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Cats are (almost) liquid

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341 points lnyan | 6 comments | 17 Oct 24 11:43 UTC | HN request time: 0.92s | source | bottom
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move-on-by ◴[17 Oct 24 15:47 UTC] No.41870772[source]▶
> While dogs slowed down and hesitated before they attempted to use an uncomfortably small opening, in the case of cats, we did not detect this change in their behavior before their attempt to go through even the narrowest openings. However, remarkably, cats showed hesitation both before they attempted to penetrate the shortest openings, and while they moved through it.

I just skimmed, but I didn’t see any mention whiskers. It’s seems to me that cats can make highly precise measurements of width just by sticking their heads in a space, but height judgments requires additional consideration.

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ChrisMarshallNY ◴[17 Oct 24 16:29 UTC] No.41871149[source]▶
If you have ever put a cone on a cat (which lasts about five minutes), you see they get crazy. They hug the walls.

Their whiskers are a major factor in their perception.

I think they can also dislocate their spine.

My cat likes to sit in what we call his "Buddha" position, with his back bent about 90 degrees, and his paws in front. This seems to be a common position. He'll sit like that for an hour.

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1. poulsbohemian ◴[18 Oct 24 06:03 UTC] No.41876719[source]▶
>If you have ever put a cone on a cat (which lasts about five minutes), you see they get crazy.

You got me thinking about this, as I've dealt with a number of sick kitties / foster kitties, etc but we've always used a paper plate with a hole in the middle in lieu of a purpose-made plastic cone. So thinking out loud here, our solution might not have been more generally affordable but also had the benefit of not interfering with whiskers.

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2. ChrisMarshallNY ◴[18 Oct 24 09:02 UTC] No.41877572[source]▶
That’s really clever!
3. NewLogic ◴[18 Oct 24 12:39 UTC] No.41878867[source]▶
You can buy plush neck donuts which do the same thing, my cat lasted one day with a cone before I felt too bad and same day delivered one.
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4. fullstop ◴[18 Oct 24 13:17 UTC] No.41879170[source]▶
Due to an incident with a door, my cat had to have a caudectomy and subsequently had to wear a cone for almost a month while she healed. It was awful! We kept her in a spare room to keep the other cats away from her, so she had a private litter box, etc.

The cone is pretty much a giant scoop, and cats sniff the litter to find the right spot before doing their business. You can see where this is going. She would take some of the litter with her each time.

On top of missing her tail, she is also missing a few teeth (I'd like to point out that she came like that) so she drools when she sleeps. The litter + drool makes a hardened mess on the cone, which required constant cleaning.

0/10, do not recommend.

5. jeffwask ◴[18 Oct 24 13:19 UTC] No.41879189[source]▶
They have little onsies now too. That's what we used when my kitten was spaded and it was so much better.
6. kadoban ◴[20 Oct 24 01:33 UTC] No.41892200[source]▶
Yeah there's donuts, there's also stiff flat collars. Both seem better tolerated than cones except only cones can protect some injuries (like to the face for example).