Do cats really hold grudges?
Do you often find that when your cat does something wrong, you reprimand him, and then they knock over something in the house. At this time, do you feel that the cat is taking revenge on you? So cats really have a revenge mentality, can they really hold grudges? Let's take a look at what's going on.
First of all, cats will hold revenge. It should be noted that the meaning of revenge here is different from the well-known word revenge, because revenge refers to holding grudges against others and may seek revenge. It is true that a cat may long remember the person or thing that hurt him, but will not (and cannot) plan a revenge. So cats don't intentionally knock over cat supplies on your desk, right?
According to research, cats have an average memory range of 16 hours (kittens may be shorter, older cats may be longer), and long-term memory is impossible to estimate, and many memories can even affect a cat's life. If you think your cat "remembers" you, it's probably triggering his associative memory. For example, cat products that is knocked over from a table will startle the cat, and the cat will be afraid to touch that table.
Cats will be better at remembering aspects related to food, survival, emotions, and these are more likely to remain in the brain's memory for longer than random events, and major events are more likely to permanently affect a cat's behavior. That is to say, when a bad thing leaves a negative impression on the cat, the person, thing or place related to it may trigger the cat's association. So you can often feed cat products such as cat treats, so that the cat's affection for you gradually deepens.
So why do cats keep knocking over our things? This is not actually a cat revenge on you, because as we said earlier, the cat's memory is only 16 hours on average, and if the things he does do not cause him to have conditioned reflexes or associations, then the cat will not store the memory of this matter, What followed was that the cat kept making mistakes. From this, you can use some cat toys that cats like to reward the cat when the cat does the right thing, which is also the use of the cat's memory mechanism.
Some behavioral experts say that scratching, digging through trash cans, and urinating may all be signs that your cat is in a state of anxiety. There is no evidence that cats or other animals have this ability. Anger involving grudges or revenge is entirely a human emotion, and cats may become aggressive, but not anger and revenge in the human sense.
