Can cats defend you against an enemy? Can cats pick up on a person’s emotional condition if and when that person is a potential threat to the cat’s owner?
This is quite a tricky question because it means that a cat has to be able to pick up on signals and indications that a person in the presence of her owner is unwilling to help her owner or, worse, be hostile towards her. I have not heard about cat behaviour like this although there is a recent case of a cat defending a boy from an attack by a dog. That is a well-known case but in that instance the assessment is that the cat was defending what she perceived to be her offspring. That is not quite the same thing.
The reason why I ask the question in the title is because a recent study in Japan confirms that dogs are capable of acting in sympathy with their master rather than out of pure self-interest. In other words, in the study, dogs were shown to be capable of being the enemy of their master’s enemy. Dogs are well known to be social animals but, that said, the domestic cat, although once thought of as being a solitary animal, is now regarded as being a social animal having evolved over 10,000 years of domesticity.
The study indicated that dogs are actively hostile to people who mistreat their owners. The Japanese study places dogs into quite a select group of animal species including humans who have feelings and are capable of social cooperation.
We know that cats have feelings and that cats are capable of social cooperation, which once again the supports the question that I am asking.
The research on dogs was led by Kazuo Fujita, a professor of comparative cognition at Kyoto University, Japan. The research, actually, showed that dogs rejected food that was offered by people who were unhelpful to their owners.
In the experiment, there were three groups of dogs and their owners. They took part in role-play exercises. In one group a bystander helped the dog’s owner. In another group they refused to help and in a third group they took a neutral stance. The dogs were then offered food by the bystanders. Dogs who were offered food by the unhelpful bystander were much more likely to reject the offer but chose food from either the neutral person or the helpful bystander.
Prof said:
“We discovered for the first time that dogs make social and emotional evaluations of people regardless of their direct interest.”
Children at the age of three have the same ability. This ability of dogs to pick up on emotional cues apparently outstrips the abilities of chimpanzees who despite being more logical are less good at making social and emotional judgements.
Perhaps. Not so much experience with this.
What I have experienced is my Princess attacking me when I was trying to guide the movements of a seizuring cat in order to keep him safe. I think she must have felt that I was the cause of his dilemma. Her first act of aggression ever.
Sandra, I posted my own experience with attempted suicide and how my cat intervened in that same thread. Rocky bit me on the ankle hard enough to draw blood. I’ve never had that experience before or since.
I haven’t experienced this myself, but I have read stories of cats attacking someone in defense of their guardians.
Recently Michael shared in the post “What good are cats?” that when he had been very depressed and considering suicide, that his cat bit him on the leg. It would seem that the cat sensed something was amiss, and gave Michael a “wake up” call! So, it seems his cat attacked him to defend him from himself.
I believe cats can.
Years ago my boy Bandit attacked and drove off a so-called family friend who tried to get too familiar with my mother after my father died. That man came by the house several times after the funeral, and Bandit liked him a lot. He sat next to him, purred and was very friendly to him.
I was at work the day the incident happened. My mother told me that the so-called friend (who I will henceforth refer to as Zippy Pinhead) got loud and grabby with her in the kitchen. Bandit ran out of the sunroom and leaped up on Zippy’s back. My mom said he looked like something out of a horror movie. His ears were back and his claws were out. When he landed on Zippy’s back Bandit started clawing him. Zippy screamed and ran, and Bandit rode him down the hallway to the front door. When Zippy ran out of the house Bandit unhooked himself and jumped down. When I arrived from work he had this smug little smile on his face. It was clear to me that he knew exactly what he’d done. He was always very protective of my mother. He’d do tricks for her that he didn’t do for anyone else. I was very impressed that he recognized my mother was in danger and he took action. She was alone in the house that day. Everyone else was either at school or work.
Bandit had shrimp that night, for a job well done.