OT and Beyond: Ikea herds cats

Some genius decided to let 100 cats loose in Ikea, just to see what
would happen.

 

On Sat, 11 Sep 2010 12:08:32 +0100, Grimly Curmudgeon

Here's some cat herding for you.

 

While it's quite a nice ad, I am bloody sure that all those cats are not
there at the same time.

I currently live with two that are being introduced to each other, so I
*know* what happens.

Of course, they may have had access to 100 cats that already knew each
other....


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Fantastic, thanks.

 

Looks like they had it in sections. I wondered how the owners knew for
certain that the big white cat they got back was the same on they let
in.

I have a clinical need for the kitten at 3.57 though. It's coming up
to two years without cats. The visits from Salvador and Florence are
enough for now though. Maybe next year.

Oi TBC, if I can't have the ZXR then I've got another idea...

The siamese wins. Every time.

 

ID tag, probably. But then again, the owners were probably in with them.

If we had one, it would.
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It occurs to me that there is probably a sight more clinical data to be
harvested by studying the behaviour of the owners rather than that of the
cats.

 

The actual advert is fine if a bit too cute in places. The clip with
the owners is moderately scary as they're all clearly mad. Are the
cats that look like sacks of skin and bones (i.e. next to no fur)
Burmese Cats?

I agree that the "Creature Comforts" bit is amusing.

 

Not AFAIK

Sphynx cats. Horrid looking things IIMHO.

Burmese are quite nice.



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Burmese are noisy shorthairs like Siamese. Only not quite as, er,
demanding. Nor quite as noisy.

 

The Burmese cats I've had have both been fairly quiet. The trick seems
to be to get them spayed before they ever come into heat which means
they don't really discover their voice.

But they are incredibly sociable & trusting - they like human company so
much they will follow you around the house & garden. That's what got
them both run over because they have no sense of danger.

 

You managed to dodge the traffic, though? ;-)

I think Burmese are definitely an easier ride, as it were, than
Siamese. All the Siamese we've had have been incredibly vocal and
demanding. Most have been terrible thieves, as well. Wouldn't have it
any other way, really. Some people like a moggie which acts as a
sleepy hearthrug for 20 hours of the day. Others prefer something with
a bit more character.

 

One was when I was putting out the bins - late night, dead quiet, sleepy
country lane. Here comes an Impreza and the stupid cat is just sitting
bang in the middle of the road watching it car coming. I'm too far away
to do anything, just waiting for the cat to react, but she doesn't.
Bang. Took a while to die as well: I still have a long scar up the
inside of my arm where I got scratched.

The other one was run over whilst we were moving some stuff around in
our front garden. She liked to nip across the other side of the road
where there is an orchard.

I think the trouble is that if there are people around that they trust
they think any risks will be dealt with. It's commented on if you read
the descriptions of the breed: many people won't let them outdoors at all.

They both came from the same breeder near us and we did have a burmese
cat when I was growing up that was much smarter: so perhaps it's just
that particular strain.

Anyway, we don't have cats any more.

 

Jim wrote:

That's some major projection you've got going on there.

Much more likely, IMHO. It's easy enough to 'teach' cats not to mess
with traffic. Go and stand by the side of a busy road with one[1][2] and
they soon get the message.

Each to their own.

[1]You will probably need strong arms and full leathers
[2] Worked for ours at at lease one place we lived that was an old
coaching house that fronted directly onto the A1067 in Sparham in
Norfolk [3]
[3] Isn't streetview cool? They've replaced the front door that opened
basically onto the road with a window. Wonder how they arranged that inside.
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I don't think it's anthropomorphism to say that a cat can "trust".

Here's the breed description I was talking about:

http://www.cfa.org/breeds/profiles/burmese.html

"Burmese should never be let outdoors as they are entirely too trusting
and have little, if any, survival instinct. Their idea of survival is to
turn their soulful eyes on you to attend to all their needs. This does
not work for catching food, fighting off enemies or avoiding cars."

 

Neither do I. I do however think that the though process involved 'any
risks will be dealt with' is stretching it.

The cat not identifying a risk OTOH....

And that's written by an unbiased source?



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I guess I have a utilitarian viewpoint here: if some line of reasoning
is helpful to understand the animal's behaviour then what does it matter
whether the cat is actually "thinking".

I'm sure it's possible that all owners of Burmese cats are fooling
themselves about this.

 

I doubt that's a view held by *all* owners. I even doubt it's a
representative view. My sister had a pair of Burmese that were nothing
like that *at all*. And as for 'never be let outside' it's not
surprising that they never manage to deal with risks.

One of hers died of cat flu a few years back, the other one was put down
earlier this year after plain old age caught up with her. Both were in
and out as they pleased. In Luton, which has a whole different scope of
hazards

As for her turning soulful eyes on you: oh yes, she would. Once she'd
climbed onto your shoulder and sunk her teeth into your septum to ensure
that she had your full attention.

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I think it is a representative view. I've seen it mentioned in much of
the literature about the breed, and have talked about it with the
breeders themselves. And we've had >10 of them in our family over 30
years and various different breeders.

I don't subscribe to the "never be let outside" viewpoint, btw, I think
it's a bit cruel. I think we went through a bad run: if they survive
longer than a couple of years they seem to live fairly long. In fact my
parents have had a couple live to more than 15 years.

Sounds familiar.

 

Sorry, I meant representative of the view of all owners. However it
matches your experience. Fair enough.

I'm a bit ambivalent. I know some cats that have never been outside and
seem perfectly happy. All of our cats have always been allowed outside
more or less at will (brought in over night though). Keeping a cat that
has been let outside in though, is really not good IMHO.

Learning curve innit.



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