• niktemadur@lemmy.world
    3·
    4 months ago

    Angst, weltschmerz, fin de siècle ennui… call it what you will… your cat is in a rut, and urgently needs to be confused.

    Time to call:
    CONFUSE-A-CAT LTD.
    Europe’s leading cat confusing service.

  • ewigkaiwelo@lemmy.world
    55·
    4 months ago

    It’s disrespectful towards animals to project on them human emotions. Cats definitely have feelings but they are feline, mutually incomprehensible with us, although definitely partially communicable

      • ewigkaiwelo@lemmy.world
        5·
        4 months ago

        I saw recently probably on youtube a person saying that their cat was transgender. I think that is insane and disrespectful to animal but some people just have opposite ideas I gues. I’m not saying that OP is the same crazy for asking the op question but I still think that we should consider animals to have animal feelings unknowable to us and respect that by assuming only the most basic ones like when they are hungry or hurt or feeling the yeeees when you scratch that spot

        • ComradeMiao@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          4 months ago

          Fair point with a more extreme example. Reminds me of my Hindu prof who makes her dogs eat vegan lmao, I’m plant based but that’s too far for my pets

    • Smoogs@lemmy.world
      31·
      4 months ago

      Right,… how dare other animals experience hunger, fear, anger. Only humans have the soul to own the full cannon of feelings. Apathy engaged!

      • ewigkaiwelo@lemmy.world
        21·
        4 months ago

        I wrote some bullshit in the similar sarcastic manner and accidentally posted it and deleted immediately, it was just cringe

        I’m not arguing against reality here, yes emotions and feelings (I never mentioned soul btw) are neurological, they emerge in the brains, we are animals, other animals have nerves, nervous systems, brains, they definitely have feelings amd emotions and some definitely should overlap like those that you’ve mentioned. But do animals feel love? Passion? Regret? Sorrow? Loneliness? Resentment? OP’s question was about ennui, my point was that whatever their cat is experiencing it won’t fit into the category of human emotions that we created based on our observations of our psyche (that appears to be far more complex as compared to other animals) for us to use in communication with other people and that whatever animals are feeling they won’t be able to communicate to us. It’s fine to say “that dog looks happy” assessing its emotional state by means of empathy, but saying “that dog is happy” would make me want to ask “how do you know that, did it tell you?”

        Also sorry for sounding like a condescending prick or too defensive, I honestly just wanted to share an opinion on animal rights in general, I’m not trying to convince anyone, if they think their pet is happy, that’s great

        • Smoogs@lemmy.world
          31·
          4 months ago

          There are behaviours pets do to express sorrow. If their friend or owner dies, they will respond. they don’t just walk it off. If they are experiencing pain, they will attempt to alert with a change in behaviour.

          It doesn’t require magical tricks like an animal speaking to you. just have some basic observance skills what with living with said pet and experiencing their average behaviour compared to sudden behaviour changes.