Reason why ‘guardian angel’ cat stops toddler from grabbing balcony railings

This is an interesting video because it tells us a lot about the relationship between domestic cats and their owners and the relationship between domestic cats and babies and toddlers in the home. When domestic cats are fully integrated into a family home they can have a relationship that we see in the video and which I describe below. The cat has been described as a guardian angel for preventing this toddler from grabbing the balcony handrail. That’s quite clear in the video. It is also clear that the cat is doing that to prevent the child from harm by possibly climbing up the balcony wall and falling over the edge. Read on for my explanation….

Please note: the above embedded tweet may stop working and if it has I apologise but I can’t control this.


One commenter wrote: “I absolutely love this. That cat knew that the balcony was a danger for the toddler.”

I agree and I believe I know why. Cats learn by observation. Domestic cats can also become protective of babies and toddlers as if they are their offspring. And finally, cats treat adult humans as surrogate mothers and learn from them by watching. The cat would have watched the toddler’s human parents prevent their child from grabbing the balcony railing to protect the child from harm (potentially climbing up and failing off the balcony). The cat is copying human behavior. And therefore she is genuinely a guradian angel as she acts as the toddler’s mom or dad.

Cat acting as mom to this toddler as she has learned the behavior by observation
Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

Cat acting as mom or dad to this toddler as she has learned the behavior by observation. Screenshot.

Useful links
Anxiety - reduce it
FULL Maine Coon guide - lots of pages
Children and cats - important

Aly commented: “Cats are fiercely protective of their Hooman babies…” – She’s correct but not all cats are.

Some commenters complain that the cat is a better parent than the parents! This is wrong because the parents are right there filming it! And the parents have informally trained their cat to do their parenting for them 🙂 .

There is a famous video of a cat protecting the family’s child from an attacking dog (see below). The female cat acts with great ferocity. It is very impressive:

The same mentality and toddler-cat relationship is present in that video as in this one. And a cat attacked a baby-sitter to defend a child. They all demonstrate the same mentality and learning.

Below is another video of a cat protecting a child – the same mentality:

SOME MORE ON OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING OF CATS:

Maine Coon says "How are you?"
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Sphynx mum and kittens
In this article on kitten development, I refer to the development of the domestic cat after birth. About 70% of ...
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Visiting cat has learned to enter house through noisy cat door, jump onto kitchen counter and eat large-pelleted dry cat food silently
Like many cat owners, I have a visiting cat from a neighbour's home. In some ways I like it because ...
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Useful tag. Click to see the articles: Cat behavior

Note: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified.

Michael Broad

Hi, I'm a 74-year-old retired solicitor (attorney in the US). Before qualifying I worked in many jobs including professional photography. I love nature, cats and all animals. I am concerned about their welfare. If you want to read more click here.

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