cat fear!

[paulpablo]

Is it logical to be scared of stray cats and to not stroke them? I remember as a child any cat i saw i would try and grab and stroke.

This continued up until the other year there was a big and very very muscular cat in my garden and i stroked it, and even as i was stroking it my instincts were shouting at me "paul what the fuck are you doing stop now" but it was too late and the cat lashed at me once, but it was like three razor blades slashing over my wrist, there was so much blood coming down my arm.

Since then ive been pretty wary of all cats but they arent exactly dangerous animals are they considering i live in england and i dont think we have that many large dangerous wild cats around, but i dont know, basically the question is people,
Are cats dangerous? im not talking about lions or huge cats by the way, before anyone gets clever and puts "yes lions are very dangerous" im talking about the sort of cats that are a little bit less than knee high

[Something completely different]

I think I already mentioned a weird dream I had here once.
In it I was sitting in my kitchen and my cat was sitting on the table.

Me: "Hello cat"

cat: "Hey"

-short pause-

Me: "You can talk?"

cat: "Of course I can!"

Me: "Would you eat me if I was smaller or you were bigger."

cat: "Of course I would."

[Nine]

Not really. Most people over the age 8 would probably beat a cat in a fight. Very few are aggressive and that's only when they are scared. You can usually tell well in advanced if one is getting pissed off. Hair gets raised they start growling and hissing.

The only cat I know that doesn't give that warning is one of mine. My niece call him the angry cat. He has some kind of mental issues. He's fine but he gets twitchy and then lashes out. Even then still not really dangerous. Although its hilarious when my dog walks past him. He just hits her as she walks past.

[Darwinian]

I love stray cats as they always seem to come up to me for a bit of love , it's just the one that lives in my house that I can't stand!

[paulpablo]

Well this one cat i got attacked by was big but it wasnt like the biggest cat ever just big, but ontop of that very muscular, and like i said one swipe of its paw and i had blood running down my arm. But yeh probably not all cats are as bad as that one.

---

i would shine my lazer pen out in the garden for it to chase and you could see its muscles rippling as it ran it was like a minature lion

[KichigaiNeko]

There is a disease that cats carry called Toxoplasmosis... could this be the cause of the fear?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001661/

Wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis

How to reduce the risk: http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2..._the_risks

[Gilgamesh]

I love cats and they love me. I'm only wary of touching stranger cats because I'm OCD and don't know where they've been. I usually just give in if they pursue me, though.

[paulpablo]

I heard about this toxiplasmosis thing because of trainspotting i assumed you could only die from it if you had a low immune system like the guy in trainspotting had from aids.

My fear of cats is plainly because that huge cat ripped into my arm and made it bleed so easily, but my confusion is that i dont remember being afraid of cats when i was younger before this happened, but now im thinking why wasnt i afraid of cats?

My guess is that this cat that did slash into my arm was extremely feral and i dont think anyone knows how dangerous even small cats can be until they meet a strong feral one like i did

[Cato]

I'm not having a go with your ailurophobia, but I think you need to have a conversation with the young lady in the attached video (skip to about 0:40). Perhaps you could both emerge with healthy feline relationships.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTTwcCVajAc

Ok, I am having a little fun.

Seriously though, I have a cat that owns me. I also grew up having frequent contact with feral cats; I have sustained my fair share of lacerations (scratches be damned). Don't pick them up. Squat down and let them come to you. If they do, stroke them just behind the skull. If they don't, tell them to fuck off as they strut away.

[Darth]

Don't be a scaredey cat. Don't worry, you're in no danger, you'll be purrfectly fine.

Dogs on the other hand? Utter bastards! Was bitten 3 times as a kid (and chased a couple more times by large aggressive dogs with dipshits for owners), can't stand most dogs now.