About Pain in the Bud
Pain In The Bud
Chronicling the adventures of Buddy the Cat and his various criminal enterprises.
Tag: animal cognition
cat behavior, cat care, feline research	 November 25, 2019
How Long Is Too Long To Leave A Cat Alone?
"If you want a pet but you don't have time to walk a dog, get a cat."
"As long as they have food, cats are fine. They don't care if they're left alone."
"Cats are solitary creatures who are content to ignore you."
Despite taking over the internet and solidifying their status as one of the most endearing animal species, cats are still widely misunderstood, as these oft-spoken sentiments illustrate.
Of course, as we cat servants know, our furry friends do care very much about remaining in the company of their favorite people.
In a new column on Psychology Today, bioethicist Jessica Pierce backs up something we've been saying for ages: Cats are social animals, and it's harmful to think of them as one step above a plant, content to live a solitary existence as long as they're fed and watered.
The myth of the aloof, independent cat feeds another misconception: that cats are just fine when we're not around. Indeed, a common piece of advice for someone thinking about acquiring a pet is "if you are gone a lot and don't have time for a dog, get a cat instead." Many people believe that cats can be left alone for long hours every day, and can even safely be left alone for days or even weeks, as long as food and freshwater are made available to them.
This is bad advice and does cats a great disservice because domestic cats kept as companion animals in homes likely need their humans just as much as companion dogs do.
So how long is too long to leave a cat alone? Unfortunately no one knows for sure.
There haven't been studies on the topic, in part because many behavioral scientists still believe cats are too difficult to work with in research settings.
The big tough guy who cries by the door when I step out of the house for 20 minutes.
But new studies — including the research out of Oregon State that showed cats view their humans as parent-like figures — show cats form strong emotional connections to their people, mirroring the behavior of dogs and even human children.
Other recent studies demonstrated that cats crave human attention and affection even more than food, and look to their humans for reassurance when they're uncertain about things.
Some people will say that's all fairly obvious and unremarkable, but there are two primary reasons the findings are significant: First, in the scientific community something has to be proven in a controlled, replicable study. Anecdotes don't count. Secondly, there's finally enough research to confirm cats absolutely form bonds with their humans, and those bonds are genuine.
Although felines are superficially aloof, when you get to know them better it becomes clear they're simply good at pretending they're nonchalant.
"No more computer, it's Buddy time!"
While cautioning that cats are individuals with their own personalities and quirks, Pierce suggests looking to research on dogs and loneliness.
"The rough guidelines for dogs—that about four hours alone is comfortable, but longer periods of alone time may compromise welfare—may be a reasonable place to start for cats," Pierce wrote, "but further research into cat welfare is needed in order to develop empirically-grounded guidelines for leaving cats alone."
As for Buddy, who is known to meow mournfully and park himself by the front door when I leave, his one-off limit is about 12 hours, or half a day. I'm okay with leaving him alone overnight after he's been fed, and while he may not like it, he's fine if left alone for an extended period once in a while. I wouldn't do that regularly.
Anything more than that, however, and I'll enlist the aid of a friend to stop by, feed him and play with him. Maybe that way I won't get the cold shoulder and resentful sniffs when I return.
Filed under: animal cognition, animal psychology, animal welfare, Buddy the Cat, cat socialization, cat studies, research
big cats, Buddy, cat behavior, Feline Ingenuity, Kittens	 September 23, 2019
Mirror Mirror On The Wall, Are Cats Self-Aware After All?
The mirror test has been the de facto gauge of animal self-awareness since it was invented in 1970 by psychologist Gordon Gallup Jr., mostly because no one's figured out a better way to determine if animals understand who they are.
The procedure is simple: When the animal is asleep or sedated researchers will add a smudge of red paint, a sticker or some other visible mark on the animal's face. Then they place a mirror nearby.
If the animal wakes up, looks in the mirror and tries to probe or wipe away the new mark, it passes the self-awareness test. It means the animal understands the image in the mirror is a reflection of itself and not another animal, according to researchers.
The list of animals who have passed the self-awareness test is quite short: It includes great apes like orangutans, bonobos and chimpanzees, as well as elephants, dolphins, orcas and crows.
Cats, who are notoriously difficult to work with in controlled studies, have never passed the mirror test. Dubbed "the world's most uncooperative research subject," cats are a challenge even for the most seasoned animal cognition experts.
"I can assure you it's easier to work with fish than cats," one scientist told Slate magazine. "It's incredible."
It's not clear if cats don't recognize themselves or simply can't be bothered. Indeed, one of the primary criticisms of the mirror test is that, like most measures of animal cognition, it employs a human perspective to gauge non-human intelligence. It assumes that animals use vision as their primary source of information, as humans do, and it assumes that animals will be immediately driven to touch or remove an unfamiliar mark.
Buddy has a long and tumultuous history with mirrors. As a tiny kitten he once pulled down a thick, heavy wood-framed mirror from a wall, smashing the glass on impact. Thankfully he avoided injury.
As he got older, Buddy graduated to his boxing phase: He'd stand in front of a mirror, put his weight on his back legs and "box" the Buddy in the mirror with a series of quick jabs. Even from another room I knew instantly when he was boxing his reflection thanks to his high-pitched trills and the THWAP-THWAP-THWAP!! of his little paws against the glass.
The boxing phase eventually gave way to the narcissism phase, when Buddy would park himself in front of the mirror and stare at his reflection, occasionally raising a paw to the glass or waving at himself.
Was this evidence of self-awareness? Did little Bud now realize he was staring at his own reflection? After all, even humans don't pass the mirror test until they're two years old, so it's entirely possible a cat can come to understand what it's seeing in the mirror just like kids can.
So ripped.
Then one day I was shaving with the bathroom door open when Buddy padded up behind me and meowed to get my attention. Instead of turning to face him, I kept shaving, locked eyes with him in the mirror and gave him a slow-blink of recognition. He blinked back.
Finally, yesterday the roles were reversed: Buddy was sitting in front of the mirror while I was reading a few feet away.
"Hi, Bud!" I said, putting my tablet down.
Buddy, still staring into the mirror, met my gaze and blinked at me. Then in a moment that might have been confusion or dawning comprehension, he turned from the mirror-me to the real me, then turned back to the mirror. He blinked at me again.
Is that evidence of self-awareness? If Buddy still thought that the images in the mirror were different animals, wouldn't he freak out upon realizing there are now two Big Buddies? Or would he meow with joy at the serendipitous development of a second Big Buddy to do his bidding?
He didn't do any of those things. He took it in stride and reacted to mirror-me the same way he always reacts to regular me.
Skeptics will say this little anecdote proves nothing. It is, after all, just an anecdote, and it's a far cry from a well-designed, controlled study with a few dozen feline participants.
That's all true. But maybe we're onto something here. Maybe instead of the traditional mirror test, which cats don't seem to be interested in, a new mirror test could gauge how cats react to their owners as seen in a mirror.
Cats are never satisfied with doing things the "normal" way. Why should the mirror test be any different?
Filed under: animal cognition, Buddy the Cat, cat stories, feline intelligence
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