https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii
Also because my cat is the cutest
What the hell does toxoplasmosis have to do with liking cats?
It inhibits the fear response in rodents, so they are more likely to cuddle up with cats
The joke being that humans are infected too
In rodents, T. gondii alters behavior in ways that increase the rodents’ chances of being preyed upon by felids. Support for this “manipulation hypothesis” stems from studies showing that T. gondii-infected rats have a decreased aversion to cat urine while infection in mice lowers general anxiety, increases explorative behaviors and increases a loss of aversion to predators in general. Because cats are one of the only hosts within which T. gondii can sexually reproduce, such behavioral manipulations are thought to be evolutionary adaptations that increase the parasite’s reproductive success since rodents that do not avoid cat habitations will more likely become cat prey
@Caligvla as @otter said, T gondii stops rodents from being afraid of cats. It also makes male rodents sexually attracted to cats.
On the whole, there was little evidence that T. gondii was related to increased risk of psychiatric disorder, poor impulse control, personality aberrations, or neurocognitive impairment.
lmao imagine having an affinity towards felines because a parasite told you to
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I’ve had both over my life. Both have pros and cons.
As others have said, cats overall require less attention; both in interaction and maintenance. Our cats are really good about keeping house bugs to a minimum with their natural hunter instincts. Flies,moths and other critters don’t last long. Also litter boxes are something I wish dogs could figure out lol.
Dogs are more social, so they’ll need more from you. They need frequent outside time to run and exercise/bathroom. Most dogs don’t care about catching bugs and critters like cats. However, if treated right, will defend the house to the death from intruders.
In my current situation, cats are better. If I had a much bigger, we’ll fenced yard, I’d love to have a dog again.
You can easily train a dog to use litter boxes. There are actually indoor grass mats you can buy. It’s mostly a way to deal with very old dogs who have trouble keeping it in.
But please don’t do that with young and healthy dogs. They need outside time. If you don’t want to do that, just don’t get a dog.
My family had cats when I was a baby. The cats put a lot of time into imprinting me to give them baby food, heat etc (babies are resource rich from a cat point of view).
I always obey commands from cats.
Toxoplasmosis.
Doesn’t affect humans in this way.
Look out everybody, this user is infected!
Only if you literally have AIDS or some other near-complete immune dysfunction.
TP is unique in being the only infection able to cross the blood-brain barrier.
Only if you’ve been mistaking what you find in the litter box for tootsie rolls.
Have you had a cat?
Exactly
He is asking why insanely much! I know a woman who has like 20 cats she doesn’t even have time to spend with them and taking care of all them. But just because she loves cats she can have that many
Having cats you can’t take care of is where it has veered into the realm of mental illness.
Yeah, that’s hoarding
One man’s “insane” is another man’s “calling that insane is insane”
Yeah, they are okay, but not that great
Toxoplasmosis
What? Source? 🤣
Cat poop
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I have had several cats in irl and I still cannot answer the question 🤷🏽♂️
Why would you keep getting cats if you don’t like them? Or do you mean you do like them but you don’t understand why you like them?
You misunderstood me. It is not that I don’t like them. It is that I don’t like them as insanely much as some people seem to like them. To me they are okay. However, for some people they are life.
I see! As a person who is a cat person (and not a dog person) I get it. To me dogs fall under the “cute but not for me” category.
One of my cats lightly pats my eyelid when she wants me to wake up. When she wants kisses, she’ll pat my lips. If I talk to her, she meows back. She has different facial expressions, tail twitches and other body language to communicate with me. I pay attention to her, and she pays attention to me. If I’m anxious, she rubs up against me to give me love
Cats respond to their owners. You have to first learn their language before you can understand them. If they see that you can’t understand them, they will treat you accordingly
The cats that I owned only wanted food and to go outside to fuck with other cats.
Interesting. All of my cats have had their own unique personalities. I did have one that was like the one you mentioned above, but he didn’t live long. Almost all of my cats have been indoors only for that reason
Cats are independent and dogs are dependent. That’s why I like cats better. I also don’t want to deal with the death of a dog that I’d probably consider my best friend. No thanks.
I am not a cat person, but I’ve lived with a couple of them and they can be really charming little companions. They can also be incredible assholes and imo their charisma doesn’t make up for it. Some people just weigh the pros and cons differently.
Part of this is people continue to believe cats can’t be trained. It’s harder, but possible. It also means you have to work harder to train out bad behaviour (and they will only mostly stop while you’re around). So getting your cat to not bite you can be done, as well as training them to not go on the counter when you can see it.
Cats are also domesticated differently than most animals, and will absolutely, literally shit on things they know you care about if you piss them off.
It makes sense that bad cat owners are responsible, in large part, for bad cat behavior. That said, if it’s so difficult to raise a cat properly, then maybe cats just aren’t good pets for most people.
As I said, cats are domesticated differently. Current speculation is they self-domesticated during the beginning of agriculture. What this means for us is that, unlike dogs, it’s more of an agreement between us and them, and they will make it known if they don’t agree with the situation. This is the nugget of truth behind “Dogs have owners, cats have staff.” So, as with dogs, if your lifestyle isn’t acceptable to them, you shouldn’t own them. The difference is what is acceptable.
In short, they’re like our siblings, minus the sibling rivalries.
My cat might vomit up hairballs on whatever surface it finds every few days, but I’ve never walked in to find that it shit bloody diarrhea all over the kitchen after spending the previous evening eating grass in the yard. That’s not something I can say for my dog.
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