Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Does this cat enjoy his owner's 'toddler cuddle' or is he complaining?

You tell me. In the video below we see a woman "strongly cuddling" as I would describe it her cat and she kisses him on top of the head. She thinks that her cat did not enjoy it. It is possible that he did, however. Is the sound that he makes one of complaint or enjoyment? 

Complaining cat. She is handling him like a toddler. Image: Screenshot.

Or perhaps it is somewhere in between the two. I do think, however, that she is cuddling him too strongly. I don't think he enjoys being confined and 'compressed' slightly in this way. 

Most cats enjoy being kissed on the top of the head. If they don't, they get used to it and then they enjoy it!

My gut feeling is that this cat is complaining not because of the kiss but by the way that he is being held which is slightly too forceful for him. 

And the reason why she is cuddling him like this is because she loves him. But she is cuddling him as if she would cuddle a toddler; a human being. Entirely understandable. 

Not a particularly bad thing in many ways because it means that she is likely to be bestowing upon her cat human rights. However, under these circumstances the owner has to be careful because they can end up having misplaced expectations about their domestic cat companion. Cats are not humans. The wildcat is just below the surface.

And they can end up interacting with their cat in a way that humans enjoy but cats don't. The mantra is 'respect the cat'. And don't treat them as dogs or little humans except to give them equal rights to humans.

P.S. I think this cat has been handled like this before and has become used to it. He knows what is coming. He partly accepts it as a consequence but still complains.

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