Re: [MBZ] OT - English-speaking cat?

2015-07-05 Thread Dan Penoff via Mercedes
Cats don’t “speak” anything, as they don’t have the physical mechanisms to form 
speech as we know it.  What I have always found interesting is that for the 
most part, cat’s don’t vocalize as a part of their social behavior in the wild 
a great deal unless threatened or injured.  Most of their communication is done 
through eye contact, believe it or not.

Cats can recognize speech patterns and intonation, and for that matter studies 
have shown that they have increased physical responses to their owner’s voices, 
however, they don’t typically respond in kind.

It boils down mostly to behavior patterns that are learned.

Cats can learn tricks, although it takes them longer than a dog.  I once taught 
a cat (who was about as smart as a post) to scratch the “air” on command using 
the phrase, “Go ahead kitty cat. Scratch me!” (A line from a Warner Brothers 
Sylvester cartoon.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFM9v4xsDzE 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFM9v4xsDzE

Dan (King Kitty)


 On Jul 5, 2015, at 11:06 AM, WILTON via Mercedes mercedes@okiebenz.com 
 wrote:
 
 Several years ago, a neighbor moved away taking with 'im a cat that often 
 came over to visit with me whenever I was out in the yard.  What Cat really 
 wanted, of course, was the generous amount of head and tummy scratching that 
 I bestowed upon it.  
 
 A few months after moving away, the former neighbor came to me and asked if I 
 would adopt the cat, because somebody in the new neighborhood did not like 
 having the cat around.  Reluctantly, I agreed to the adoption.  
 
 Initially, we kept Cat's food and water dishes on the stoop outside the 
 kitchen door, but animals and birds from miles around quickly found the 
 steady and abundant food source and overwhelmed me, especially with their 
 generous deposits left behind, so I brought Cat's dishes inside to a corner 
 immediately inside the door.  Cat and I soon settled into a routine:  She 
 seemed to always know when I'd enter the kitchen for meals and/or snacks 
 would meow to let her in for a snack with me.  She'd always sit beside me 
 and stretch her neck and head up toward my hand for the customary scratches 
 behind the ears.  I'd soon tire of that and say, Go ahead and eat. while 
 motioning toward her dishes near the door.
 
 After several years of this, grandson #2 (about 8 at the time) was at the 
 breakfast table with me one morning when Cat meowed outside the door.  I got 
 up and let her in and immediately went back to my seat.  Cat walked back to 
 the table with me and took her usual position beside my chair with her head 
 stretched up toward my hand for her usual scratches behind the ears.  As I 
 read the paper, my right hand hung down beside the chair to occasionally 
 stroke Cat's head.  After a couple of minutes, I said in a low, firm, but not 
 harsh, voice and without any motion and never looking up from the paper, Go 
 ahead and eat.  Cat immediately turned, looked over at her dishes and slowly 
 walked over to them and started eating.
 
 Grandson, watching all of this, was amazed and exclaimed, Granddaddy, I 
 didn't know that cat could speak English!
 
 I responded, Well she doesn't SPEAK English, but she obviously understands 
 it.
 
 So, what about it, does Cat speak English?
 
 Wilton
 
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Re: [MBZ] OT - English-speaking cat?

2015-07-05 Thread WILTON via Mercedes
Oh, I agree that cats can't speak (was using that term in jest), but I have 
many times carried on meow conversations with Cat - she and I meowing 
back and forth in response to each other and even changing her mood by the 
tone of my meow, especially when I change from high-pitched, friendly tone 
to low-pitched more aggressive-sounding tone.


Wilton

- Original Message - 
From: Dan Penoff via Mercedes mercedes@okiebenz.com

To: Okie Benz mercedes@okiebenz.com
Cc: Dan Penoff d...@penoff.com
Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2015 1:04 PM
Subject: Re: [MBZ] OT - English-speaking cat?


Cats don’t “speak” anything, as they don’t have the physical mechanisms to 
form speech as we know it.  What I have always found interesting is that 
for the most part, cat’s don’t vocalize as a part of their social behavior 
in the wild a great deal unless threatened or injured.  Most of their 
communication is done through eye contact, believe it or not.


Cats can recognize speech patterns and intonation, and for that matter 
studies have shown that they have increased physical responses to their 
owner’s voices, however, they don’t typically respond in kind.


It boils down mostly to behavior patterns that are learned.

Cats can learn tricks, although it takes them longer than a dog.  I once 
taught a cat (who was about as smart as a post) to scratch the “air” on 
command using the phrase, “Go ahead kitty cat. Scratch me!” (A line from a 
Warner Brothers Sylvester cartoon.)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFM9v4xsDzE 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFM9v4xsDzE


Dan (King Kitty)


On Jul 5, 2015, at 11:06 AM, WILTON via Mercedes mercedes@okiebenz.com 
wrote:


Several years ago, a neighbor moved away taking with 'im a cat that often 
came over to visit with me whenever I was out in the yard.  What Cat 
really wanted, of course, was the generous amount of head and tummy 
scratching that I bestowed upon it.


A few months after moving away, the former neighbor came to me and asked 
if I would adopt the cat, because somebody in the new neighborhood did 
not like having the cat around.  Reluctantly, I agreed to the adoption.


Initially, we kept Cat's food and water dishes on the stoop outside the 
kitchen door, but animals and birds from miles around quickly found the 
steady and abundant food source and overwhelmed me, especially with their 
generous deposits left behind, so I brought Cat's dishes inside to a 
corner immediately inside the door.  Cat and I soon settled into a 
routine:  She seemed to always know when I'd enter the kitchen for meals 
and/or snacks would meow to let her in for a snack with me.  She'd 
always sit beside me and stretch her neck and head up toward my hand for 
the customary scratches behind the ears.  I'd soon tire of that and say, 
Go ahead and eat. while motioning toward her dishes near the door.


After several years of this, grandson #2 (about 8 at the time) was at the 
breakfast table with me one morning when Cat meowed outside the door.  I 
got up and let her in and immediately went back to my seat.  Cat walked 
back to the table with me and took her usual position beside my chair 
with her head stretched up toward my hand for her usual scratches behind 
the ears.  As I read the paper, my right hand hung down beside the chair 
to occasionally stroke Cat's head.  After a couple of minutes, I said in 
a low, firm, but not harsh, voice and without any motion and never 
looking up from the paper, Go ahead and eat.  Cat immediately turned, 
looked over at her dishes and slowly walked over to them and started 
eating.


Grandson, watching all of this, was amazed and exclaimed, Granddaddy, I 
didn't know that cat could speak English!


I responded, Well she doesn't SPEAK English, but she obviously 
understands it.


So, what about it, does Cat speak English?

Wilton

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Re: [MBZ] OT - English-speaking cat?

2015-07-05 Thread Max Dillon via Mercedes
Yes, my wife brought an Italian speaking cat to our marriage.  Scopa, which  
means broom, would immediately cause the cat to run for cover.  My 
mother-in-law used a broom to administer correction; brandishing a broom would 
have an even greater effect.

Once we went to Wisconsin to visit my mother, and for some reason we had taken 
the cat.  One evening the cat got into the attached garage, got scared and 
climbed up into the rafters, well out of reach.  No amount of calling, 
pleading, or cat food would coax her down.

I had SWMBO stand at the door leading to the house and call the cat.  I found a 
broom, yelled Scopa! and charged.  This produced the desired response, as Cat 
rapidly exited the garage back into the house.

My wife would sometimes curse the cat in Italian, which I'm sure she also 
understood quite well.
-- 
Max Dillon
Charleston SC
'87 300TD
'95 E300
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Re: [MBZ] OT - English-speaking cat?

2015-07-05 Thread Rich Thomas via Mercedes

Hey Max you must be over in Yurp!

Friends have a pair of these Asian tiger or leopard cats or something, 
they are half house cat and half wild whatevers from Malaysia or some 
place, and look sorta spotted leopardish.  Anyway, they are wicked smart 
and are actually fairly tolerable and quite engaging.  They do various 
tricks and pick up on things quite quickly, and will obey commands to go 
fetch toys and what not.


--R



On 7/5/15 9:01 PM, Max Dillon via Mercedes wrote:

Yes, my wife brought an Italian speaking cat to our marriage.  Scopa, which  
means broom, would immediately cause the cat to run for cover.  My mother-in-law used a 
broom to administer correction; brandishing a broom would have an even greater effect.

Once we went to Wisconsin to visit my mother, and for some reason we had taken 
the cat.  One evening the cat got into the attached garage, got scared and 
climbed up into the rafters, well out of reach.  No amount of calling, 
pleading, or cat food would coax her down.

I had SWMBO stand at the door leading to the house and call the cat.  I found a broom, 
yelled Scopa! and charged.  This produced the desired response, as Cat 
rapidly exited the garage back into the house.

My wife would sometimes curse the cat in Italian, which I'm sure she also 
understood quite well.



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Re: [MBZ] OT - English-speaking cat?

2015-07-05 Thread Mitch Haley via Mercedes

About the only times I knew cats to 'talk' were when mother cats would call the
kittens
to put them away for the night, or the way two toms tell each other it's time to
open a
can of whoop-ass. 

Mitch. 

 On July 5, 2015 at 1:04 PM Dan Penoff via Mercedes mercedes@okiebenz.com
 wrote:
 
 
 Cats don’t “speak” anything, as they don’t have the physical mechanisms to
 form speech as we know it.

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Re: [MBZ] OT - English-speaking cat?

2015-07-05 Thread Dan Penoff via Mercedes
True Leopard cats (from Asia and parts of Indonesia) are protected by law and 
cannot be brought into the US. They’re probably hybrids, which are known as 
Bengals.  Bengals are the result of outbreeding between a Leopard and a 
domestic cat, and until you’ve outbred to the F4 (fourth filial generation) 
you’re going to have a cat with a lot of feral characteristics.

I knew a guy here in Tampa who had two of these, one was an F2 and the other an 
F3.  The reason I knew him was because a breeder recommended me to him for some 
behavioral advice, not realizing that the guy had F2 and F3 cats.  Had the 
breeder known it at the time he would have been told, “Good day!” and left to 
fare for himself.

These cats were truly feral.  I’ve never seen anything like it before in my 
life.  They completely destroyed a really high end apartment this guy owned.  
When I went to visit, I was totally stunned at the damage they had inflicted on 
the place, and worse yet, how they were the farthest thing from a pet (cat) 
I’ve ever seen in my life.  Unapproachable, aggressive and really, really 
dangerous, I thought.

I told him to find a refuge for them and that he was an idiot for getting them 
in the first place.  He thought it would be “cool” to have a couple of wild 
cats in his apartment.  He obviously did no research prior to buying them, and 
they weren’t cheap.  It appeared to me that this was some doofus who had more 
money than brains.  I asked him about licensing and he said the guy who he 
bought them from, “Never said anything about needing a license.

I reported him to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife people the next day along with 
alerting a local refuge, Big Cat Rescue.

I’m amazed the guy was alive.

Dan


 On Jul 5, 2015, at 3:44 PM, Rich Thomas via Mercedes mercedes@okiebenz.com 
 wrote:
 
 Hey Max you must be over in Yurp!
 
 Friends have a pair of these Asian tiger or leopard cats or something, they 
 are half house cat and half wild whatevers from Malaysia or some place, and 
 look sorta spotted leopardish.  Anyway, they are wicked smart and are 
 actually fairly tolerable and quite engaging.  They do various tricks and 
 pick up on things quite quickly, and will obey commands to go fetch toys and 
 what not.
 
 --R
 


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