people posting AS their cats

I haven't seen this anywhere on this forum yet, but it is prevalent elsewhere: people post product reviews and message board posts AS their cats.
OK, so this might not exactly fit under cat behavior, more like "weird people behavior that personifies cats." The message will start of "My mommy bought this for me..." referring to THEMSELF. Apart from the ridiculousness that is posting as an animal without lips or opposable thumbs, how can anyone in their right mind refer to themselves as "mommy?" I love my cat as much as the next person, but is this necessary? Tell me how much your cat enjoyed a litter box, not "I pooped right away as soon as mommy put the box down." And sorry, ladies, for using the term "mommy" but I have yet to find a post referring to "daddy"

On some sites it's nearly 100% of messages, and almost half the reviews on petco.com are written as cats. When I first got my cat and was searching google, I got constant results written a la feline. I joined the cat site for the explicit reason that nobody here did that (or it was rare enough that I wouldn't have to read those posts). I'm mostly curious as to why people feel the need to do this, and what they get out of it. I'm over being annoyed, because it's more frightening than irksome(Will I turn out like that after owning my cat for a long time? Will I be the first "daddy" poster I've seen? Scary questions). Any insight is appreciated.

I see no problem with the terms of endearment such as "mommy", I do it myself. I draw the line at playing dress-up and treating my cat like an actual kid. He isn't. He's a predator that decided I'm an okay person to go home with.

We still project on our pets. I'd assume your pets have names. Do wild animals name each other?

As for the people talking as their cats, I've never really encountered that to have an opinion about it. When I was little with my first cat, my mom would give me holiday cards signed by my cat. I knew it was my mom doing it, of course but, it wasn't malicious, it wasn't to make me live in a fantasy world that my cat writes letters to me. It was to re-enforce that our pets are family.

I think the whole catster message boards were set up in a format where you should write as if it was your cat posting.

I don't know if that's still the case because I never come there anymore because it drove me batty. Schizophrenic maybe, because I have 4 cats.

At home with my cats, I am most definately "Daddy", but I won't write in their "voice".

Originally Posted by rad65

, because it's more frightening than irksome(Will I turn out like that after owning my cat for a long time? Will I be the first "daddy" poster I've seen? Scary questions). .

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Don't be scared
Apparently, you would be in good company.
It is all fun and games and really isn't a big deal.
And no, I don't do that with my cat. But as long as people love their cats and treat them well I don't care what they do either. I take this from Harry Potter: "Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open."

Yeah... I've seen people doing that on some forums. It makes my head want to explode - mostly because they either don't do first person very well or because of intentionally using poor grammar. Here, where this is a forum for cat (and other animal) owners to ask for advice about their cats, doing that would make no sense.

Could you imagine how it would go for peeing, overweight cats, diarrhea advice threads? I don't know if anyone could be serious in those situations. I couldn't take anyone serious, that's for sure.

I'd like to think the difference is that this is a forum for serious mature adults... though sometimes you have to wonder about that, too.

I can agree with your post to a point. However, we decided that anyone who wants to post with their cats' voice can do so in the Paws & Reflect forum since it is a form of creative writing. There's one thread there that's been going for years (!) so obviously some people enjoy it. So, basically, we do have that outlet for people if they choose to do so but it's not in every forum so those who don't like it don't have to read it. We've found that to be a really happy medium so everyone is happy.

As for the Mommy and Daddy thing, I'm a guilty party to that. I think of myself as a "parent" to my cats, though they could surely survive on their own. So yes, I am Mommy and my husband is Dad (not Daddy, usually). But to each their own, IMO.

My boyfriend will refer to me as mommy or mama when takling to our cat about me, but I think its ridiculous when people act like their animals online. I have a friend who made her cat a facbook page.........now thats just too much!

Mostly, I was talking about people answering normal questions as their cats. Someone will write a normal question, like "how can i get my cat to stop biting me" then all the answers are written from a 1 ft high perspective.

It comes down to common courtesy. If someone asks a question as a cat, go ahead and answer it as such. If someone is asking as a human adult, I feel the responses should also be from human adults. Also, credibility is affected in the instances where someone is asking for advice. Are you going to believe advice from someone who thinks they're a cat, or someone who owns a cat?

P.S. As for the mommy/daddy thing, that's fine in private. I baby talk my cat because he responds better, and you tend to say babyish stuff like mommy and daddy when you're talking like that. Again, I wouldn't go up to someone and start talking like that, only to my cat.

catspeak drives me nuts. Cats are intelligent creatures and if they wanted to speak, I doubt they would do so in baby talk or language that re-defines the english language. For me personally, it demeans these critters I have spent most of my life with working to understand them in THEIR language.

Another forum I belong to has a whole section devoted to the critters. Hoomins are not allowed. It's just for fun, though it takes some getting used to, critter chat is difficult to read sometimes.

Such as:

Hai! Eyam Mazy cat! Myown muvver didid giff myownself eh speshul CHREET lass nyte anin Ai wass sew HOPPEE!!

Mazy cat

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I didn't realize TCS had a thread for critter chat, I'll have to check it out.

And yes, I am mommie or muvver.

I know lots of men who consider themselves "Daddy" to their cats.

^I can't read that at all otto. I'd have better luck trying to read Russian.

Originally Posted by hissy

catspeak drives me nuts. Cats are intelligent creatures and if they wanted to speak, I doubt they would do so in baby talk or language that re-defines the english language. For me personally, it demeans these critters I have spent most of my life with working to understand them in THEIR language.

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I always imagine that if cats did speak, that they'd have quite refined speech. They're very dignified (mostly) creatures after all. Though... there's some cats you just know have a dirty mouth, maybe they get their mouthiness from their owners? Or in my Tomas' case maybe he hears DH and I jokingly bickering so he talks back to..

Well to each his own I guess. I do understand that it might be fun sometimes to speak as a cat, but it's not for me. I wouldn't want to insult a cat's intelligence by assuming I could speak "cat".

When I run that I freeze, try not to make eye contact, and then back away very very slowly.

Besides, to really speak as a cat, you'd have to post using an extreme ADD style.

Guilty as charged! Not here, but I do have a blog where I don't talk.... I just transcribe what my cats want to say.... "Hi, Bugsy Here! Good morning, furriends!" I like to think I know my cats personalities enough to write what they would like to say on certain situations, looking under their perspectives. I still make it readable, but they refer to me as meowmy, and the responses I get as from cats too It is pretty fun actually... some answers are a riot! You don't need to take life so seriously IMHO...
I mean... I am sure there are plenty of people out there that think we are nut cases anyways for spending hours online on a catsite, talking about cats, cat poop, building cat furniture, talking about cat food calorie content... We are certainly a different "breed" no matter what...
I really don't see anything wrong with it... Not here, not with us...

Originally Posted by Ducman69

Besides, to really speak as a cat, you'd have to post using an extreme ADD style.

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No. . . All Dogs Have ADD. All Cats Have Asperger's .

(Those are the names of books)

I'm glad that there aren't a lot of "cat voice" posts here. For fun I don't mind it, but serious posts need to be serious.

Originally Posted by Ducman69

When I run that I freeze, try not to make eye contact, and then back away very very slowly.

Besides, to really speak as a cat, you'd have to post using an extreme ADD style.

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No, dat ain' right. Ta talk like a kat, youse gotta sound like a cross b'twene over da top Tony Supraanoos 'n' a bad N'Yawk accent wid bad spelin 'n' gramm'r trowed in fer good mezure. DEN youse guys kin talk like kats!!

Sign Louie Da Lip

Originally Posted by Willowy

No. . . All Dogs Have ADD. All Cats Have Asperger's

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I'll have to remember that one, heh.

I think it has spread from icanhascheezburger and the influence of Dogster/ Catster where the convention is that the pets themselves are the members of the sites and they are the ones posting or sending messages to each other.
Not that any of those sites started it, people were doing this elsewhere online before that, making up dialects supposed to represent the thoughts of other species. posting glossaries.
But I think those sites maybe spread it a lot.
If people have fun with it, why not? I don't think I am really very good at it since I'm sure if my smart cats could speak a human language it wouldn't be in baby talk! (unless it was to lull us into a false sense of superiority!)

and yeah it would seem odd on a site like this to ask a serious question and get answers from people pretending to be their cats talking baby talk or lolspeak or whatever!

Originally Posted by strange_wings

^I can't read that at all otto. I'd have better luck trying to read Russian.

I always imagine that if cats did speak, that they'd have quite refined speech. They're very dignified (mostly) creatures after all. Though... there's some cats you just know have a dirty mouth, maybe they get their mouthiness from their owners? Or in my Tomas' case maybe he hears DH and I jokingly bickering so he talks back to..

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I know, critter speak is difficult to read. I don't go into that section very often, but now and then just for a change I do.

The premise, in that forum anyway, is that the animals make hash out of the human language on purpose, so the humans can't understand what they are saying. It's a game, for fun.

It's not baby talk or bad grammar.

"They" (the pets) do it on purpose. It's not much different I wouldn't think than playing some of those games I hear about....like that farmville? Don't people create personalities in that game? I dunno I've never looked into it, but critter chat can be looked at as a Game.

We know our pet's personalities, and we imagine how they would interact with one another in a forum, and play off that.

Humans are not allowed in Critter Chat.

Hoominz arr nanawt alloud inin crittur chaht.