someone wrote:

I've never figured it out, expect maybe those people are just horrified that
these feline beings are just so much smarter than they are! ;-D

My MIL claimed to not like cats.  Mostly, it turned out she didn't trust them
and didn't seem to know how to interact with them (and watch out for them!).
She spends time here (visits are weeks or months since she lives far away),
cooing over "her" cat, buying her toys, etc.  My other cat hasn't won her over
yet.  the first time she visited after I got him, she opened a hinged desk and
he put his paw up and got it stuck.  She didn't know how to help him, wound up
pinching it more and he hissed and spit at her as a result.  She is wary of him
now, although last visit was better.  She's coming for 5 weeks soon, so I know
he'll have her wrapped around his paw before long!

I think people don't know how to read cats and that's where they think they're
sneaky or evil.  I prefer "crafty" and "creative"!  The people who really piss
me off are parents who don't correct their kids for harrassing cats (or dog
owners who don't correct their dogs!).  Why on earth are they passing along the
hatred?

Janet Boss
Best Friends Dog Obedience
"Nice Manners for the Family Pet"
Voted "Best of Baltimore 2001" - Baltimore Magazine
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

Because many people hate what they don't understand.
Others hate what they can't control.

IME, cat haters dislike cats because they don't "do as they're told",
"are sneaky", or other inherent characteristics of cats that disagree
with the person's perceived superiority over life in general.

--
~kaeli~
Black holes were created when God divided by 0.
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace

Cats display a tendency as per some people, to be aloof and very
independent. Many people that I have met that "hate" cats really can't cope
well with the fact they can't dominate or control a cat like they can many
other pets. As a result some people have adopted the mindset that cats can't
be trained and thus are not suitable pets.

Look at the personality of a "cat hater" and you may find that they display
the same personality that they find annoying in cats. Go figure!

I'd say the contrary... the vast majority of people love cats given the
numbers of people who accept them into their homes.

As for why certain people dislike cats, here are likely as many reasons
for that as their are people.

-Previous bad experiences with cats. ie: one woman I know was attacked
by a cat for no visible reason which left her with a mangled arm.
-Allergies, many have severe allergies to furry animals.
-Cats being independant and somewhat aloof in nature.
-etc
-etc

she felt they could see through her pretenses.  I'll bet most of them
never think of who had to clean up after them when they were babies.
Then again there are people who don't like babies.  As  for those who
torture animals, well, I think they are mental cases that have not as
yet been diagnosed.

I think it is basic insecurity. Cats are independent, mysterious,
slinky and agile and full of surprises. Dog people generally love the
slobber-all-over-you stuff that dogs do, and enjoy a big dumb creature
bumbling after them all the time like they are God, feeding their
fragile egos.

Don't get me wrong--I love dogs, too, but from afar. While I love
puppy breath, dog breath and dog drool and the smell of a dog that
needs a bath just doesn't do it for me. I love everything about cats.

In the larger picture, anyone who would hurt any animal, let alone a
helpless domesticated animal is just a sociopath who should be
confined and kept away from all creatures he or she might hurt until
they die and go to that special place in hell reserved just for them.

I've always thought that people who hate cats have "control" issues.  They
can't control cats like they do dogs so they loathe them. Personally, I love
the fact that cats are so independent and that they have their own mind.

My sister used to have a boyfriend who once threatened to "kick" my cats if
they went near him. I was astounded that he would make such a threat in my
mother's house (I was living with her for a few months). If he was in MY
house I would have asked him to leave immediately and never come back. Thank
goodness the relationship didn't last. I don't trust people who profess to
"hate" cats.

I would never become involved romantically with someone who didn't like
cats. Cats are a part of my life, and to be with me means to be with my cats
too.

Flippy in Melbourne, Australia.
My Cats: http://www.flippyscatpage.com

Perhaps because cats were associated with witches (evil) during the
middle ages according to the Catholic Church? Just an idea.

I figure they hate the world if they can't enjoy a natural part of it.
Themselves included.

The people I know who hate cats have never been around them.  

As for why someone would want to harm a cat just because they don't
like it - that's just psychopathic, IMO.

-L.

circa Tue, 18 Nov 2003 19:50:03 GMT, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav,
Governor George Liquor (georgeliquor@winos.org) said,

I sometimes think that one of the (irrational) reasons that some
people don't like cats is because they are so efficiently, ferally
beautiful. People who love cats see the "cute" features of cats but
also are capable of appreciating the purely predatory nature of a
cat's physique and the predatory aspects of a cat's behavior. Cat
lovers can appreciate the astounding evolutional purity that makes
cats so well-built for what they are.

Cats don't look anything like people. Their eyes look like the eyes
of no other creature on the planet except for snakes. Cats'
expressions come much less from their eyes than from all of their
other parts (despite the feeling of most of us who love cats that
their eyes are very expressive). The reality is, aside from the
degree of openness of their eyes and the length of their stares,
cats' expressions come more from their ears, their whiskers, their
tails and their body positions.

By contrast, dogs have those little "eyebrow" muscles above their
round, more similar to human, eyes. A dog can look like a sad sack
simply because his brows are furrowed. Cats rarely look like a sad
sack. Cats almost always look somehow predatory, even when they're
completely blissed out.

Dogs can't "sneak up" on people. They're inherently noisy. Dogs less
often look like predatory creatures than like goofy galoots. Dogs
tend to be incapable of silent, focused attention outside of
devotion.

Cats are built to be predators. They can move silently and seem to
appear out of nowhere. They can focus on a target for minutes at a
time without moving a muscle. Cats can _wait_ for the perfect moment
to pounce rather than relying on sheer physicality to obtain their
targets.

Cats do not need constant guidance from their alphas to know how to
behave- in fact, they don't have alphas. Cats have peers and complex
hierarchies. Dogs don't.

These are the reasons that I think those who irrationally fear/loathe
cats do so. There are people who cannot stand being in the presence
of any living being that is not a sycophant, or who they cannot
decipher or control- animal *or* human. In my experience, these are
usually the types of people who dislike cats. It's a flaw in their
own level of comfort in their own skins, IMO, and speaks more about
their characters than many other aspects of their personalities. It
may take me a fairly lengthy time to figure out that somebody is an
a.shole just by conversing with him, but when somebody professes
hatred of cats, he (or she) has just told me volumes about his
character.

There is also a difference between people who don't much care for
cats and those who actively loathe them. People who are noncommittal
about cats usually have never had a cat, or have never had a cat that
bonded with them. They've never seen that a cat can be more fiercely
affectionate than probably any other creature on earth. They've never
learned to "read" a cat's expression or behavior, and because of
this, they just don't know what to make of cats. They don't
understand that cats can, and do, love. Cats do feel emotions- as
cats feel them, not as humans feel them.

People who hate cats have chosen to despise the very features that
make cats what they are- lithe, efficient hunters with complex
socialization mechanisms and subtle expressions. People who hate cats
tend to only like that which they can control or beat into
submission- that which they can make "obey". Cats do not obey; they
may fear a human, but they do not "obey" a human. People who hate
cats tend to have narrow opinions regarding what is beautiful, and
what they consider beautiful is generally not something that appears
predatory or "different".

I love both dogs and cats, but I love them for what they are, not for
what I choose to anthropomorphize onto them. Quite frankly, I think
that anthropomorphizing cats (or dogs, for that matter) is insulting
the them. Claiming that a cat "understands" English is not only
ridiculous, but it displays a complete lack of respect for the fact
that cats have their own highly evolved systems of communication.

We should learn to communicate with cats in *their* language, rather
than expecting them to adapt to ours. Cats assess us based on the
tones of our voices, the positions of our bodies, whether we are
standing or prone, whether we are speaking softly or loudly. They
don't give a hoot whether we're sweetly cooing, "come here, my
stinky-butt little chubba wubba," or whether we're sweetly cooing,
"you are so beautiful, my schmookie-pookie little goddess." What
concerns them is whether we're speaking sweetly and gazing at them
with affectionate expressions- these are the cues they read to
determine our intent.

Cats need their humans just as much as dogs do, but for different
reasons. Dogs need their humans to take them outside to eliminate
waste. Dogs need their humans to tell them when to eat, and when to
sleep. Dogs need their humans to "lead" them, and to indicate how
they should behave. Cats need their humans for primarily voluntary
reasons- cats do not rely on human cues to determine their actions.
Cats expect humans to bring them pleasure, not to bring them rules
for their behavior.

And this, I believe, is why some people hate cats. Some people hate
that which they cannot control, while others appreciate things for
what they *are*. It's not even really a "control freak" thing- I'm a
control freak in a lot of my life, but not when it comes to my cats.
I'm a control freak in the aspects of my life that I feel I should be
able to control, and I do not feel it is my place to control any
other living thing (although I sometimes have a hard time remembering
that when it comes to other people).

Oh, and people who hate *all* animals? Sociopaths.

My two cents,

Laura