Cats cannot easily control or veto the innate reflex to hunt

1 Argument

0 Citations

1 Consequence

1 Mention

Arguments

Argument #20ab62bc 0 0 1

If it is true that...

Cats are highly stimulated and primed for hunting behavior 0 0 1

Then it must be true that...

Cats cannot easily control or veto the innate reflex to hunt 0 0 1

Opposing Arguments

No opposing arguments found

Citations

No citations found

Consequences

Argument #56cbbb81 0 0 1

If it is true that...

Cats cannot easily control or veto the innate reflex to hunt 0 0 1

and

Humans are often the target of a cat's hunting reflexes 0 0 1

Then it must be true that...

There are many cases of petting a cat which appears perfectly happy, yet the cat suddenly "turns" and bites you, going far beyond any normal "play aggression" or "warning nip" 0 0 1

Mentions

Gwern/Cat Architecture

Maintained by

alexandershortt

0•

Updated

Related Propositions

There is a limit to how much puzzling/hunting a cat wants to do, beyond which is stressful and hunger-inducing 0 0 1 Cat play is almost exclusively about kinds of hunting 0 0 1 Humans often accidentally imitate prey to cats 0 0 1 When a human imitates prey to a cat, it triggers the cat's instinctual hunting sequence 0 0 1 Cats are highly stimulated and primed for hunting behavior 0 0 1 Humans are often the target of a cat's hunting reflexes 0 0 1 Instinctual behaviors cannot be easily trained away or avoided 0 0 1 A cat's spontaneous biting cannot be easily trained away or avoided 0 0 1 Cats are not completely domesticated 0 0 1 The timescale over which cats remain habituated to toys is very long-minutes 0 0 1