How Cats Brainwash Humans

"Cats domesticated themselves ages ago so that people would take care of them and have honed the pitch of their meows to a point where people can't ignore them, say a pair of recent studies."

Now, I don't think cats would like this information getting out. Their livelihood depends on it. If we didn't do the bidding of the cats, how could we make them happy?

While we'd never tolerate that behavior from a house guest — or even our own kids — we take it from cats, along with their extreme independence and their refusal to show affection except on their own terms and frequent shedding.

This is notf The Onion.

Because they aren't really saying that people who have cats are merely Trilbys in thrall to our furry Svengali's, are they?

Wait. It's not the cat people's fault.

“There’s a part of us as human beings that I think is attracted to dominance in other creatures,” says psychotherapist Lois Abrams, Ph.D., who practices in Los Alamitos, Calif. “There’s a part of us that likes to be controlled.”

It does seem like she is saying that a sweet person who takes care of cats is really doing something... well, I'm not qualified to speculate.

This is on a news site. It really is.

“Cats do not perform directed tasks and their actual utility is debatable, even as mousers,” wrote the study authors. “Accordingly, there is little reason to believe an early agricultural community would have actively sought out and selected the wildcat as a house pet.”

Yeah, right, they'd hire goats for that job, wouldn't they? Not that a goat couldn't do it. I'd never say that. I don't think anyone would like the way the goat does it, that's all.

To be fair, know what other domesticated animal has the "ratting slot"? Terriers. And they are good at it. Just look at a terrier and imagine the early proto dog... see what's changed... and then look down at the back lawn. Yup, full of holes.

I'm not saying it's bad. I'm just saying that's what they do. Busy busy boys and girls, every one of them.

If you want the job done quickly and quietly, I'm just saying you'd hire a cat.

And what else does the article assert?

Once in our houses, cats apparently began to train us to give them exactly what they wanted.

It's over. Yes, cat fans do exactly what cats want. The truth is out now!

Durn you, MSNBC! For using science to expose the cat's greatest secret.

Now more people will get cats.

So who has better coercion, er, communication skills — cats or dogs? [Dr.] Yin says it’s cats, paws down.

Face it, the cats will win.

When we’ve gained the approval of a cat, [Abrams] says, it’s 100 percent the cat’s initiative. Call it the Sally Field syndrome: You like me! You really like me!

Good to have it confirmed, though. Sincere thanks to the scientists.

But what about the author of the article? I see the dimensions of the conspiracy now.

She shares her home in California with three Cavalier King Charles spaniels and one African ringneck parakeet.

I know the parakeet is behind it all. Cavalier King Charles spaniels are sweet as can be, but they'll fall for anything.

Written by Pamela Merritt
Way of Cats
http://wayofcats.com/blog