The idle musings of a former military man, former computer geek, medically retired pastor and now full-time writer. Contents guaranteed to offend the politically correct and anal-retentive from time to time. My approach to life is that it should be taken with a large helping of laughter, and sufficient firepower to keep it tamed!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
An unlikely friendship
The video says it all.
I wonder how long this can last?
Peter
10 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I wonder if the bird picked up petting the cat like that from watching people do it? It wouldn't surprise me, if magpies can pick up (multiple) tool use then such a feat isn't beyond imagination.
Knowing cats are capricious and spawned from the heart of Satan himself (I'm owned by one so I speak from personal experience), I have a bad feeling that this will not end well and the owners, who watched too many nature documentaries that showed the gazelle always escaping, are going to be explaining to their Vet how Polly ended up with multiple bite marks. ...if Polly makes it to the Vet in time.
It will last surprisingly long if the cat is not taught to think of live birds as food. The video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ikm3o5hDks shows a full-grown rat and cat hanging out without the cat turning the rat into lunch.
You could be surprised. Especially if the bird has taught the cat that it can defend itself ably- and large parrots generally can- interspecies friendships within the setting of a domestic household can last.
Especially more likely if kitty was born and raised indoors; many such cats are never able to recognize anything that doesn't come in a bag or can as potential food. A lot of their hunting behaviors are learning-dependent; some cats have stronger instincts than that, some don't.
Cats--unlike dogs--do not have an instinctive "kill" instinct. They have to be taught to kill, usually by the mother, but occasionally by asnother cat.
I've seen long-term real friendships between ferrets and cats. The ferrets learned completely on their own exactly where cats like to be scriched (top of head and chin). They ate out of the same bowl at the same time, shared the same bed, the same litterbox...that last really funny because the ferts wouldn't bury their stuff, the cats would come along and do it for 'em.
True comedy was a bored cat trying to wake up a sleeping ferret for some play. Ferrets don't wake up easily, you'd end up with a cat dragging a houseweasel across the rug by the scruff of it's neck while it yawned.
They never hurt each other, and they'd roll around pretty full-tilt. The cat was faster and had more reach, the ferret was tougher and smarter and could run in reverse :). The ferret would try and lure the cat under bed or in some other tight quarters where he'd just dominate.
10 comments:
I wonder if the bird picked up petting the cat like that from watching people do it? It wouldn't surprise me, if magpies can pick up (multiple) tool use then such a feat isn't beyond imagination.
Jim
It should last until the cat learns to recognize a drumstick.
Knowing cats are capricious and spawned from the heart of Satan himself (I'm owned by one so I speak from personal experience), I have a bad feeling that this will not end well and the owners, who watched too many nature documentaries that showed the gazelle always escaping, are going to be explaining to their Vet how Polly ended up with multiple bite marks. ...if Polly makes it to the Vet in time.
Usually, one of our cats would tolerate this about 15 seconds and then be off.
When the tail begins to twitch, Polly had better be off.
It will last surprisingly long if the cat is not taught to think of live birds as food. The video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ikm3o5hDks shows a full-grown rat and cat hanging out without the cat turning the rat into lunch.
Archie
Cat saliva has a bacteria deadly to birds, so even if the two get along wonderfully, kitty can still kill the bird accidentally.
You could be surprised. Especially if the bird has taught the cat that it can defend itself ably- and large parrots generally can- interspecies friendships within the setting of a domestic household can last.
Especially more likely if kitty was born and raised indoors; many such cats are never able to recognize anything that doesn't come in a bag or can as potential food. A lot of their hunting behaviors are learning-dependent; some cats have stronger instincts than that, some don't.
Yeah, what Billll said... :-)
Cats--unlike dogs--do not have an instinctive "kill" instinct. They have to be taught to kill, usually by the mother, but occasionally by asnother cat.
Old Squid.
I've seen long-term real friendships between ferrets and cats. The ferrets learned completely on their own exactly where cats like to be scriched (top of head and chin). They ate out of the same bowl at the same time, shared the same bed, the same litterbox...that last really funny because the ferts wouldn't bury their stuff, the cats would come along and do it for 'em.
True comedy was a bored cat trying to wake up a sleeping ferret for some play. Ferrets don't wake up easily, you'd end up with a cat dragging a houseweasel across the rug by the scruff of it's neck while it yawned.
They never hurt each other, and they'd roll around pretty full-tilt. The cat was faster and had more reach, the ferret was tougher and smarter and could run in reverse :). The ferret would try and lure the cat under bed or in some other tight quarters where he'd just dominate.
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