up without any animals. It's probably like human language - fluency is more likely to be achieved in childhood.
buildsjets 3 days ago [-]
Now a double-blind scientific study must be performed to evaluate the effectiveness of pspsps.
2 hours ago [-]
glerk 8 hours ago [-]
This is common knowledge among cat owners. Slow blink is the closest signal to "I love you".
> I trust you so much I choose to momentarily close my eyes in your presence. I know you won't rip me apart with your claws, although you have the capacity to do so as a predator.
pazimzadeh 4 hours ago [-]
I love/trust you and will close my eyes, but once my eyes are closed I can't see what you're doing, so I check multiple times if you also love/trust me by blinking a few times
yesitcan 2 hours ago [-]
My car slow-blinks me while mauling my arm. What does that mean?
Anyone tried this with a stray cat? Wonder if it works before they get used to people.
bharatsuthar 8 hours ago [-]
It worked for me. I've tried it with feral cats who had essentially zero human interaction history, and I made great progress without involving food or other trust-making processes.
It's not a magic bullet but more of an amplifier. Cats probably use far many data points alongside to assess safety.
fibonachos 3 hours ago [-]
It’s worked for me with multiple strays, one of whom is no longer a stray. The other one who hangs around is still quite feral, but he has grown less skittish over time.
avadodin 3 days ago [-]
I didn't realize they kept their eyes half open, though. Will try that next time I meet a cat.
JumpCrisscross 3 days ago [-]
The other movement—weirdly more prevalent among American than European cats?—is looking away after the slow blink.
It also seems to work on nervous small dogs.
georgemcbay 3 hours ago [-]
> It also seems to work on nervous small dogs.
I've had multiple cats over many years (childhood pet, and a couple of cats as an adult) and like other cat owners, learned the slow blink technique naturally long before this paper was written.
Now I volunteer as a dog handler for a local rescue and interact with quite a few dogs (many of them with various forms of ptsd as they were all strays at one point) and after a lot of testing I'm also fairly certain that dogs interpret the slow-blink similarly to cats (basically as a signal that you mean them no harm, despite clearly being a predator because your eyes are front-facing), they are just much less likely to return it the way a cat will once it trusts you.
But I've seen lots of anecdotal personal evidence that it does also act like a calming and trust signal for dogs.
pjm331 3 days ago [-]
I’ve been slow blinking at every cat I meet for years, I swear by it haha
spoiler 3 days ago [-]
My mum calls them cat kisses, and we do it with other cats too, lol!
metalman 3 days ago [-]
slow blink?, didnt hear this one before!
try locking eyes and NOT blinking, you will need to channel every last bit of malevolent evil you got, but the hissy fit is worth it!
or in exceptionaly high stress situations looking AT the cat(wild, ferral,10lb tom trapped in the porch), but not focusing on it's eyes, untill it tucks its head, step OVER it and open the outside door, and it bolts so fast it leaves a cartoon puff of hair.
the search for intelligent life in the universe should be looking around, not up.
dcrazy 3 days ago [-]
Yes, sometimes when your cat is looking at you like it’s half asleep, it’s really expressing its comfort with you.
BurnGpuBurn 2 days ago [-]
Ooh now I miss my kitty
soltanov 5 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
Rendered at 09:14:03 GMT+0000 (UTC) with Wasmer Edge.
I also like making myself small and crouching and being as still as possible. I've befriended many skittish feline this way
I really like cats :)
I'm blessed with a lot of stray cats and slow-blinking alone helped me become friends with the most feral and aggressive tomcats here.
All on-campus cats will be very very confused for a while.
I do wash wounds thoroughly though because that part can go bad fast e.g. a finger bite killed this man: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-11538087/Man-killed-p...
I use the same trick for dogs, I narrow my eyes slightly to show that I'm not staring at them wildly. Even if they just stare back.
Staring is a stress reaction, you're 100% focused on a potential threat.
Just an idea if you want some kind of animal hobby :)
I don't see how an aquarium is an animal??? It's just glass/maybe plastic and framing.
Anyway, probably a saltwater acquarium is ok, unless you fill it or have something living in it. Acquariums with water are often specifically prohibited because of the posibility of failure and subsequent water damage.
A cat of three years residence, the mother was frustrated that only her son was tolerated by the skittish animal. No lap, no pets, just distance. They went out of town for a few days so I was to cat-sit. First night, I sent a picture of the cat in bed with me, not quite touching.
I had done some experiments and the cat just did not like eye contact at all. Additionally, she prefers to be at fingertip distance, if one stretches. I sat in the bed, next to and facing the wall. Ten minutes of headboard staring in, the cat is parked about six inches behind me.
Full Raiders of the Lost Ark mode. After my suggestions, the cat was less distant. Now, when I visit, I put my jacket on the couch about three feet off. Poof, a cat appears on my jacket. I do not acknowledge. Sometimes my hand dangles near the floor and I get a brush-by. That is what she is comfortable with. You have to take them as they come.
All cats are neurotic; each cat is neurotic in its own peculiar way.
My cats do this to each other and it’s clearly taken as an invitation for affection by the other cat. They’ll sit in my chair and be happy when i gently wiggle in with them too.
It leads to a lot of stolen dog beds due to the interspecies communication barrier but i’m absolutely convinced it’s not the assholery it’s perceived to be. Merely a miscommunication.
> I trust you so much I choose to momentarily close my eyes in your presence. I know you won't rip me apart with your claws, although you have the capacity to do so as a predator.
It's not a magic bullet but more of an amplifier. Cats probably use far many data points alongside to assess safety.
It also seems to work on nervous small dogs.
I've had multiple cats over many years (childhood pet, and a couple of cats as an adult) and like other cat owners, learned the slow blink technique naturally long before this paper was written.
Now I volunteer as a dog handler for a local rescue and interact with quite a few dogs (many of them with various forms of ptsd as they were all strays at one point) and after a lot of testing I'm also fairly certain that dogs interpret the slow-blink similarly to cats (basically as a signal that you mean them no harm, despite clearly being a predator because your eyes are front-facing), they are just much less likely to return it the way a cat will once it trusts you.
But I've seen lots of anecdotal personal evidence that it does also act like a calming and trust signal for dogs.
try locking eyes and NOT blinking, you will need to channel every last bit of malevolent evil you got, but the hissy fit is worth it!
or in exceptionaly high stress situations looking AT the cat(wild, ferral,10lb tom trapped in the porch), but not focusing on it's eyes, untill it tucks its head, step OVER it and open the outside door, and it bolts so fast it leaves a cartoon puff of hair.
the search for intelligent life in the universe should be looking around, not up.