Why We Love Cats

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The True Love to our Little Kitties

Cat lovers across the world have no problems explaining why they love their feline friends so much. Good Housekeeping Magazine, in fact, keeps an often-updated list of such reasons on its website. Here are a few samples of reasons the list gives for loving cats: “Their love affair with open boxes … and rubber bands. Their vigilant surveillance of the front walk. Rhythmic purrs. Full body stretches. They curl up on your chest and put a paw to your cheek.” And the list goes on… Every cat lover could probably ad pages and pages, as well.

But all that said, scientists and philosophers have for years sought a more thorough explanation for why we love cats. They want to know, for example, why it is that, generally speaking, mankind does not love squirrels, or raccoons, deer or any number of other cute, cuddly animals with the same passion that we cherish cats.

And the answer, it seems, lies in the fact that cats are lucky enough to have natural behavior and gestures that humans interpret warmly.

Some scientists refer to this phenomenon with the potentially cynical and cold-hearted term “social parasite.” In other words, they say, cats have learned over the centuries that, by resorting to behavior that humans find pleasurable, the humans will take care of them. In short, cats have learned to smooch off humans by being so darn cute.

Other animals haven’t developed this ability to schmoose. So humans tend to love them as much as they do cats.

This idea of cats as a “social parasite” may seem controversial, or even offensive, at first glance. People like to think that all the cute, cuddly and loveable things that cats do are from genuine, human-like love, and this idea flies in the face of that.

But even scholars who have developed this idea of a social parasite say the theory, actually, is irrelevant to their own love of cats. Whether genuinely felt (in human terms) or not, the things that cats do are, well, just loveable, the experts say. Loving cats is just something that God made possible, on philosopher theorizes. It doesn’t make complete sense because, well, God works in mysterious ways.

So most cat experts take with a grain of salt this idea that a cat may be a “social parasite.” The common logic tends to be this: if a cat is pleasurable to have around, and if the cat seems to enjoy (or at least tolerate) human company, then the relationship must be a good thing in the eyes of God. That’s a good enough reason for most people to explain just why it is that we love cats.