• @Zerush@lemmy.ml
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    103 months ago

    Cats never domesticated themself, since ever they are specialists in domesticate humans, for commodity, not for need.

    • @StopTouchingYourPhone@lemmy.world
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      93 months ago

      Spot on. Cats are the OG scientists who stuck around to see what they could make us do after they discovered monkeys gave good tummy rubs.

      Yadda-yadda, we industrialize food production and build awesome cozy dens to live in, yadda-yadda, they’re watching us burn the world like, “fascinating… now, can I make the monkey give me treats 2 minutes earlier than this time last week…”

      Only reason they don’t have us outright worshipping them is we tried it once or twice, but things got weird.

  • @salvaria@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1143 months ago

    Oh sure, when the cat walks into a house and wants to live there, they’re all “omg it’s so cute” and “let’s go buy it food and a bed”, but when I do it, they’re all “who the hell are you?” and “leave or I’m calling the cops” :(

  • @hakunawazo@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    “Everybody wants to talk about X, nobody wants to talk about Y”.
    That’s not gaslighting, that’s whataboutism.

    • @Raab@lemmy.world
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      73 months ago

      I think it’s more along the lines of cats gaslighting humans to care for them…that’s where I grew the comparison.

      • @zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        That isn’t what gaslighting is, though. Gaslighting isn’t simply emotional manipulation; it’s a specific kind.

        • @Raab@lemmy.world
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          -13 months ago

          You mean like manipulating humans into believing they are helpless animals that need to be brought in, and taken care of?

          The specific kind of psychological manipulation in this case used by cats over millennia, by definition of the word, is gaslighting lol

  • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed
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    1083 months ago

    People always say they look cute and yea sure,

    But did y’all forget the fact that they can literally get rid of all your mice problems?

    I got a cat because for companionship and one month later, all those filthy mice are gone.

    Being soft and warm to pet, and the beautiful meows, are just the cherry on top of their lovely companionship.

      • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed
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        3 months ago

        I was hoping my cat can get rid of the roaches too but her paws aren’t very effective at that, and theres just wayyy to many. 😕 Welp, at least my cat has some roach toys to squish (or at least, try to).

    • Apathy Tree
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      353 months ago

      They -can- do that yes. Whether or not they will choose to, however, is anyone’s guess.

      • @peoplebeproblems@midwest.social
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        123 months ago

        They will have a joyous time with it. And you might find eviscerated mice under your couch one day. But my two dumbass fur balls just thought they were awesome toys.

        Never figured out quite when they stopped coming in. The only really humane way to kill em is snap traps. I probably went through a couple dozen of them before they stopped showing up.

        I was against using poisoned food traps because the last thing I wanted was my cat consuming a poisoned mouse. But, since our whole neighborhood had a problem with the mice, I wouldn’t be too surprised if a neighbor did it.

        • @AtariDump@lemmy.world
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          53 months ago

          Snap traps in a brown paper bag baited with peanut butter.

          When you catch something, curl up the top of the bag and throw it all in the trash.

          • @peoplebeproblems@midwest.social
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            43 months ago

            Ooooh that paper bag idea is nifty.

            We actually discovered something that worked far better than peanut butter - Reese’s peanut butter cups. You break off a little piece, squish it into a ball, and place it on the bait lever. Not a single trap misfired once we switched to that.

    • Fonzie!
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      03 months ago

      How do you have so many mice?

      Sounds like your apartment smells like leftovers; we had mice sometimes until we started to do dishes religiously and take out trash religiously. Or well, about as frequently as our parents do it.

  • @FoxyFerengi@lemm.ee
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    173 months ago

    I did my best to take a cat home today when I was at the local landfill. I don’t even have space for another cat, it’s just freezing here and he looked extra pathetic. He decided the dumpster was safer and u honestly can’t blame him xD

    • @MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      There’s been a little baby girl coming around here, underweight, some kind of skin problem. She has always been an outside cat and belonged to my neighbor who died. My wife says we already have four so we can’t bring a street cat in that’s going to fight them.

      She’s right, but sometimes little girl comes up when I’m smoking and gets warm laying in my lap and I want to keep her so much.

  • madthumbs
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    83 months ago

    Is anyone else bothered by people saying their cat is lost? -No; it left a toxic relationship! “They stole my cat” -Nah, it moved out!

  • Yardy Sardley
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    223 months ago

    Did cats domesticate humans, or did Toxoplasma gondii domesticate both of us?

    • @MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Covert cat distribution network, working as intended.

      In my opinion cats should never be kept as singles. They need social interaction with another cat, even if they don’t like each other. It’s not as bad as guinea pigs who will literally die from depression if kept alone, but it’s similar.

      • @selokichtli@lemmy.ml
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        33 months ago

        I wouldn’t say “never” because, for me, it’s better to shelter them instead of leaving them outside. But yeah, ideally at least two cats. I’ve only had two cats, both stray, the first one tried to play with our feet when he was the only one in home as he plays with the second now.

  • @Aeri@lemmy.world
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    333 months ago

    That makes it sound like the cat domesticated humanity not “The cat self domesticated itself”

    • @Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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      153 months ago

      in reality it sure as fuck seems like humanity domesticated humanity, we have a lot of domesticated features like neotony (we look strikingly like chimpanzee children) and we’re arguably the most ludicrously social species on earth.

      the ironic thing is that cats aren’t really very domesticated, they’re inherently a social animal and happen to just sorta fit with how humans work.

      • @CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world
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        23 months ago

        I mean that sounds more like those are just traits we have and we made domesticated animals have similar traits to out own since presumably that makes us get along better.

        • Tlaloc_Temporal
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          03 months ago

          Neotony isn’t disputed to exist in humans, only the ultimate cause and extent is disputed.