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Hello,
and welcome to
Cat Puz zles!
In
a Twinkling of An Eye
By Myrna Milani, BS, DVM
Not to long ago my cat, Whittington, sat in front of the French door
in my livingroom surveying his domain following a major snowfall. As
he watched, a section of snow slid off the roof immediately above the
door with a whump! He immediately leaped back in surprise, then for
the briefest of instants looked at me. This didn't surprise me because
I've seen him and my dogs do it many times. Still, why do he and other
felines and canines do it?
My intuitive response
is that my pets want to know my reaction to their reaction: Will it
please or upset me? Even better for those of us leery of projecting
human emotional interpretations on animal displays, studies appear to
support this view. Research indicates that domestication suspends animals
in a (more or less) physiologically and behaviorally immature state.
Consequently, if we want to learn more about the meaning behind this
animal response, we need to observe the way young and adult animals
interact. In the wild, the survival of young animals depends on their
willingness to maintain contact with a parent or other designated adult.
Rather than remaining glued to the adult at all times, though, it's
more a question of the young orienting toward the older individual.
In such a way, animal youngsters get feedback regarding the appropriateness
of their own behaviors as well as remain alert to parental warnings
of danger should they occur.
Given the survival
value of this behavior, it comes as no surprise that we can see it in
even the most domesticated animals. But, as so often occurs, the behavior
may result in quite different consequences for domestic animals and
their owners. When a wild pup or kitten squeals, the adult animal knows
immediately what that squeal means and the circumstances surrounding
it because they live in the same perceptual reality; they take in and
process visual, sound, scent, and other sensory data the same way. Put
another way, they speak the same "language." However, when
we find ourselves in a similar situation we don't fare nearly so well.
I can't begin to comprehend what Whit perceives when that snow falls
off the roof, any more than I can know what my pets feel when I trim
their nails or vaccinate them.
Because we can't
know exactly what goes through our pets' minds, how we respond in that
split second when they establish eye contact with us unfortunately may
say more about our relationship with them than our knowledge of animal
behavior. For example, suppose I assume the noise frightened Whit, rush
over and pick him up and cuddle him while cooing, "Oh, poor, poor
little kitty." Then I carry him into the kitchen and give him a
treat.
You don't need
to be rocket scientist to realize that he'll probably react even more
strongly to the sound of sliding snow the next time after all that positive
attention from me that reaction gained him! Even though I might want
to think that babying him and giving him a treat will soothe him and
decrease his fear, in reality I'm rewarding him for being afraid. Should
we be surprised that animals whose owners do this seldom, if ever, get
over their fears and that their fears often get worse as time goes on?
The title of this
commentary comes from a biblical sentiment: In a moment, in a twinkling
of an eye, we shall all be changed. In that moment when Fluffy holds
up her sore paw or Frodo trembles at the sound of thunder and the animals
establish contact with us, what they read in our body language may change
their behavior and their relationship with us in a twinkling of an eye.
In that instant, we owe it to them and our relationship to respond in
a manner that meets their needs as well as our own. And if we must choose,
and indeed sometimes we must, between a response that builds their confidence
rather than fulfills our own needs to baby them, then it seems to me
that we owe it to them to do that.
The snow goes whump!
Whit leaps and looks me. I swallow the knee-jerk "Oh, you poor
kitty!" and summon the parental, "What a brave cat!"
He runs to me confidently, ready to play.
All in a twinkling
of an eye.
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Copyright 2005, Myrna Milani, TippingPoint, Inc, Charlestown, NH All
Rights Reserved Worldwide
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Would you like
to read about cats? Myrna has written some great articles about them
and other animals and the human-animal bond. To read them, go here:
www.mmilani.com
Publishers,
you are welcome to reprint this article in its entirety provided you
retain the above resource box and include this notice, plus notify us
of the day(s) you will be running it.
I care. If any of the links above do not work, please
email me
with the name of the link here:
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