I'm not trying to argue with that comment about people humanizing cats, but I think people often minimize the intelligence of animals. I definitely think my cat's angry yowling when I put her in the carrier and took her to the vet almost a month ago had a lot to do with her thinking she was kicked out of her comfy home. It was the first time she'd been outside in 5 months and she was trapped in a carrier for the first time in 5 months, so she knew something "bad" was happening. Since I brought her to her new home, she's been very happy inside and isn't interested in going outside at all so far.
My cat probably had only been in a carrier before to be taken from a kill shelter to a rescue shelter where she was fed and taken care of but trapped. Then, I came along and took her for an hour & 1/2 drive in another carrier to a strange place that she thankfully came to love. As soon as she got trapped in the carrier 3 weeks ago for the vet visit, she would have remembered her past times in a carrier. For her, it always meant that she would be transported to some strange place and just left there to never return back to her normal home. She's not going to know or understand that she's going to be brought back home each time I take her out. Hopefully, with more vet visits and returns back home each time, she'll be less fearful but cats have memories like all animals. Humans are animals too but people often forget that. In the classification of species, humans belong in the same group as cats and other animals. Especially older adopted, rescue cats might be more fearful of being taken away from their homes than cats adopted as kittens who know the drill much better. My cat's behavior definitely started right after the vet visit and is due to that only. She's clearly feeling a little anger and upset and confusion too when she does it as I can tell by looking at her. Cats and other animals aren't emotionless. I think the only emotion they do lack is humor. They can't laugh, unfortunately...or fortunately (because my cat would be laughing at me a lot if she could).
It's been 3 weeks and my cat is still upset about the vet visit. It didn't help that I just had to take her back for a vaccine booster. Then, she'll be going back again in 3 weeks for a long day of dental cleaning and anesthesia. =/ I'm patient with her, fortunately, and will let her act out her little anger borne out of fear whenever I pick her up now. She'll automatically remember when I pick her up that maybe I'm going to shove her in the cat carrier again and take her to the vet. Cats have amazing survival instincts. Humans in first world environments don't anymore. Her survival instinct tells her not to let me pick her up again or to try to "teach" me not to so she can avoid the carrier and vets.
My cat probably had only been in a carrier before to be taken from a kill shelter to a rescue shelter where she was fed and taken care of but trapped. Then, I came along and took her for an hour & 1/2 drive in another carrier to a strange place that she thankfully came to love. As soon as she got trapped in the carrier 3 weeks ago for the vet visit, she would have remembered her past times in a carrier. For her, it always meant that she would be transported to some strange place and just left there to never return back to her normal home. She's not going to know or understand that she's going to be brought back home each time I take her out. Hopefully, with more vet visits and returns back home each time, she'll be less fearful but cats have memories like all animals. Humans are animals too but people often forget that. In the classification of species, humans belong in the same group as cats and other animals. Especially older adopted, rescue cats might be more fearful of being taken away from their homes than cats adopted as kittens who know the drill much better. My cat's behavior definitely started right after the vet visit and is due to that only. She's clearly feeling a little anger and upset and confusion too when she does it as I can tell by looking at her. Cats and other animals aren't emotionless. I think the only emotion they do lack is humor. They can't laugh, unfortunately...or fortunately (because my cat would be laughing at me a lot if she could).
It's been 3 weeks and my cat is still upset about the vet visit. It didn't help that I just had to take her back for a vaccine booster. Then, she'll be going back again in 3 weeks for a long day of dental cleaning and anesthesia. =/ I'm patient with her, fortunately, and will let her act out her little anger borne out of fear whenever I pick her up now. She'll automatically remember when I pick her up that maybe I'm going to shove her in the cat carrier again and take her to the vet. Cats have amazing survival instincts. Humans in first world environments don't anymore. Her survival instinct tells her not to let me pick her up again or to try to "teach" me not to so she can avoid the carrier and vets.
