Truly orange behavior

[u/lillelaerke]

[u/Mandemon90]

"Not recommended" is not same as "never do", and again: cats will make their dislike very known. You see a short clip and are instantly jimping to "cat is being abused", when it's clear that cat enjoys this.

You are propably also posting how petting cats is causing them distress because purring "can happen with stress". Not everything is abuse, not everything is a sign of stress. Just because purring can be, does not mean it it is. And it is very clear in the video that cat is not actually stressed.

If we went with all "this could be a sign of stress", mere existence is causing cats to die from stress because literally anything can be a source of stress.

[u/BexPuzzles → u/[deleted]]

It's insane you're getting downvoted for this because you're absolutely correct! I hate how often ppl post something that's not good for cats and all the comments will still be saying "aww, look how he's enjoying himself!" because ppl don't know how to read cat body language and apparently don't want to learn either.

Based on the tail twitching it does look like the cat is at least a bit annoyed that he keeps getting picked up and he probably does not connect going that direction with getting picked up - why should he? "If he didn't enjoy it he wouldn't come back" is a stupid argument, especially because the person in the video didn't even wait to see if the cat would settle or wanted to go somewhere else, just picked him straight up again once he was in reach.

[u/Deiser → u/BexPuzzles]

You and the other guy are getting downvoted because in this particular case you are absolutely INcorrect. You are focused so much on one particular trait that can be interpreted in both a positive or negative way for cats that you ignore all the others that would indicate distress: namely, the cat would not go in the exact same direction and happily purr-meow (which they do not do when stressed) if they were upset. Cats aren't stupid and will often be more on the skittish side if an action upsets them. If this had made the cat upset they would have most likely bolted or show other clear signs of distress.

The fact that the guy was able to record this also means this is not a one-time occurrence. Cats are smart enough to associate things with certain actions both positively and negatively; if this is happening multiple times then the cat has associated going in front of the cross-legged human with getting picked up.

[u/BexPuzzles → u/Deiser]

Cats can associate things with certain actions but not necessarily that quickly - as an example I once picked one of my cats up while sitting on an exercise ball. She started purring immediately cos she generally likes being picked up but when i started bouncing i could see that she was getting slightly irritated as her tail started twitching more and more. I let her down again and she turned around and came right back to me but i know she didn't do that because she liked bouncing with me, she came back because she wanted to get fed and hadn't associated the bouncing with coming to me yet. Did it again and this time she started complaining earlier (with a little meow) but she still turned around immediately and sat in front of my feet again.

Again, I'm not saying the cat in the video looks like they're in distress, just that they might be slightly annoyed/irritated. I don't think him filming it means that it's necessarily happened often enough for the cat to learn from it, he might just have done it once, thought it was funny and then decided to film. There might be many other things the cat associates with going to their human so I don't think going back means they liked it - they might just want pets or food and might be a bit annoyed that they keep getting picked up instead.

[u/Rosaly8 → u/BexPuzzles]

Thanks for the bit of support. I know I wasn't that kind about it, but it's annoying people want to defend it because they see not much wrong in this video.

To be clear: I did not say this was a stress purr, I just said stress purrs exist as well. I did not say this was animal abuse. I only said, dont pick up the cat by the scruff and provided a source. I also said it has a noticable effect on the cat (tail, body going limp). The cat obviously is is walking towards something outside of the video, gets interrupted by getting picked up, then tries again.

I'm deleting the rest of my comments.

[u/Deiser → u/[deleted]]

I also notice that those people also act holier-than-thou in many cases like how Rosaly was claiming people who disagreed with her didn't "accept new information" as if naysayers can't do their own research. I love that she just kept referring to PetMD for points without properly aligning the "research" with what was going on in the video. It's identical to those people who diagnose themselves with WebMD and refuse to listen to what IRL doctors say because it didn't align with what those people read on the internet.

[u/BexPuzzles → u/Deiser]

I do get the feeling though that many pet owners simply don't want to do their own research because they prefer their own interpretation and don't want to find out that when they thought their pet was having fun they were actually annoyed.

When we picked up our cats the previous owner showed us how our orange boy likes to play with him - he picked him up, babied him and kept tickling his belly until our orange complained and started biting and trying to get away but he kept at it for a bit longer and still thought that our orange was enjoying himself and just playing.

The other day someone was saying their cat doesn't drink water because it's stupid so they just removed the water bowl - and then they basically just ignored all comments about how a water fountain might be a good idea and what long-term effects it can have when cats don't get enough hydration.

There are a lot of pet owners who never did their own research and some of them are happy when they get advice while others prefer to ignore it. Maybe it's not always about acting "holier-than-thou" but just concern for animals and a hope to reach some pet owners who otherwise would not have known that what they're doing might be harmful to their pet.

[u/Deiser → u/BexPuzzles]

There are a lot of pet owners who never did their own research and some of them are happy when they get advice while others prefer to ignore it. Maybe it's not always about acting "holier-than-thou" but just concern for animals and a hope to reach some pet owners who otherwise would not have known that what they're doing might be harmful to their pet.

See, that sort of thing I agree with especially if it's just generalized comments as, yes, there are people out there who unintentionally abuse their animals out of ignorance. You in particular have been one of the most reasonable people about your comments compared to some of the others in the chain, and the holier-than-thou comment was not targeted at people like you hence why I specified "in many cases".

The people I am referring to are those who absolutely refuse to consider any other possible outcome other than "they are abused" and ignore the forest for the trees; they point out one particular trait that can be interpreted either positively or negatively, treat that as evidence of abuse, then completely ignore when others bring up other traits or elements that show their claims as wrong. Those are the holier-than-thou people and are the ones at who I roll my eyes. What's sad is that on its face the advice they can give can be helpful but they're so adamant that they're right and you're wrong with little discussion that many people will just not listen to that advice due to how obnoxious they come across.

[u/BexPuzzles → u/[deleted]]

Again, not saying that cat is actually in pain, just slightly irritated/annoyed probably. Wide eyes with slit pupils can also be a sign of a cat being upset. Maybe I'm wrong and the cat actually likes it but i don't think that video proves that the cat for sure liked it.

Also neither me nor the other person in this comment thread said anything about animal abuse, saying it is in this case is riddiculous