Cat behaviour: is this cat stopping his girl companion falling off furniture?
The video shows a classic, blotched, tabby cat in a very close relationship with a young, cute Asian girl. The video was made in Asia. The commentary is that the cat is deliberately making constant efforts to stop the girl falling off furniture by standing in her path.
Cat stops girl from falling off furniture? Or is it scent exchange?
My interpretation is different and not quite so altruist or grandiose. This is a bonded relationship. The cat is very close to this girl. I don’t think the girl realises it. I’d bet that they were raised side by side since they were both tiny.
Videos
The first version is from Reddit.com. Their videos are always cropped to half the true size which is why the framing is off slightly.
This cat protects a little girl from falling off the edges of different home furniture by blocking her path, making her go to the safe part of the furniture and staying watch by the edge even while she’s asleep to prevent her from rolling off. That’s amazing!. from r/nextfuckinglevel
The second version is from YouTube. I predict that it will stop working quite quickly as it appears to have been downloaded and uploaded in violation of someone’s copyright. If it stops working hopefully the Reddit one still works!
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Note: videos on this site are typically made by people other than me and held on YouTube servers or the servers of other businesses (not the server storing this website). Sometimes the videos are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened I apologise but I have no control over it.
The cat is engaging in many scent exchange sessions. This looks like acts of protection. But he wants to deposit his scent onto the girl and receive the girl’s scent onto his fur: a cementing of the bond that we see in other aspects of his behaviour.
Scent exchange is very common in domestic cats. It helps to surround the cat with their scent which reassures them. It creates a family atmosphere for the cat. Humans can’t smell the scent but for a cat it is a major part of their lives. Smell and sight go hand in hand for the domestic cat. For them, they are of equal value in observing and understanding the world.
P.S. For the sake of simplicity I have referred to the cat as male. I don’t know their gender.
What do you think? Please comment…
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