Your Cat May Be Plotting Your Death

[yallerdawg]

According to science, only their size is holding them back.

Source: Good Housekeeping (you keep them in your house, right?), by Anna Zambeli

​They may look all cuddly and innocent, but your favorite felines could be harboring some ferocious instincts.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the Bronx Zoo in New York​ led a joint study to compare the average house cat — that's your little Chairman Meow — to the big cats you find out in the wild​, such as African lions, wildcats and leopards.

They evaluated 100 shelter cats in Scotland along with animals from the zoo, and found that domestic cats share similar personality traits with wild cats, including aggressiveness and dominance. ​The study also found domestic cats are often anxious, tense and fearful of people. ​ The main thing that may be keeping their natural viscousness in check? Their small size.

Now, armed with this nugget, the Internet (or perhaps it's just #TeamDog) is convinced that this means your cat is plotting your untimely demise.

But don't worry just yet. ​Marieke Gartner​, who was involved in the study, told CNET that it's a "pretty far stretch" to suggest that cats' aggressiveness translates to wanting to kill their owners. "Cats don't want to bump you off, but people often don't know how to treat them and then are surprised by their behavior," she says.​

So as long as you keep Kitty Purry showered with catnip and whiskers deep in Fancy Feast, you should probably be safe.

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/pets/a35313/cats-personality-study/

[Hoyt]

1. I know for sure my cat would eat my leg -- or worse -- were I incapacitated.

[yallerdawg]

2. One of these days...

[sharp_stick]

3. Soon

[yallerdawg]

4. It's happening...

[Tom Kitten]

5. they have nine lives, we have only one

think about it...

[yallerdawg]

6. And we shouldn't forget...TAXOPLASMOSIS!

A single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii causes a disease known as toxoplasmosis. While the parasite is found throughout the world, more than 60 million people in the United States may be infected with the Toxoplasma parasite.



If I am at risk, can I keep my cat?

Yes, you may keep your cat if you are a person at risk for a severe infection (e.g., you have a weakened immune system or are pregnant); however, there are several safety precautions to avoid being exposed to Toxoplasma gondii:

•Ensure the cat litter box is changed daily. The Toxoplasma parasite does not become infectious until 1 to 5 days after it is shed in a cat's feces.

•If you are pregnant or immunocompromised:
1.Avoid changing cat litter if possible. If no one else can perform the task, wear disposable gloves and wash your hands with soap and warm water afterwards.
2.Keep cats indoors.
3.Do not adopt or handle stray cats, especially kittens. Do not get a new cat while you are pregnant.

•Feed cats only canned or dried commercial food or well-cooked table food, not raw or undercooked meats.

•Keep your outdoor sandboxes covered.

Your veterinarian can answer any other questions you may have regarding your cat and risk for toxoplasmosis.

CDC - Parasites - Taxoplasmosis

[Arugula Latte]

7. My boys would be more likely to snuggle me to death.

That's the way to go out of this world!

[yallerdawg]

8. "Snuggle me to death."

Has Your Cat Infected You With a Mind-Controlling Parasite? Probably.

One of the most serious and terrifying possible effects of Toxo is schizophrenia. Many schizophrenics show shrinkage in the cerebral cortex, and in a study done by Flegr and his colleagues, they gave 44 schizophrenic patients MRIs, and 12 of them had shrinkage. It turns out the ones who had it were almost exclusively the ones who also had Toxo. Cue the suspenseful music…

McAuliffe also talked to a psychiatrist named E. Fuller Torrey who says that despite popular claims that schizophrenia has always been around, that's not the case:

In fact, he says, schizophrenia did not rise in prevalence until the latter half of the 18th century, when for the first time people in Paris and London started keeping cats as pets. The so-called cat craze began among "poets and left-wing avant-garde Greenwich Village types," says Torrey, but the trend spread rapidly—and coinciding with that development, the incidence of schizophrenia soared.

DUN DUN DUN. But seriously it's hard not to wig out in the extreme with the thought that one of the most common mental illnesses could actually be brought on by a random parasite. And if that's not quite enough for you, you'll also want to know that there have been some studies that have linked Toxo infection to a higher risk of suicide, independent of mental illness. Great, just great.

[LiberalElite]

9. I've had cats for 30 years - I was probably crazy already nt

[yallerdawg]

10. I hope you can find some comfort...

From Genesis 1

Boreded Ceiling Cat makinkgz Urf n stuffs

1 Oh hai. In teh beginnin Ceiling Cat maded teh skiez An da Urfs, but he did not eated dem.

2 Da Urfs no had shapez An haded dark face, An Ceiling Cat rode invisible bike over teh waterz.

3 At start, no has lyte. An Ceiling Cat sayz, i can haz lite? An lite wuz.

4 An Ceiling Cat sawed teh lite, to seez stuffs, An splitted teh lite from dark but taht wuz ok cuz kittehs can see in teh dark An not tripz over nethin.

5 An Ceiling Cat sayed light Day An dark no Day. It were FURST!!!1

http://www.lolcatbible.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

[catbyte]

11. ...

[Art_from_Ark]

16. LOL

The look on that cat's face is priceless

[jrandom421]

12. And this supports my long held contention

that there is no such thing as "house cats"

I've been in the company of house lions, house tigers, house leopards, house jaguars, house panthers and even a few house cheetahs.

They act like just their distant bigger cousins. I've seen them stalk, hunt, pounce, kill, like their bigger cousins. They've also staked out and defended territory, fight, established dominance, choose mates, and raise young just like their bigger cousins.

The only differences are their size and their attitude towards the waitstaff.

[yallerdawg]

13. retraction

In the tradition of great journalism and internet blogging, buried here deep in the thread is this:

No, A Study Did NOT Find That Your Cat Wants To Kill You

The study, led by University of Edinburgh researchers, compares the personalities of domestic cats with those of Scottish wildcats, clouded leopards, snow leopards and African lions, based on assessments made by cat caretakers and zookeepers. It was published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology last year. Not even lead researcher Marieke Gartner knows why it exploded in the media this week.

What she does know is that a lot of news outlets have gotten her study wrong.

For one thing, she did not find anything indicating that domestic cats want to kill humans.

Mikel Delgado, certified cat behavior consultant and Ph.D. candidate in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley has some ideas about why people love to attribute murderous motives to cats.

"They don't have as many facial muscles [as dogs]," she told HuffPost. "Their face is harder to interpret. People do seem to wonder, 'What's my cat thinking?'"

Cats just aren't as big or as potentially dangerous as many dogs, so imagining them wanting to off us isn't really threatening.

"We almost find it humorous that cats want to kill us, or hate us or we're their slaves," Delgado said. Plus, she noted, people have coexisted with cats for millennia.

"If they really wanted to kill us," she asked, "don’t you think it would have happened?"

So, sorry.

[ailsagirl]

14. I am positive

...that if we humans were shrunk down to, say, a height of two inches, our cats would have us for dinner.
But they'd taunt us first-- then go in for the kill. So that study makes sense!!


So it's a good thing we're significantly larger than they are!!!

[Solly Mack]

15. My cats were forever tripping up my husband.

Darting out from behind furniture as he walked by, causing him to stumble. When he was on the stairs, they would always - always - jump at his feet and legs.

As long as he was seated, they snuggled with him. It was only when he got up to move around that they pounced.

We decided that the cats were performing an experiment in behavior modification. Stay put and snuggle - safe. Move about - dangerous.

[Skittles]

17. naw, he needs me to open the window

yes INDEED