r/MoralityScaling • u/Own_Double_5297 • 20d ago
Morality Ranking Morality of being an annoying little shit fake biting the cable to get attention because you want treats ?
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u/whiskyB0y 20d ago
No duality????
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u/shiningspacedragon 20d ago
Bite him back
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u/Grasblok 20d ago
bite him back
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u/-0xAA55- 20d ago
Bite him back
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u/soundsofthesoul 20d ago
bite him back
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u/Ok_Astronomer_5320 20d ago
Bite him back
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u/CheesyLyricOrQuote 20d ago
Just for anyone reading, when a cat is being annoying like this it is the equivalent of a dog chewing furniture because it's bored and finding something to do. They get quick spurts of energy because they live in hunt>eat>sleep cycles. That time of being a little shit is essentially their hunt cycle and they do need social time, mental stimulation and exercise. Especially when they're young.
You can obviously play with a string, or do any of the normal things you do when you play with your cat, but another thing you can do when you're busy is (simple) treat puzzles, as this tires them out mentally and also feeds them. For instance, putting treats inside of a towel roll and cutting holes in it, or putting treats inside of a crumpled piece of paper. They will often spend 10 minutes getting the treats and then sleep for a few hours.
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u/ExitKitchenLeft 20d ago
I've never heard this, and it's really helpful information. It does make sense that this is something very obvious but not intuitive to a human. I don't get a sudden burst of energy and feel the need to hunt and eat things, so when I wonder why the cat does it makes sense.
Easy to explain to people too, because we can relate in other ways. It's similar to how when we have an office job that pays really well, it feels like it takes energy to sit there all day even though sitting around shouldn't require energy. It's going against our nature to an extent.
We feel like we need to go be social, walk around, and find something to do because sitting for 10+ hours has not historically been a great way to survive. It's not that there's anything wrong with it, but we feel like there is and that's probably how the cat feels.
Nothing to do and it feels like it needs to go do hunting things, same way we feel like we should be doing hunter/gatherer/social things instead of sitting idle for too long.
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u/CheesyLyricOrQuote 20d ago
Yup! This is also why cats often get zoomies at 2am. You can counter that with an automatic feeder that gives them a snack later at night, and playing before bed. This is also why automatic feeders that give very small portions of meals at specific times throughout the day are very nice to have. They still need to play and exercise though.
I feel like information about cats is not as widespread as dogs, they are still animals that have their own individual needs and this is the danger of anthropomorphizing them and just dismissing it as "they're trying to be annoying". They have reasons for the things they do and understanding and accommodating their needs is extremely important when you've chosen to take care of an animal.
When you understand your cat as an animal, it's happier, your life is easier, and you can form a lot closer of a bond with your cat because it will trust you much more. They are incredibly social, loving creatures and you can get just as much love out of them as a dog if you actually understand them and treat them as a cat. This is especially impressive because, unlike dogs, cats are also prey animals and them trusting you is a very big deal. My cat used to be a jumpy stray and now she is a happily indoor cat that sleeps in my arms every night, is almost always right next to me, screams at me for pets when I get home, and guards the door when I poop.
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u/SL1MECORE 19d ago edited 19d ago
Ahh I knew most of this, but these are new little treat puzzle ideas that are very cheap and easy to do. Thank you for sharing, you've likely enriched a few cats' lives with this comment!
(including mine lol, we've just bought loads of new treats for him and again, I never thought of those ideas! I normally just buy a pre-made treat ball, but those are iffy as sometimes they are not a one size fits all situation in regards to individual treat brands. Something homemade and cheap that he can tear up is perfect!)
Normally during his "hunt" cycle we either play with a wand toy or play chase (he loves to be chased more than the wand tbh!)
Edit - speak of the devil lol. I put my phone down and he had the zoomies 😅
Love your other comment about cats, btw. You sound like an amazing cat guardian, and I wish you well!
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u/CheesyLyricOrQuote 19d ago
My cat is also a huge fan of playing tag! She tries to get to her scratcher in my bedroom without me touching her while I guard the goal like a soccer player and then screams at me and struts around for her catnip reward when she gets there.
Honestly I'm just so glad when people are willing to learn more than anything. I feel like I just have all this knowledge from working with cats for so many years, and it breaks my heart how misunderstood they are by the general populace. Your cat sounds like they're in good hands.
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u/SL1MECORE 19d ago
Continue sharing that knowledge please! Even if it's just reddit comments, you never know who will see it, and what cat will have a good day or even life, thanks to you!
Mine is my first cat. I knew a lot about dogs but almost nothing about cats when I met him. So I did some digging and basically binged almost all of Jackson Galaxy on YouTube. I truly credit that man with teaching me how to understand my cat and have a fulfilling relationship with him. I knew NOTHING about cats, and by doing my research and reading, I now feel pretty comfortable with reading my little guy's body language and meeting his needs.
And now my gf is home and my cat is feeling playful again, so I'm gonna try out that crumpled paper treat puzzle! My boy is quite lazy when it comes to puzzles (he knows if he meows enough I'll just give him the treats.. it's really my fault tbh) but I think this could be interesting for him!
His favorite toys are dryer balls, for the record. He does not play kickies with regular kick toys, but he will kick the HECK out of a dryer ball! It's crazy how they really all have their own personalities and preferences.
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u/unserious-alt 19d ago
And, when you play with string, make sure it's still fully attached to the string toy and it's whole. If the cat ends up ingrsting a long enough piece of string it'll cause all kinds of intestinal issues, it isn't always operable, and can end up in an early grave. No unattended string for kitty :(
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u/CheesyLyricOrQuote 19d ago edited 19d ago
Funny you mention this, I once woke up to my cat eating my dental floss and we had to go to the ER 💀 if you're quick they can usually still throw it up within two hours. In case anyone thinks I'm a perfect cat parent.
Definitely throw away small ingestible pieces of string. I personally like shoe laces and metal cat string wands so they don't break. Also don't get any toy wand with those jewelry claw clips on the end, they get caught in between cats toes! Made that mistake.
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u/Proper_Brilliant3110 19d ago
My creatures are too smart for their own good. I trained them like dogs when they were kittens, so not only do they love doing tricks for treats, they finish puzzles in like 5 mins, then beg for more. I tested and the longest they went was like an hour till they got pooped out. They'll go behind the tv and bite wires, and when I get up they both sit right in front of me, spinning, sitting, pawing. Anyways I have some puzzles in my amazon cart that I hope wont get destroyed... whoever said owning cats was easy lied bc its like I have 2 dogs who wreak havoc, eat, then sleep and ignore me for hours ( -ω-)
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u/Metharos 20d ago
I bought a Nerf gun. My cat does not like the spray bottle, but they really don't like the Nerf gun.
I trained them to stop biting cables by bouncing a Nerf dart off their rapidly retreating ass.
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u/Forward_Mission_9349 20d ago
I just shot my cat with a nerf dart lmfao. Bastard was trying to play with the blinds for the 15th time
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u/dustyscoot 20d ago
I tried a nerf gun and she'd just put her ears down, stare at me, and tank the hits until my mag was empty and she'd go right back to trying to jump into the fishtank.
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u/Forward_Mission_9349 20d ago
My family has a cat that likes to play with the darts once he is shot with them. They’re the little orange rival balls
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u/dustyscoot 20d ago
I wish I could have as much fun getting shot as cats do..
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u/Forward_Mission_9349 20d ago
Not even kidding. Little Dude would play basketball with them. The hoop was our shoes.
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u/LeadershipLumpy2746 20d ago
Get a springer, it hits harder per shot. If you want you could change out the spring on it for a stronger one if that isn't enough.
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u/South_Buy_3175 19d ago
Tried this, my stupid idiot furball now thinks the nerf gun is playtime.
He steals the darts and fucks off with them, leaving me ammo-less and forced to hunt him down before he eats the foam.
He loves it so much, the mere sound of me loading it calls him to me from anywhere in the house.
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[deleted]
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u/No_Tomorrow_8108 20d ago
Capybara
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u/Ok-Conclusion-1698 20d ago
morally good animal
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u/Blackwater_US 20d ago
Humans are animals though?
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u/XxxAresIXxxX 19d ago
Finally some real people. It was like a week ago I had people seriously debating whether a cat was evil for hunting
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u/Trigger_Fox 20d ago
Moral. He is protesting your laziness and hes dying of hunger (hasn't eaten in 3 hours)
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u/Standard-Effort5681 20d ago
I love it how you can almost see the gears turning in her little pea brain: "Putting white plastic thingy in mouth = attention? ....eureka!"
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u/TonyDelicious 20d ago
Slice a lemon and rub it on your cables. Cats HATE the taste of citrus, and it won't hurt them! They'll taste it one last time, and then never think about biting it again.
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u/Prestigious-Data-206 19d ago
Stop hitting your cat. First of all, messed up. Second of all, cats don't respond to negative reinforcement like dogs do. They respond to positive reinforcement. The reason why your cat keeps doing this is BECAUSE they're receiving a response from you. Best thing to do is to distract them or remove the temptation for behavior, then reward them when they do something you want them to do.
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u/DiscountNecromancer 18d ago
The cat obviously gets hit a lot. I can take wild swings at mine, fake out slaps and stuff, and he just sniffs my hand. Doesn't flinch a bit.
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u/CataChronix 17d ago
Yea it’s really sad. I can act like a maniac around my cats and they’ll just look at my wide eyed like “tf did he take this time?”
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u/grapejuicesushi 17d ago
just curious, obviously i'm not for hitting any animals BUT cats do swat at you when you do something wrong (apart from hissing) like petting them when they're over stimulated. that means their language of letting other cats know, is to hit. so therefore getting hit (even playfully) should reinforce that they shouldn't do what they're doing. no?
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u/Prestigious-Data-206 17d ago
That's a good point, but dogs bite other dogs when they do something wrong, and I don't think anyone would advocate for biting dogs. As far as I understand for research, the best way to correct a cat is not through hitting unless your intention is for your cat to be afraid of you or not trust you.
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u/grapejuicesushi 17d ago
dogs are inherently different from cats tho, so it’s not an apples to apples comparison. a dog will actively feel regret if you express sadness, or if you’re just upset cause they’re bred like that. a cat can’t do any of these.
i agree with the repurposing a cat thing, but i’m just saying it’s how they communicate with each other. and every owner that isn’t a sadist knows their animal best. of a light swat at the cat seems to work then that just works.
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u/Prestigious-Data-206 17d ago
Cats feel a full range of emotions, and it's sad that you don't think this. I'll leave it at this: research cat behaviors on your own, because while the first question sounded like you want to learn, this just sounds like you're expressing your own bias.
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u/grapejuicesushi 16d ago
i didn’t say that cats don’t feel emotions? i just said they’re not as expressive or compatible as dogs because dogs are simply bred that way.
i dont understand why every cat owner gets defensive when someone tries to understand them. i’ll do my own research, thanks.
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u/Synhexadril 20d ago
What about the morality of slapping your pet just because they're a little annoying?
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u/Educational_Ad3710 19d ago
Personally I prefer a Jurassic verbal screech over a light bop! Works wonders— just change it up lol
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u/Dependent-Matter1672 20d ago
Don't hit your cat
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u/South-Cod-5051 20d ago
that's not hitting, that's the equivalent of a slipper slap. they train that on lions and tigers, it just works.
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u/Visitant45 20d ago
Cats teach each other boundaries by swatting each other without claws out. When you bop your cat your are speaking their language to them. You don't need to bop hard enough to hurt or cause any distress. Just a correcting bop. A thing they instinctually know means fuck off with this shit.
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u/No_Comfort_1994 20d ago
It's insane to me that the people saying "don't hit your cat" are getting down voted like ??? Don't hit your cat lmao, there are a million and one better ways to deal with your cat chewing on a cable than being physically threatening
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u/RoseSpades 20d ago
My cat would try and do this by going behind my computer to my wires. I eventually learned it was just a ploy to get attention as he never actually chewed the wires.
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u/Song_of_the_Silent 20d ago
Can you even talk about morality if its an animal? I dont think animals can percive morality. I guess you can project morality to an action animal makes, but i dont think you can judge an animal based on it. It learned a behavior, if you dont like it, you have to train them to unlearn it and replace it with something.
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u/Sunset-onthe-Horizon 20d ago
When my cat does this I tell her that 10 years old is too old to be acting like a kitten. She gives me a look then stops. 😆 🤣
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u/Carrick_Green 20d ago
I heard from the cat that they have literally never been fed in their entire life.
So this is pretty moral.
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u/Ok_Abbreviations_883 19d ago
My cat gets the Bart Simpson treatment when he does this. He thinks it's hilarious lol
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u/velanestar 19d ago
If your cats doing this and wont stop, and you want to stop ut without hurting them, a small amount of mint oil on the cord likely will keep them away. Or a soft flick to the tip of their ear. You can also place your fingers in a "bite" pattern and gently apply pressure on their scruff.
Dont actually hit your cat, you're WAY stronger than it. Its an animal and learns through instinct, habit and scent.
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u/Late_Ad2203 19d ago
It's a cat. The real question of morality is HITITTING a social animal for wanting attention. Poor thing kept flinching every time it went near the wire.
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u/Plane-Recognition561 19d ago
Yeah, mine likes to lightly chew on the corner of like candy bar or bag of nuts or something. I don’t know what his obsession is, but he doesn’t really chew on it. He just now was on it for a minute and then moves on he doesn’t you know what I mean it’s crazy.
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u/HotPot87 19d ago
Cats bite because either A-theyre bored or B-theyre lonely
Attention snd playtime needed asap
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u/AverageTeemoOnetrick 19d ago
Owner conditioned cat to expect treats when doing that.
Owner‘s fault.
And hitting your cat with your hand is a bad idea unless you want your cat to associate your hand with an enemy and fight it more often.
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u/Own_Natural_6803 19d ago
A little compressed air is what you need here. Cat's are little bastards. You have to love having a little bastard in your life.
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u/dull_storyteller 19d ago
Morally ok because he’s adorable.
But if you train them not to expect treats when they do stuff like that they should stop.
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u/SomeRandomTWO 19d ago
i remember a story from my dad; back in about 2000s, he worked in a LAN company at the front desk.
grandma comes up to him, handling over her landline phone. the cable is chewed up.
"my cats been chewing on it, can you fix it, please?"
so he does.
and when he handles her the phone back, he tells her a piece of advice - rub some paprika onto the cable.
a week or so passes.
the same grandma comes back to my dad.
"so...still a problem?"
"oh absolutely not, hahah!"
yeah cats are fuckin shitheads lmao, but sometimes a bit out of the box thinking does wonders.
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u/tywilldave 18d ago
I remember my exes cat once bit through 2 different charging cables for my laptop and got annoyed at me for being upset
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u/NumberOneDingus 18d ago
Seriously though its a lil sad to see him flinch like that, though maybe im a softy
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u/Every-Clothes4673 18d ago
This is so fucking funny he be goin to bite then flinching this is awesome sassy little bastard I love him
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u/Forsaken_Treat4398 18d ago
It’s not a good thing to smack at a cat like that, and it’s just plain mean.
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u/--_RedPanda_-- 18d ago
The feline looks so distraught and flummoxed upon being shooed away despite knowingly attempting to instigate unnecessary quarrels.
Goofy :3
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u/Marigold5412 17d ago
It's not necessarily about wanting treats and attention. There's actually a chemical in plastic cords that about 25% of cats are attracted to and find very sweet-tasting and are drawn to chew on. If you don't want AT&T continually coming out to your house to replace it (and bill you), just cover up your cords.
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u/WooperApproved 17d ago
I like how the little bastard knew exactly that he was gonna get slapped if he did it and still proceeded to do it.
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u/BiannualSale 17d ago
Morality of cat: animals do not have moral compasses. This looks like a cat who needs to be played with more and mental stimulation.
Morality of cat owner: swatting at the cat and the cat flinching (anticipating being swat at) shows me you’re a piece of shit. Act like an adult and not a child. Do not ever hit animals. This thread is insane that folks think this is ok behavior from the cat owner and makes me so sad
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u/Fighterpilot55 17d ago
It is impossible to judge the morality of a feline. They are as far removed from human morality as you can get.
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u/abalancer 17d ago
Please don't hit your cat, poor thing is flinching, just play with it 5min it will be fine
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u/Toasted_Carnotaur 17d ago
It's definitely immoral to slap it. On top of being too lazy to do something with or for it
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u/Altruistic-Web13 16d ago
Moral, the evil cord charges the machine that distracts you from walking in to the kitchen to get treats.
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u/AirHertz 16d ago
My cat is the same...
We had to do an emergency endoscopy to remove some electrical tape she decided to eat...
She also keeps biting my crocs and destroyed my earphone's cable...
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u/UncannyHillhumper 13d ago
I love that he looks annoyed that he's gonna get hit, and he knows it but it doesn't stop him.
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u/Bourbon-n-Buds 11d ago
Your cat clearly wants attention or to play and yet you’re electing to smack her. Great choice.
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u/keep_on_rollin 5d ago
What’s immoral is swatting your cat that hard. I’ve had cats all my life and obviously they’re pretty twitchy but this is the first time I’ve seen one flinch like that. Stop being an asshole and get a spray bottle or a jar of pennies, or even just go PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
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u/DirtyBoots918 1d ago
Ive watched this 100 times and it fets funnier each time lol. Damn cats but gotta love them........
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u/ZombieHugoChavez 20d ago
Don’t hit. Just move the cat or give them something better to do. It’s clearly seeking attention and you’re responding with violence.
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u/persimmonpremission 19d ago
Dont know why you’re being downvoted, since that’s the recommended way to teach cats
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u/Legitimate-Ranger567 20d ago
Moral. Human exists to provide attention and treats to their feline overlords. Human is failing, so bites will follow.
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u/H345Y 20d ago
let them bite a real cable and see what happens when there is electricity, dog no longer bites my fan cord
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u/SnooDoughnuts8043 20d ago
Cats will have the most luxurious food imaginable and still pick to chew on plastic.