{"id":1711,"date":"2025-01-29T15:32:22","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T15:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/?p=1711"},"modified":"2025-01-29T15:32:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T15:32:22","slug":"do-you-love-me-like-you-say-you-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/?p=1711","title":{"rendered":"Do you love me like you say you do\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are studies that show a cats intelligence level (quantifying intelligence comparatives can be tricky given species have different thought processes) is close to that of a toddler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that in mind, I\u2019ve been considering a situation that arose a couple of years ago where I inadvertently caused offence to someone who often crates strays to acclimatise them to people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously this isn\u2019t something that would be a normal environment for a cat, and recently I started wondering if the responses people exhibit when feeling threatened (if a cat is forced into a situation that isn\u2019t familiar I can\u2019t see them feeling anything else) are also present in our feline counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, I wondered if the fawn response humans exhibit is a behaviour a cat would use as a survival tactic as well. And if that is the case, is what we perceive to be a cat adapting to our presence simply a defence mechanism? This isn\u2019t discounting the possibility that changes in behaviour may be the development of genuine trust over time. But what if the initial behaviour we perceive as a breakthrough is simply a cat feeling they have limited options but to react in a certain way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In human psychology, there are five recognised trauma responses. Fight, flight, freeze, fawn and flop. In cats, we acknowledge the first three responses as behaviour they\u2019re likely to exhibit when there\u2019s a situation they\u2019re unsure of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a cat is likely to exhibit three of the five trauma responses recognised in people, isn\u2019t there a possibility they could exhibit the other recognised human trauma responses  in an unfamiliar or unsettling environment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously this is a subject I\u2019ll be seeking further clarification on, hopefully studies already exist on the subject.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Trust building takes time\u2026<\/em>
(Mim, a former stray I socialised who spent a good decade with people who loved him. He was crated overnight after his neuter in the entirety of socialising.)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are studies that show a cats intelligence level (quantifying intelligence comparatives can be tricky given species have different thought processes) is close to that of a toddler. With that in mind, I\u2019ve been considering a situation that arose a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1711"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1714,"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711\/revisions\/1714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}