Why does my cat show such affection toward me?

Question

I guess you could put some kind of religious spin on this question if you want to.......

I wonder why the animal cries when I leave, gets excited when I return, and purrs in contentment just by being near me (not in my lap, just resting neaby, and I am the the only person it does this with). I have been told that such actions are not normal because animals are not supposed to have that kind of cognitive reasoning, so why does it show such affection?

Answer 1

The warm fuzzy answer is that your cat has bonded with you and really misses you when your gone, is happy just to have you around and would be devestated if you went away and never came back.
The more likely answer is that your cat is a creature of survival, it has hedged its bets with you and has spent time getting to know what makes you happy and therefore works on that stuff to have more of a chance of getting what it wants.

Answer 2

Cats, as well as many of others of our pets, are rather social creatures. If you watch two cats that get along well together, you will see them curling up together, grooming each other, etc. I think that in some cases when a person has a single pet, the animal kind of adopts them as not just an "owner" but as a type of "pack-mate". I think that's the word I want. Probably if you had two cats, they would express more of this affection towards each other and not as much toward you.

Answer 3

wikipedia says:

For cats, life in close proximity with humans (and other animals kept by humans as pets) amounts to a "symbiotic social adaptation" which has developed over thousands of years. The sort of social relationship cats have with their human keepers is hard to map onto more generalized wild cat (Felis spp.) behavior, but it is certain that the cat thinks of humans differently than it does other cats (i.e., it does not think of itself as human, nor that humans are cats). This can be seen in the difference in body and vocal language it uses with humans, when compared to how it communicates with other cats in the household, for example. Some have suggested that, psychologically, the human keeper of a cat is a sort of surrogate for the cat's mother, and that adult domestic cats live their lives in a kind of extended kittenhood.[The typical negative stereotype of a cat describes a "solitary" animal, prone to opaqueness or inscrutability as well as aloofness and self-sufficiency. However, cats are not generally as asocial as that stereotype, and indeed can be very affectionate towards their human companions, especially if they imprint on them at a very young age and are treated with consistent affection. Some breeds like Bengal, Ocicat and manx are known to be very social by instinct.


...basically
you show the cat affection and it recipricates :)
it depends on how:
you treat your cat from a young age
the sort of cat you have
who most socializes with the cat
the bread o

Answer 4

Isn't amazing that animals are more thankful and faithful to those who feed them. But on the other hand most humans do not care to thank their God who provides them. They rebel, do not accept even existence of God and disobey God's commands in their lives. When they are in trouble then they cry in front of God. When God removes their problem, they forget kneeling to God again.

Answer 5

Perhpas because you show such affection towards him dear.

Answer 6

why not, my cats adore me they give me more attention than anyone , they stare at me, they are usually near me, if i lay on the floor all three of them come up and start sniffing me and massaging me and lay down next to me. cute creatures.

Answer 7

I agree, it has a religious feel to it.

Answer 8

cos kitty looooves you. kitty wants you to feed it and play with it and touch it and it wants your attention. it also wants you to be its slave :]]