Researchers at DePaw University released a bombshell report last week containing strong evidence that domesticated cats have been subtly undermining good health and behavioral habits in American families for decades. Like it or not, most of us have come to accept that exercise is good for you; sunbathing is not good, biting and scratching are bad, and personal hygiene is best accomplished in a private setting.
But research shows that cats reject all of that, along with any sense of personal responsibility for their errant behavior. They stretch out in a sunny spot and stay there for hours, rising only to check their food bowls or move to an even sunnier spot. They yawn at the suggestion of exercise. They stroll across the kitchen counter trolling for snacks. They generally show little interest in doing anything that doesn’t feel good.
In short, they are terrible role models for impressionable children. Experts have long known that pets are a major influence on behavioral development and that youngsters can learn about responsibility from taking care of a pet. But what do they learn from the family cat?
They learn that it’s possible to ignore all the rules and still be adored, that it’s OK to be totally self-absorbed. They learn that there’s no need to consider the feelings of others, and that you can, in fact, get away with biting the hand that feeds you as long as you don’t push it too far. They learn that outside the house, pretty much anything goes, up to and including a profound disrespect for anything smaller or weaker than you are.
To be fair, cats have some exemplary traits. They can amuse themselves for hours with a piece of string. They are happy sleeping in a cardboard box. If necessary, they can get their own food (but they are sloppy about disposing of leftovers). And perhaps most of all, they can teach children (and adults) an important lesson about the violation of personal space: that at some point the claws will come out, in one form or another.
Ruff Barkley is a senior researcher at DePaw University’s Institute of Canine Superiority.
