Clearly, there are many people online who are dying to share memes with their cats, as “memes i wish i could tag my cat in” has amassed over 780k followers since it was first launched in February 2021. We reached out to Pyrrhica, the creator of the account to hear how it has been since the last time she spoke to Bored Panda about 7 months ago. "The account pretty much takes over my whole life now! I post about 200+ memes some days, and it really takes up a lot of my time but it's a labor of love," she said. We also asked what she loves most about cats. "I love that cats are the perfect mix between independent and needy," Pyrrhica told Bored Panda. "When you earn the trust of a cat, its a well deserved reward."
Next, we wanted to know what kind of memes she thinks her cats would tag her in. "My cats from the past would absolutely tag me in memes about forgetting to feed them on time! Or they'd tag me in memes about how they hate belly rubs, but I can't resist a fluffy cat tummy," she admitted. Lastly, she added, "I've really enjoyed running this account because it's allowed me to make a living as an artist (selling cat art) while also connecting with other cat fans and raising awareness for causes concerning cat health such as keeping cats indoors and not declawing." If you are interested in supporting Pyrrhica by purchasing some of her adorable cat artwork, be sure to check out her website right here.
To help us understand cats a little better, we also reached out to Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado PhD, scientist and Certified Cat Behavior Consultant. First, we wanted to know what makes cats so special. "I think cats are appealing to people because they walk a fine line between domesticated/cuddly, and a little bit wild," Dr. Delgado says. "Although cats are domesticated, we have not changed a lot of things about their appearance and behavior from their closest wild relatives (the African wildcat). I also think people love cats because they are beautiful, funny, and a joy to live with."
We were also curious how smart cats really are. "Cats are really good at what they have evolved to do best: hunt. I don't really think of any animals as being smarter than any other species," Dr. Delgado explained. "Evolutionarily, every species has a job to do, something that they are really good at, and for cats that is hunting. I would be terrible at catching a mouse or bird, but I'm good at human things, like statistics and social interactions with other humans!"
We also asked Dr. Delgado if cats feel love or affection for their owners. If you are now holding your breath hoping to hear that your feline friend loves you back, you can relax. "Yes, I believe that cats who have been socialized appropriately from a young age and are living in a caring home do feel love or affection for their owners, but all cats have unique ways of showing it," Dr. Delgado told Bored Panda. "Some cats are very affectionate and will rub on you, or sit on your lap, purring. Other cats may sit right next to you, like being petted, or may like to be in the same room as you even if they aren't sitting on your lap. Other cats enjoy playtime or training with their humans. All of these cats are showing their love, even if it doesn't look the same in every cat!"
If you'd like to hear even more cat insight from Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado, you can find her website right here.
We also reached out to two more Certified Cat Behaviorists and the women behind the Cat Behavior Alliance, Rita Reimers and Linda Hall. When it comes to what makes cats special, they told Bored Panda they could write a book on it! "Cats and dogs are both lumped into the 'companion animal' group, but they are so incredibly different. We both love dogs and grew up with them, and Linda has one now (and 12 cats!). Dogs tend to give blind obedience and love. A human can abuse them (sadly that happens!) and the dog will still love them."
"Cats, however, are still ruled by their instincts, especially their instinct to survive," they explained. "In order for a cat to trust, one has to respect their body language and boundaries. Earning their love is very special. A cat will be devoted once their trust is earned; the don't give blind obedience and love."
"We often tell clients that cats don't see species. They see categories. Are you prey? (I can eat you for lunch). Are they a predator? (you might eat me!) Or, are you part of my social circle/ my friend/ family? Humans are too big to be prey, but a cat must decide if you are friend or foe. When a cat chooses you as their person, it's a true honor."
We also asked Rita and Linda how smart cats really are. "Cats are smarter than we realize! It's well known that cats are empaths, but it isn't a psychic connection," they noted. "They watch every single thing we do. They watch our facial expressions and listen to the tone of our voice. You can pretend everything is okay and put a smile on your face, and that may fool a lot of people, but it will never fool your cat! They notice the smallest difference and will try to either fix it, or hide because it's scary to them if you are upset."
"Between our two houses, we have 28 cats!" Rita and Linda told us. "We've seen them open doors and do all kinds of crazy things because they watch us intently and often mimic all we do. One of our cats used both paws on a doorknob once to attempt to open a door. The technique was right, but without thumbs it wasn't doable. If cats had thumbs, they could rule the world."
When asked if cats feel affection towards their owners, Rita and Linda told us, "YES!!! In 2020, Linda lost her son in law to Covid. Her daughter had to move back home with her mom and... Her 4 cats moved in, too. All of her cats loved Sebastian, however one of them, Inky, was especially close to his human dad. Every night for almost a month, Inky roamed the house, crying this horrible, guttural sound! He didn't understand where Sebastian went and he was crying out for him. It was heartbreaking."
"One day Linda's daughter, Nikki, wore one of Sebastian's t-shirts. It had been washed but a cat's sense of smell is a-meow-zing and they could smell him on it. When she took it off that night, she tossed it on the floor and all 4 of her cats came up and laid on it. They miss him terribly, as do we all!"
"Some people get confused when they are hurting and their cat goes to hide. They don't think they are loved. A cat will either come try to fix you, or they will hide because it's scary. If the human is upset, something is wrong and it might be a good idea to hide until it blows over!"
Lastly, the ladies wanted to set the record straight about some cat misconceptions. "There is no such thing as a naughty, mad, vindictive cat. They can seem complicated but again, understanding how cats behave in nature helps you understand your inside cat's behaviors. Let's take, for example, the cat who poops on your pillow. Grr! No one wants that. People often tell us the cat was so mad that their cat punished them by pooping on their bed. WRONG!"
"First, we always get a vet check to rule out medical issues. Aside from medical issues, pooping is almost always a self-soothing mechanism. If your cat is pooping outside of the box, something is upsetting him, making him insecure, depressed, scared etc. Now, the fact that it was on your pillow tells us everything! Your pillow is the best scent soaker in the world. You spend hours on it, sweating and putting your scent on it. Your cat went to your pillow to smell you and tried to mix their scent with yours. That's love. It's disgusting, but it's love, not revenge!!! ALL cat behavior can be explained and 'bad' behavior can be corrected. We just have to understand the source of their actions and take deliberate steps to calm the kitty."
If you're interested in gaining even more cat wisdom from Rita and Linda, be sure to check out the Cat Behavior Alliance's website right here.
I would love to see what cats would share online. I can imagine they would often complain about not having enough freedom to roam around outside, not being fed enough, how much they hate the neighborhood dogs, and their Sunday morning hangovers from indulging in a bit too much catnip the night before. But all of this talk about cats online has me wondering: what do they actually think about all day? So I consulted Senior Cat Wellness’ blog post on that exact topic to help us understand the inner workings of a cat’s mind a little bit better.
Compared to dogs, who are often expressive and very easy to read, cats tend to be aloof and mysterious. But many cats also seem very smart, so there must be something going on inside of those little brains of theirs. According to Richard Parker at Senior Cat Wellness, “During the day, cats recall memories, consider them, and adjust future behavior. Cats don’t spend their time thinking about their day or how they feel. Also, cats don’t have idle thoughts as they lack a default mode network, and they can’t think in a language as they lack Wernicke-like areas,” he explains.
“Cats can’t think consciously, only subconsciously. Still, cats think about previous experiences and use them to guide their future behavior. Only having memories to rely on limits the scope of things cats can contemplate. However, as long as they feel content, they don’t need much more.”
Cats may seem relatively simple because they are not capable of contemplating their feelings or much about themselves and their environment, but they do understand certain things. Richard provides the example of how a cat resting with its eyes closed is likely not thinking about anything; it is just resting. But as soon as you approach your cat and present it with a new toy, his or her working memory is engaged, and it will draw on previous experiences to determine what to do with the toy. “Cats’ working memory is only active when presented with new information,” Richard explains. “Once the cat is familiar with the toy, it won’t think about playing with it, as it’s acting entirely on instinct.”
As far as when cats are just chilling and relaxing, you can think about it like they are meditating. Since they do not really have feelings, they won’t be dwelling on how you accidentally locked them outside for an hour this morning or how you fed them breakfast after eating yours first. Your cat can be sleepy or content, but until it is disrupted or distracted, it’s working memory is essentially turned off.
Cats also don’t think in any particular language. In fact, they don’t really use language at all. They only meow when they want to get attention or need something from humans, but they have no need to meow towards one another. However, they may learn how to understand certain things that you say based on experience and context. “Cats are creatures of habit, and they can associate certain gestures, sounds, and smells with specific things. If you always ask your cat if it’s hungry just before feeding it, it’ll come to associate the words, your tone of voice, and the can in your hand with food, reacting to this knowledge,” Richard explains. “When you ask if it’s hungry, the reaction you get from your cat comes from conditioning and habit.” So unfortunately, when you catch your cat making a sound that is strikingly similar to “hello” or “help”, it’s just a coincidence. Perhaps if they were on Twitter, they would be more inclined to share photos and videos than text tweets...
Although cats do not think or communicate with language, they have found other ways to process information. “Cats can think in pictures, using their working memory to process information and guide their actions temporarily. They have logic and reasoning capabilities without needing to use language,” Richard writes. “That’s much like babies who have yet to learn how to talk. When a cat is learning something new, it uses its senses to make sense of things.” In fact, cats have been found to have excellent object permanence, according to one study from George Mason University. So don’t think you can pull a fast one on your cat by removing that pillow you want them to stop sitting on. They will be looking for it all day.
Anyone who has ever owned a cat knows they are special creatures, but for those of you who don’t know too much about kitties, or those who are always interested in learning more, we checked out Charlottesville Cat Care Clinic’s list of “Fun Trivia About Your Feline Friend”. A common thing for new parents, human parents, to do when their children are first born is to count all of their fingers and toes. When we do this, we’re only looking for 10 of each, but did you know that cats are supposed to have 18 toes? Their front paws have 5 each, and their back paws have only 4 each. Their claws also all curve downward, meaning that after they climb up a tree, they have to back down tail-first. Maybe this is where the cliché of cats getting stuck in trees and needing to be rescued by firefighters comes from?
Felines may be small, but their bone structure is pretty impressive. Humans only have 206 bones, but cats have a whopping 230 bones in their tiny bodies. Their collarbones also don’t connect to any of their other bones, as they are buried in their shoulder muscles. But their entire bodies are outstanding, as they even have an extra organ that gives them the ability to taste scents, which is why you may have seen a cat staring at you with its mouth wide open before. And when it comes to those rough tongues of theirs, they can lick any bone clean without leaving even a shred of meat behind. Even the way they walk is special. Only cats, camels, and giraffes move with both of their right feet first and then both of their left feet.
