If your cat could talk, would it tell the truth?

@gailcalled Do not even answer this! We have all gotten a pretty good sense of Milo’s feline version of honesty . . . .

My pets got my back! ;)

@Milo If you post I will have the mods all over your fuzzy little behind (we recognize your typing pal)

Sure they would, and if they didn’t I’d get rid of them, just like I would with any dishonest creature. lol

My cat would say, “I don’t exist.”

@Kayak8: Check out this face. Is that the punim of a liar? (And at least I get my hair styled and cut regularly).

Yes, I imagine all 5 of our cats would be brutally honest. Even though we treat them exceptionally well, they each have unique and quirky personalities and I wouldn’t put it past them to say some unusual and unexpected things.

@gailcalled you are kvelling over the punim of what appears, to me at least, to be a schnorror.

@Kayak8: You’ve got “latkes” in your “gatkes.”

@gailcalled Oi! Gevalt!

Never had a cat, hate the evil bastards. If I did & the thing could talk, no I think it would lie it’s bloody head off. “Please let me stay, i’m not really evil.” See, told you.

I’ve heard my cat’s tales about me. She used to try them on visitors, and one pushover in particular: “Oh, woe, oh, woe! Nobody feeds me! Nobody cuddles me! Nobody ever pets me! I need a lap! I need to be gritched and stroked! Give me attention! Now-wow-wow!” We thought it was an outstanding performance and used to applaud and cheer.

@ucme Why ya gotta lash out?

@Jeruba, my cat too. He SWORE to my friends that he had never been fed or patted before. Sheesh.

Did he include the “woe” part, @GeorgeGee? A real heart-wringer. My one friend just ate it up. After she left, the cat was always completely spoiled for a while.

He also insisted that he LOVES ham and that I never share it with him. Though I told them he was lying, my friends put some ham on the floor, as usual, he smelled it, and walked away in disgust. Grr, I hate to waste food.

I don’t think cats actually lie. I just think their concept of the truth is nothing like yours or mine.

And who’s to say we have it right, after all? A cat’s truth might be as good as any. It seems to work better for them than some of ours work for us. Cats are practical philosophers.

@Jeruba Don’t be too sure about that. I had a cat, Bugsy who, I swear to god, used to fake a limp sometimes when he thought I was paying to much attention to Casper, my other cat, or paying too much attention to just about anything that wasn’t Bugsy. He knew I’d come over an make a fuss over him. Bugsy was the smartest cat I’ve ever known and I wouldn’t put that kind of thing past him in terms of his temperament or his cognitive skills.

No, my dog is the king of escape. He would judge what is in his best interest and answer accordingly.

No worries on my end. The cat I owned was mute. A boyfriend, on the other hand, had two hairless cats who would immediately climb up into my sweater and whisper how cruel he was, particularly with the temperature control

I know Spoony THE Cat as well as I know any person. She is crafty. She will occasionally ask me to get up from the computer and give her some tuna fish, and while I am still puttering around in the kitchen, she’ll dash back to my study and jump up in my computer chair. She loves to curl up in it after my big butt has left it nice and warm. But there is not a shadow of duplicity in her. She tells me exactly what is on her mind in all the many ways she can find to bridge our human/feline communication gap. And she knows that I do not lie to her either.

@lillycoyote, I had a cat who faked a limp too. She really had hurt her paw, and she did limp for a while. We would hear her coming down the hall: walk-limp, walk-limp, walk-limp. Into the kitchen. Ooooh, poor kitty. Is your paw still hurting? Oooh <pet pet pet>.

Then it healed up, and we could hear her little footsteps in the hall: walka-walka-walka-walka. Around the corner, and there we were in the kitchen. Oops! Walk-limp, walk-limp, walk-limp.

I don’t think this is deception by cat standards. This is legitimate redirection of attention.

@Jeruba LOL. I didn’t realize that “limp faking” was SOP, right out of the cat manual. Yes, some cats do have very low standards for what they consider deception, just like some people. It doesn’t mean it’s not lying and manipulating in order to get what they want.

I suppose it’s some kind of operant conditioning. Bugsy also had a real paw/leg injury at first and that healed, but he learned that limping was a good way to get attention, but it’s still cat lying in my book. It’s a good thing they’re so cute and sweet and snuggly. :-)

Absolutely. Oh, hello, good morning my dear can opener.

@mattbrowne Another joke, my firend?

Oops ;-)

I seriously doubt that my cat would ever gossip about me. She’s more concerned with herself.

One would be nice, the other would make up crazy lies and the third one’s too stupid to lie.

Spoony THE Cat did an amazing thing today. I have one of those rolling swivel chairs at the computer. When I have been sitting there awhile and gotten it nice and warm, she loves to jump into it if I get up She’ll curl up in its warmth, and exercise by digging claws into the material on its back and stretching.

Well I got up just briefly today to get something from the kitchen, and she had taken my place by the time I returned. Usually I roll her back over to the hassock she calls her own, and tell her I need my chair back. Sometimes she will just get up and move, but sometimes I have to tap on her to get her moving. But today I just said, “Spoony I need my chair back.” and she did one good exercise stretch, jumped down and went over to her hassock all on her own.

Would a being as empathetic anc caring as that lie to me?

@ETpro Just remember that cats are not your friends. They are furry little predators who, for their own reasons, for a time, have decided to co-operate with you.

@Rhodentette That may be, but then we humans are predators that eat Orcas and just about every other life form that tastes good. Perhaps Spoony knows that, and feels we must be mutually respectful, as either one of us could potentially have the other for lunch, but we choose not to.

@ETpro Perhaps, perhaps… Spoony is a wonderful name for a cat, by the way. I have cat name envy.

@Rhodentette Envy? You don’t seem to think much of cats. When you approach a pet cat with that attitude, that is exactly what you get back from the feline.