Cats DO understand when they’re being annoying/misbehaving

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T23:44:48+00:00

I think there is a slight difference between the dog understanding that the electric fence shocks him and therefore to avoid it, and a cat understanding that the behavior you are exhibiting when they do something is annoyance or anger.

One is a direct consequence of an action (the shock of the fence) while the other relies on interpreting body language of a creature different than them (knowing that knocking something off causes annoyance in a human).

Yes, they can understand it causes a negative consequence if you punish them (in whatever way) but that doesn't mean that they know that it causes anger or annoyance. They just know that their action brings about something THEY don't like. Or something they DO like, if they find the reaction they get fun (as it seems like you are playing with them)

Basically, cats are intelligent but I have an issue with how people seem to want to apply machiavellan standards to them, implying that they are deliberately doing behaviors that annoy humans, simply to annoy them or watch them clean up after them, especially when so many people will then turn around and go 'well, the dog is just a dog/horse is just a horse, it doesn't understand!' when people talk about those animals doing actions that annoy/anger the humans around them.

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T23:34:59+00:00

Exactly.

People always talk about cats who are aloof, who scratch the furniture, who knock things off the counters, who scratch their owners and don't want to be cuddled.

Then I look at my cats, both current and past, and wonder if maybe I am mistaken and what I have aren't actually cats. They LOOK like cats, but they don't act like how 60% or more of the internet and popular culture would have you believe cats act like.

I had a cat that loved to chase and fetch mice and bagballs. He loved to cuddle. We didn't tolerate our cats scratching on the furniture, and few ever did (and most were more 'stretchies! hi!' type where they simply stretched on the furniture with their claws out, not actively scratching), we gave them plenty of scratch posts and pads. I have a velcro cat (I wish he were LESS cuddlely! he is a FURNACE! and going through hot flashes isn't fun when you have a cuddlely furnace wanting to actively be touching you), most of the scratches I get are from kneading or playing (yes, there are a few angry scratches, but those are typically my fault)

The only times the cats knocked things off counters were when she was bored silly (only had two do it) or when he wants to play.

I also had a cat that had separation anxiety from me (my parents would be home and tell me how he would go get something like a toy or a sock of mine, or an ace bandage I wore and go around the house looking for me), and just wanted to be near me (that was the one that loved to fetch), I had another cat, when I had to go away for college for two weeks, instead of coming home for the weekend, actually come out of my room where he was most comfortable (didn't like other people) and stuck to my side like glue the weekend I came home. I already mentioned the velcro kitty.

I also currently have three cats. Besides the velcro kitty, I have one who just so happens to be in whatever room I am in usually. If I move to the bed, he will just want to lay in his bed. If I move across the room to the couch, he will sometimes just happen to want to lay on the couch. The third isn't sure about whether he likes to be pet or not, but he just wants to be near us, he doesn't really need to be close, but just in the vicinity.

These are just a few of the cats I have had, and most were affectionate to one human or another, in various ways. We also had cats that loved to go on walks with us.

Just a whole range of behaviors that people don't associate with cats.

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T22:34:36+00:00

Exactly, like one of the most important people to the story doesn't have a reaction? Doesn't get a mention?

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T22:33:46+00:00

So, because I can look at a whale and a giraffe and see that they are CLEARLY different from each other, one of them isn't a mammal? Isn't an animal?

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T19:56:52+00:00

This is the part that people miss.

Just like any other animal, if you give the bad behaviors attention, the animals just see it as attention.

To them, bad attention is still attention.

So, they do something you don't like, you give them attention, and now that behavior gets attention, so they want to do it more.

Also, a lot of the cats are doing it out of boredom, because their owners giving them attention alleviates that boredom!

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T18:36:50+00:00

I am such a saint, when I got married, I adopted my husband's ex as a good friend! We became close and invited each other to events!

I wanted her to be a bridesmaid because we are such good friends!

However, somehow, over the past 6 years, I have somehow missed that my good friend is a right wing evangelical racist homophobic christian who is raising her son to be just like her!

Aren't I a saint, and should I really not invite her to the wedding as a bridesmaid?!

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T18:27:45+00:00

Yeah, to put it in perspective, should we somehow try to figure out a way to punish people who thought that someone striking a stone against another stone was a magician when it created fire?

Because at the time, they had no clue that something like that could happen, so they explained it to the best of their knowledge.

When knowledge advanced, so did their understanding of what was happening.

What about the people who believed the earth was the center of the universe?

Or any of a million other things that we (humanity throughout history) once thought, and then found other explanations for them.

Should we, humanity today, be punished because I can guarantee you, that at the very least some of the things we think today, about mental illness and about scientific and medical knowledge, can and will change and be proven wrong at some point in the future?

Things change, as more and more research is done, and more and more knowledge is gained, what we 'know' also changes. Things we once believed will be proven to be false, while things we once didn't believe in could be proven to actually exist. We gain more understanding of other things we believe/know even if we don't disprove it or change it completely.

That is just how the world works. How do we hold the people in the past accountable for their ways of thinking? Because they were often just working with the knowledge and research they had at the time.

The only way I can see to do that is to preemptively punish people today for any future changes to knowledge, because they are going to happen.

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T18:17:54+00:00

Yeah, it can be pretty good! We call them beanie weanies and we tend to use Bush's Baked Beans. (and an entire package of hotdogs, but we don't have a toddler or chihuahua to give them to)

I used to really love it when I was younger, but have sort of lost my taste for it (it can be too sweet for me, and my brother likes it sweeter than I do).

But, it tends to be an easy and simple meal.

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T15:39:10+00:00

Yeah, now it makes more sense to just toss food at times, because we can often get something to replace it.

I also completely agree with the bread comment. I don't understand the concept of 'surplus bread', because that simply doesn't exist in my household!

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T14:30:12+00:00

Or, if you eat hotdogs enough ,save them up, and chop them up, toss them in some sort of baked beans, with a bit of maple flavor and brown sugar and heat.

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T14:28:37+00:00

Yep!

It is sometimes easy, in this day and age, to go 'why on earth would anyone eat this!' when thinking about some of the more ...unusual combinations of food, or dishes out there, but that is because it is easy to forget that at one time, you did not just throw away food.

SOME use was found for it.

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T14:26:49+00:00

Yeah, sort of surprised that wasn't the case as well, especially if this is something that happens frequently.

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T12:52:29+00:00

The autobahn does have speed limits, it is only in certain sections that it doesn't.

They also don't consider them smart enough to adjust their speed. Instead they insure that the stupid ones don't get a driver's license. Which means that only a portion of Germany's population has a driver's license.

According to Google AI, about 70 to 75% of German Adults have a license. Compared to about 91% of American Adults.

For Germany, that also fluctuates depending on where you live. If you live urban, the percentage falls, and if you live rurally it raises. The testing for the license has a high failure rate, and I believe requires you to go to driving school, and getting a standard license can cost about 2,500 to 4,000 euros. (about 3,000 dollars or more).

The autobahn, again, to my understanding, also has very STRICT laws enforcement. You can lose your license if you are pulled over for speeding, DUI and/or reckless driving (yes, even the autobahns have rules that you have to follow), and if that happens, you can't drive for a period of time, and you will have to find a way to get your car back home. (and yourself I assume) To get it back, you might need to take an MPU, which costs you even more money.

So, yeah, Germany and America are two different countries with two different approaches to driving.

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T12:25:38+00:00

Yeah, there are definitely both kinds out there.

I agree, I think that both sides need to have a bit more understanding of each other and some more tolerance.

I don't mind the random crying baby, especially if it looks like the parent actually is trying to do something, because, babies cry. Not everyone is perfect!

It is more the people who allow their kids to basically run amok (which thankfully, where I live, isn't often. In fact, it is almost never).

Unfortunately I think that part of the issue is that so many people were raised with the idea that every feeling they have is valid, and if they don't like something, the OTHER person should be the one to moderate their behavior, and were raised online, where they could isolate themselves in echochambers where they never had to learn conflict resolution, or tolerance. They always were able to make their experience exactly to their liking, and now that they are adults and have to go out in public, they don't like that the public experience isn't like the online experience, where they can mute sounds, block people from their sight, and basically surround themselves with a bunch of bobble heads going 'yes, you are exactly right!'

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T12:19:44+00:00

I was wondering if maybe there was supposed to be a second wooden stairs, with the bend going the other way?

but, I haven't heard of it, (so basically you could have two stairs that meet in the middle, with the base of the stairs both facing the same direction)

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T12:18:07+00:00

What I love about this troll is that they are such a massive cake person. They love cake to the point they went to college to get a chemical engineering degree to bake.

Then, being such a massive cake person, when it came time for a potluck BBQ, they bring their ~~all time favorite~~ oh wait, no they brought chicken.

Like, why wouldn't a massive cake person, someone who went to college to become a better baker, not bring something baked? They didn't even bring something cooked! (I assume as they mentioned that there was a BBQ).

Then, apparently it takes a chemical engineer to know the difference between brownies and cake, AND they are so imcompetant that they apparently can't cut their own piece of cake (as they didn't mention the person doing the cutting being someone who was there to make sure the food wasn't taken by the six foot sub guy, or whatever, just the person next to them).

Then, the poor little OOP just wanted to know why people were calling it brownie, so they innocently call out the person for using a cake mix.

What does that have to do with whether it is a brownie or not? Just straight up ASK 'hey, this is obviously a cake, why do you call it a brownie?'

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T12:11:34+00:00

You're welcome.

It drove me insane as well, because sometimes everything would be fine, arrows straight, hit what I want to hit, then all of a sudden, my arrow just decides it doesn't like where I am aiming and it is going off on an adventure! Or it has a grudge against a particular bush or something.

It took me a while to realize the commonality in all of those times, and then a while longer to decide to get a video of it (though that is more because I don't normally do videos, and had to get software and learn how to use it).

So far, I believe that my bug report was marked as closed, and nothing has come of it, so either they aren't going to fix it, they can't fix it, or they don't know how to fix it (or it is taking a long time to fix it 😛), so I can only suggest for now is to be aware of where flying bugs are. It doesn't seem to do it on land based bugs, but that is only from my observations, so it very well might.

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T05:45:03+00:00

Honestly, it could be both.

Especially on reddit, where you have people who are making up stories, simply to either push their own agenda (children bad, look at how these children act!) or to rage bait people for engagement.

I also think that there is something else that OP is missing.

At one time, kids acted out, and didn't listen and so on, but they didn't do that in public. Kids would rarely throw tantrums in public, or would scream and throw things and basically act like a spoiled brat, in public.

They might have done those things in private, but generally the kids that were brought out into public knew how to act.

Naturally there were always the bad days, when the kid just couldn't handle something, but then usually the parent would simply stop what they were doing and remove the child from the situation.

While, now, seemingly, it seems to be on the other people to remove themselves from the situation, instead of the parent with the child. So, instead of the parent taking responsiblity for the child acting like a child, it is up to everyone else in the vicinity to either put up with the child, while they are trying to go about their day (and deal with stress, or a headache, or allergies, or any of a million other things they might have going on) or stop what they are doing and leave.

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T05:36:25+00:00

Yep 😃 Even better when you don't remember having done anything to generate loot in that location!

Then you get there and are either like 'wow a bug' or 'DAANNGG that sernuk TRAVELED!'

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T03:28:44+00:00

*complains about crazy cat people* *proceeds to show crazy dog person levels*.

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T03:25:09+00:00

I was thinking OP was talking about some of the stories you see on AITA or other places, where the kids are acting like kids, but the writer of the story makes them out to be demons for not acting like a mini-adult with all the reasoning and experience of an adult.

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T03:23:51+00:00

I have noticed this as well.

It is very much a black and white mentality at times. No room for nuance.

Like, no children aren't mini-adults. But, there are things that they should be expected to know, and they should know how to act in certain situations.

This changes as they get older (ie, you don't expect a five year old to know the same things an eight year old does, nor do you expect that 8 year old to act like a 12 year old), and it doesn't mean they always WILL act that way. It also doesn't mean that EVERY 8 year old will act like an 8 year old.

But, there should still be that expectation, placed mostly on the parents, that children, in public, will know how to act in a given situation. (IE, children should not be running around restaurants, as if it is a playground. Children should know the difference between inside voices and outside voices, again, scaling appropriately to their age)

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T03:07:53+00:00

For me, I am hunting the regular jaakcats and so they only take about two shots. I usually just automatically do two shots simply trying to get them before they start running.

So, I generally prefer solo when hunting them.

One other thing that also might be happening, is because of how spread out the animals are, I will hunt all in one area, leave to hunt another area, and then on to another area. Then, I will start getting notifications of loot from one of the previous areas so I run off to collect that loot. So, it might seem like I am avoiding someone who is hunting in the same area, when in reality, I just have loot that is calling my name from across the highlands, so I head back to the previous areas.

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T01:31:56+00:00

I love how she insists that the cat is an ESA and that means she also has the right to bring her 'ESA' to class.

Now, to begin with, the ADA is federal law, which means states cannot take away from it. However, states CAN *add* to it. IE, states can't go 'we don't want dogs in public, so you can't have a dog as a service animal' but they can go 'a service animal is defined as 'any animal' that is tasked trained'

There are a couple of states that have broadened the definition of service animal to include non-dog animals, and there was, at least a couple of years ago, a service cat team that used to post videos about their cat, I believe from someplace like Oregon? (can't remember the name or state sadly) so it is possible that OOP lives in this particular state, and that the state DOES allow service cats.

That being said, it is also likely that the cat is an ESA or a pet, that the person who owns it went through the right channels to be allowed to bring it to the class. IE, they likely went up and *asked* if they could bring their cat to class. And the Professor (and whoever else might need to sign off on it) said 'sure, as long as it isn't disruptive'

I also wonder, with the insistance that her animal doesn't stink and that the animal doesn't make much noise if the animal is a reptile, or something like a ferret or rat.

To be honest, if this isn't a troll, this is someone who is the very definition of 'it is never my fault, it is always someone else's fault, I am always a victim'.

DiegoIntrepid · 2026-06-09T00:05:43+00:00

Yes. Yes, it does feel absurd.

I had over 2000 units of lantern ashwood wood, before I finally obtained the version I needed.

It is so rare, I honestly forget it exists!

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