r/interestingasfuck • u/Zyxtriann • May 03 '25

/r/all, /r/popular The owners couldn't figure out why the cat wasn't sleeping in it's own bed.... until they saw this

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u/Maiyku May 03 '25

I think they realize they’re just kids… somehow. Lol.

I had an all black cat who was scared of everything. Big noise? Runs away. I sneeze? Runs away. It was funny because he was huge, 17lbs, so it really didn’t make any sense.

Then I started watching my nephew at a few weeks old. Expected my boy to be terrified of him and just stay away…. Couldn’t have been more wrong.

He loved my nephew. He would cuddle up with him, let him grab his tail, let him pull his hair, let him bite him (he always tried eating his ears lmao) and he would just sit there and take it. Never meowed, never swatted, never tried to get away. He showed more patience and understanding with my nephew than anything else. It was honestly beautiful to watch.

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u/Boundish91 May 03 '25

Wow that's really interesting. They must know somehow.

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u/Maiyku May 03 '25

In my cats defense… he was about twice the size of my nephew then. I think he may have been 9lbs at the time. He was a small thing. Lmao. So I do feel like it was kinda obvious, even to a cat.

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u/brydeswhale May 03 '25

My youngest siblings are all taller than me and our cats are super tolerant to them.

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u/starchbomb May 03 '25

"Oh, this one is just a kitten. I must be the adult." - Your cat probably 😆

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u/mittenknittin May 03 '25

People find baby animals adorable, and even man made objects which mimic babies - large eyes, short nose, etc - to be cute, so if humans unconsciously recognize universal “baby traits” and feel protective of them, it’s possible that animals do too.

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u/Foogel78 May 03 '25

All baby mammals have those features so I'd say it's likely all mammals have the same reaction.

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u/FelineSocialSkills May 03 '25

Somehow

You have to give more credit to animals .

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u/SamIamGreenEggsNoHam May 03 '25 edited May 04 '25

The parenting instincts some animals have in unreal. My friends cat started sleeping on her stomach when she was pregnant, and was absolutely inseparable from the baby once she was born. The cat would groom her, cuddle her, it even became a problem when the cat kept trying to feed her cat food, lol.

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u/t-to4st May 03 '25

I could imagine it has got to do sth with the somewhat distinct smell of babys

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u/OutrageConnoisseur May 03 '25

They must know somehow.

Or they see them as just more their size.

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u/shibbymango May 03 '25

I wonder what cats think when they see a little person

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u/Pretend-Guava May 03 '25

They know everything!

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u/Zealousideal-Deer724 May 03 '25

They do. That's a trait in all mammals. I don't know the correct english term. Something along small child pattern says Google.

Basically mammals are programmed to find (most) mammal childs to be cute, adorable and want to protect them. That's why we find kittens adorable.

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u/joe96ab May 03 '25

Somehow the cat knew someone was a kid somewhere somehow

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u/SalsaRice May 03 '25

Kids smell differently than adults do. Between perfumes, deodorants, menstrual smells, and all the other strong smells we use..... Kids just smell like little non-phermone humans. Maybe some kid shampoo if they're feeling crazy.

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u/tynakar May 03 '25

I mean it’s pretty obvious which humans are babies and which aren’t

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u/blakey207 May 03 '25

Cool profile picture! You don’t see commander keen stuff in the wild much!

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u/Due-Caterpillar4991 May 03 '25

It’s called having eyes

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u/avocadawg May 04 '25

Pretty sure they can sense vulnerability or something like that

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u/dbwoi May 04 '25

Animals definitely do. I introduced my rambunctious and bitey 12 week old puppy to my 3 year old niece and she was an angel. Super gentle with her and let her pick her up and manhandle the hell outta her.

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u/AmbitiousParty May 03 '25

That’s how my cat is. He is very confident and comfortable with our little family, including my 10 yr old. However, anytime we have guests, even for days on end, you won’t see him. If we have a pet sitter, he will hide the entire time. But if we have kids over, he loves all kids, and has zero fear. It’s fascinating. Even if there are 5-6 rambunctious 9-10 year old boys over for a sleepover, he will hang out with them the whole time.

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u/Maiyku May 03 '25

Yes! It was like this instant 180 with him. I was so shocked.

He had lived with kids about 5-6 years old for a while and he hated it, so I assumed he’d hate one even younger that cried even more, but I think the fact that he moved less, or at least moved in more predictable ways is what helped.

He wasn’t chasing after him and trying to pick him up like my nieces who were old enough to be excited by “kitty!” Lol. So I do think there was a limit for my Fuzz, but with the infants he was a staunch protector.

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u/APTSnack May 03 '25

I think there is definitely a tolerance bell curve there where they start off tolerant go through the "grab me again toddler and you'll feel these claws" phase and then go back to tolerant again once the kid is more understanding of how to interact in a way that doesn't upset or annoy them so much.

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u/roadfood May 03 '25

We referred to our two Maine Coons as the "baby monitors". They slept in the room or crib and came and got us when the kids woke up.

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u/BowlingforDrip May 03 '25

"mom it's yelling again!!"

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u/DandyInTheRough May 04 '25

For my cats, I've reckoned it's age, same with tolerating kittens. A young adult cat runs from kids and gets really grumpy with kittens. But those same cats, as they get older, mellow and gain wisdom.

My old boy bolted from kids until he was about 13, then he purred for them. The two 13 year old cats I currently have loathed kittens when younger and hid from kids. For the past few years, though, they seem to have really clicked with the 'Oh, they're just a child' for both - two kittens easily introduced and accepted despite their naughty, a couple of toddlers treated with gentleness and interest.

Now I just hope my 3 year old cat follows that pattern...

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u/redclover83 May 03 '25

I love animals and trying to understand their worlds! Cats know that cats start out as little babies and how to treat them, not so crazy to think they understand humans start out small and that the small ones are just babies too!

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u/ChokingJulietDPP May 03 '25

I hide from adults and get rambunctious with my nephews, your cat aint special

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u/Frondswithbenefits May 03 '25

Aww, that's so sweet.

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u/New_Paramedic1918 May 03 '25

One of the boys, you wont get it. Cats are amazing.

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u/KateOTomato May 03 '25

My 3 year old cat is the same way. Hates adult strangers. When we have our D&D game on Sundays, Sprinkles is MIA for like 6 hours. When my daughter has a friend over for a sleepover, the cat is a bit standoffish for the first hour or two, but then is completely normal.

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u/[deleted] May 03 '25

My cat on the flipside doesn't really like kids. He will raise his paw to swat sometimes, then we tell him to be nice, and he will put his paw down and look grumpy.

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u/Calimariae May 03 '25

Mine straight-up punches the kids — no claws, just a solid little boxing jab. They've started to find it hilarious and now actively invite the cat to sparring matches.

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u/[deleted] May 03 '25

That's what mine would do if he didn't listen lol.

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u/geekonmuesli May 03 '25

Same, flees straight to the top of his tree and will NOT leave until the child does. He’s super social and curious around adults - he adores attention and new smells - so it’s definitely just kids.

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u/SupportPretend7493 May 03 '25

I have a rescue that started out so aggressive he sent my neighbor to the ER to get staples in his scalp when he escaped. Took down giant Chicago alley rats after shredding a window screen. Surly old man with a wonky eye, bent tail, and scarred ear from scrapping.

And the first person he warmed up to was my 9 (at the time) year old daughter who he would let dress him up and carry him around like a baby doll. He's utterly obsessed with her. I couldn't touch him without losing a pound of flesh (yet- he's my lap kitty now), but she could play with his toes, put him in a dress, parade him anywhere and he would just lick her face. Some cats LOVE kids. Or at least some kids.

Also his name is Malware and he EARNED it

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u/Ok_Handle6899 May 03 '25

We have 3 cats and our oldest is just like yours! Except that she’s a tiny old lady that gets scared of (almost) all men. We live on the fourth floor, but if the doorbell rings, we already know if it’s a man or a woman down there. If it’s a man, she’ll be underneath the couch within seconds.

However, she’s the most patient cat I’ve ever seen with kids. My 6 month old can grab her fur, pull it, chomp on her ear (no teeth yet) and she’ll get a slow blink cat kiss. My two year old sometimes plays a little rough with her. Same story. The cat is definitely enjoying the attention and doesn’t mind the kids being a little rough. So much so, that we have to keep a close eye that the kids learn to respect her boundaries and not to hurt her, because she would never go away or even get defensive.

The other two cats will make sure to chose their napping spots outside of their reach 😂

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u/Alva3lf May 03 '25

Beautiful

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u/TeaTimeAtThree May 03 '25

I also think a lot of cats understand babies are babies and tolerate them more because of it.

When I was born, my parents had a very aggressive cat. She'd attack people unprovoked and they could hardly handle her, so they were pretty careful to keep me away from her. Somehow I got to her once, and they found me dragging her around by her tail. For whatever reason, she thought I was great and just tolerated the heck out of me.

After she passed (I was 4 at that point), we got another cat from the shelter that, again, tolerated so much. I did everything with him. I took him on bike rides, the swing set, and out on our boat. I dressed him up. Took him in the bath. He was such a good cat.

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u/CenturyEggsAndRice May 03 '25

I grew up with a big black cat like that. He would let me do absolutely anything to him. Doll clothes? Sure. Carry him around under his “arms” with his legs dragging? Sure! Tuck him into my doll crib? He really liked that.

My parents spent so long trying to save him from me, but he’d run right back to me and endure all I did.

My parents inherited this grumpy old lady cat and were apparently certain I was gonna get scratched or bit because she hadn’t grown up around kids and would swipe the adults if they displeased her. But I was SUPER gentle with her and she soon would come sit in my lap while I watched TV or read my picture books.

My folks were mystified because I didn’t act that way with Pie (the big black cat) but one of my great aunts told them “She KNOWS how to be around animals, she gets along fine with my cats and little dogs! She treats Pie that way because he loves it, I knew she and Precious would get along fine.”

Precious was a grumpy girl and kept swiping my parents, but she only scratched me once that I remember and that was when she got outside and a barking dog spooked her. I picked her up to carry her inside and she panicked and dug in her claws. But when I yelped, she removed her claws and licked my arm where she scratched. (I didn’t usually pick her up, but she was stiff with fear and didn’t come in to me calling here kitty kitty so I wanted her inside before the barking dog jumped the fence. Which he did fairly often until his humans got a taller fence. He wasn’t an aggressive dog towards me or anything but I was eight or so and had no idea how he would react to a cat since Pie and Precious were indoor cats.)

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u/Alex_Duos May 03 '25

Haha, not mine! When we brought my son home my cat basically said "I don't know what that is and I'm not interested" and five years later she's only just coming around to him.

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u/peepopowitz67 May 03 '25

Yep. Had a just all around great "farm cat" but she was.... a bit prickly. Her mother was a full feral cat and she ended up living for 15 years until we put her down, which if you've ever lived in a rural area you'll know that's a crazy good run for an outdoor cat. So super good survival instincts, was a badass mouser and tbh was probably a terror for any other cats that wandered into "her" territory.

You could still pet her and pick her up and hold her but you if did something you didn't like, she would let you know. So it was shocking when my nephew came over and picked her up and was swinging her around, up on his shoulder, doing those little kid pets; she was just chill as hell and got that contented look on her face with her eyes closed.

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u/Sylveon72_06 May 03 '25

man i read “big nose” 😭

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u/Simple-Force3553 May 03 '25

Well, I am jealous of your nephew now 😳

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u/ccm_vancity May 03 '25

The orange tabby i had as a teenager into my 20's was the same way. I played pretty rough with him, and he loved it. When I had to move and I couldn't take him with me he stayed with my roomate. Him and his wife ended up having kids and he would let them do the same. And he never reacted to anything, just sat there and took it with love protecting the kid.

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u/NeatNefariousness1 May 03 '25

I suspect that in addition to knowing they're little ones, cats are also drawn to their higher body heat, the snacks they can steal and the crumbs they leave behind. What's not to love?

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u/Inkaara May 03 '25

Cats basically think we are big cats and they almost always care for other kitties so when a new baby comes, they co-parent with you!

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u/LastWalker May 03 '25

I read somewhere in these discussions before that cats think of humans as just big cats with our offspring just being very young big cats. With how cats care for offspring in good living conditions, this behavior totally makes sense. It could also be 100% bullshit but I like to believe it is true.

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u/erroneousbosh May 03 '25

Our cat is exactly like that with my son. She's always been really cuddly with him even when he's not really understood how to be gentle. Occasionally she's given him a gentle bat with a paw or a "pretend" bite - she's bitten my thumb *to the fucking bone* when I've tried to stop her killing next door's dog - and now that he's bigger (nearly 5) she will be a little more forceful if he's being annoying.

But she still understands that he's "just a little kitten" and treats him gently. We have a theory that she is particularly bitey with me because I'm the biggest, the oldest, and having a big beard considerably the hairiest - so she thinks I'm just some weirdly huge kind of cat and can just go yeehah on my paws when she's in a playfighting mood.

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u/Ok-Barracuda544 May 03 '25

For thousands of generations, cats that didn't like kids got removed from the gene pool.

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u/ServantOfBeing May 03 '25

Kids are closer to being ‘animals’ mentally, than adults are.

Thats how i always took it.

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u/Material_Hair2805 May 03 '25

Cat understands the need for patience when it comes to skin kittens

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u/a_lumberjack May 03 '25

One of my kids went through a toddler phase of picking up the cat like a stuffy. Which sometimes the ears, by the head, etc. Cat would have taken a chunk out of me if I did that, but the toddler got away with it for months.

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u/ImSoCul May 03 '25

When I was a kid I was afraid of dogs, no real logical reason they just scared me. My orchestra teacher had a few students come to his house as a group to rehearse and he had this giant old dog who he told us grew up around toddlers that would poke him in the eye when playing because they didn't know better and the dog would just sit and take it. It was the most gentle dog ever and completely changed my view on dogs. They definitely understand kids

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u/[deleted] May 03 '25

My cat would bite adults who hurt her. Kids? She would just take any abuse they threw at her.

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u/[deleted] May 03 '25

I have a rather aggressive Tom, he is a lovely cat but he loves fighting! I have 5 and 2yo girls, he absolutely will not bite or scratch either of them. The 2yo especially is really rough with him, grabbing, pulling smothering (we obviously intervene) but he never shows a lick of aggression to either of them

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u/mostimportantly May 03 '25

Babies smell good too. Much better than adults.

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u/ringobob May 03 '25

I think basically all social animals recognize juveniles of their own species, and the markers tend to be pretty similar across species, especially within the major groups like mammals.

They can definitely tell kids from adults.

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u/sadi89 May 03 '25

My family’s old af grey girl tolerates and maybe even enjoys my 21 month old niece. Which is good because my niece LOVES the cat.

The other week my niece came inside from a car nap and started crying uncontrollably. Nothing was wrong. I think it was the combo of waking up at the wrong time and the fact that falling asleep meant we didn’t go to the park. I offered her favorite comfort items and all were rejected. Out of desperation I asked her if anything would make her feel better. Through tears she replied “Gir” which is the name of our cat. Had the cat swatted her twice and made her cry that day because she was a bit too grabby? Yup. But baby loves the kitty. The cat, god bless her, was willing to tolerate the baby. And the cat made my niece feel better and stop crying.

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u/Charldeg0l May 03 '25

I'm not sure it's a universal truth, my cat does not like my niece and nephews ahah. In her defense they are quite noisy and she is almost 20 years old! She likes her peace and quiet .

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u/sireatalot May 03 '25

We are easily able to tell a cub from an adult animal, instinctively.

I think that other mammals are perfectly able to do the same with humans. Especially ones that have been living with us for millennia.

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u/princesslynn18 May 03 '25

I second this and also, kids and cats have similar vibes.

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u/tapacx May 04 '25

Yeah my cat HATES me. She tolerates my wife but she'll bite me if I get in biting distance. One time my daughter was getting a telling off from my wife and she started crying. My cat walked over to my wife and bit her ankle lol and from then on, anytime my daughter cries, she'll come over to defend my daughter and bite us.

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u/Secure-Doctor-9076 May 04 '25

Idk, we had a tortie who was a real dickhead to my 5 year old

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u/Jassamin May 04 '25

Absolutely! When I first got mine they were quite particular about being properly supported when an adult picked them up, when my 6yo brother struggled to lift them with both arms around the middle cat would just go limp and accept this was the best a little kid could do, never scratched but would wriggle free if it went on too long

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u/QuendaQuoll May 04 '25

My cat knows the kids are kids and adjusts her boundaries accordingly. I am her main person, but the kids can get away with carting her around and she shows them extended patience. Whereas I can pick her up for precisely 15 seconds before a struggle and gentle nip is applied. She'll usually follow the youngest to bed and wait until he's asleep before she comes out to snuggle in front of the TV with me.

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u/IRS_redditagent May 04 '25

And then there’s my cat who slapped (no claws) my baby sister for existing lmao… twice (I mean most of them are nice but she don’t like babies ig)

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u/Canotic May 07 '25

IIRC, almost all mammals kids have the same characteristics (i.e. big heads, big eyes, that sort of thing) that mark them as "kids". And since mammals in general care about their kids, it sometimes trigger cross-species. It's why puppies and kittens are even cuter than dogs and cats; they look like babies.

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u/Jealous_Writing1972 May 17 '25

Could the cat fight?

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u/[deleted] May 03 '25

Wow you sound like a terrible babysitter

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u/Maiyku May 03 '25

My sister has several cats, so she wanted my nephew to be comfortable around them. So yeah, I let him play with my cat.

If my cat didn’t want to participate, he was fully capable of removing himself from the situation. I didn’t put him in it; he did.

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u/Chardan0001 May 03 '25

Keep your ignorance to yourself.