this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2024
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Science Memes

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top 28 comments
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[–] corvi@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago

My cat learned I can’t see when I have the VR headset on and knocked a lamp over onto my head.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I have 2 cats.
One of them seems to sense when I'm upset or unwell, and will come to hug me, wrap herself around my neck and purr in my ear.
Then the other one will sneak up on us from behind, jump on her back, and start a cat fight on top of my head.
I love them both, but sometimes I wonder whether getting a second cat was the right decision.

[–] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Some cats are grade A dingdongs!

Still love them all.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Guinea pigs are kittens that never become cats

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 5 months ago

wheekwheekwheekwheekwheekwheekwheekwheekwheekwheekwheekwheek

[–] simple@lemm.ee 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Petting a cat calms down & relieves stress.

There's a 50/50 chance that a cat will try to claw your eyes out if you rub their belly, but yes.

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Depends on the cat. There's some that will let you do just about anything and at most bat you with a paw, claws retracted. Then there's others that if you don't pay attention and pet them just a fraction wrong will take your arm off. Know your cat.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

it also depends on the human, some people just don't know how to interact with cats.
like bro you gotta make friends with them first, how tf would you feel if a guy just walked up to you and started reaching under your shirt?

The good old "crouch down, extend your hand, slow blink at the cat and periodically pointedly look away" generally works great.

[–] Jumi@lemmy.world 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

My neighbours cat sleeps on my couch when the door is open and he always wants me to scratch his belly.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

normalize communal cats
why should people just have one or two cats when everyone could have 35 cats?

[–] Jumi@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

RIP local bird and mice population

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 5 months ago

i mean it rather implies living in an urban area, where the local bird and mouse population is not particularly important or just outright unwanted anyways.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 1 points 7 months ago

Nice, that's basically free healthcare.

[–] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Cat people have 40% less risk of heart attack.*

Cat people are also overrepresented cohorts of wealthy people and women, two cohorts who have a much lower risk of heart attack than the most at risk cohort of poor men.

[–] zout@fedia.io 1 points 7 months ago

Isn't it also that pet owners in general have better health?

[–] purrtastic@lemmy.nz 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Sponsored by toxoplasmosis

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 5 months ago

toxoplasmosis saw all the microbes in our gut living in harmony and wondered why the fuck everything else isn't doing that, hell yeah let's just make the humans feel happy and they'll ensure our survival FOREVER

[–] Donkter@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

If toxoplasmosis reduces my heart attack risk and stress with no discernable side effects sign me up!

[–] Empricorn@feddit.nl 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Wholesome. Except the 4th-panel propaganda. That poor woman is dead after that...

[–] Venator@lemmy.nz 1 points 7 months ago

Depends on the cats personality, some will tolerate, others will kill.

[–] jlow@beehaw.org 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

So someone better than me at maths could probably figure out how many cats I'd need to heat my with them room (and if the catfood etc needed would be cheaper than heating) ...

[–] superkret@feddit.org 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I can answer the second question:
Generally, hot-blooded mammals transform 90% of the energy they get from food into heat.
So using a cat for heating your room is about 90% as effective as burning cat food in an oven.

Here's some napkin math for where I live:
1kg of firewood has 4kWh = 4000 kcal
which is about equivalent to 1kg of really cheap dry cat food (mostly carbohydrates)

1kg of firewood costs about 40 cents
1kg of cheap dry cat food costs about 1,20€

So, cat-based heating is about 3.3x more expensive than burning pre-dried, commercially purchased firewood.
(all of these prices heavily depend on how much you buy in bulk, though. And if you care about your cat's well-being, you're gonna spend 2x more on its food)

[–] rimjob_rainer@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

But cat based heating has a lower efficiency, they do not turn all energy into heat.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That's why I wrote it's 3.3x more expensive, not 3x
10% of the energy is wasted on things like bodily functions, growing, running around and bringing joy to people.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 7 months ago

But all that running around and buzzing and living becomes low grade heat pretty rapidly

While most of the heat from the cat food furnace will go up the chimney rather than into the room.

I would expect the cat to be closer to 100% efficient than the furnace, unless it spends its time sitting on a window sill behind the curtain radiating towards infinity

[–] gregor@gregtech.eu 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Does it really heal wounds and stabilize blood pressure? That seems a bit far-fetched.

[–] Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 1 points 7 months ago

One of it's purrrposes is to shake wounds and increase bloodflow. This is why cats sometimes pur after conflict; they're licking their wounds in multiple ways.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 5 months ago

afaik the notable thing is actually that the purrs help heal bone fractures, which is presumably something to do with vibrations helping the process along mechanically somehow.

But of course there's also just the psychological effect of having a purring cat near you, same thing as how people heal faster from stuff like acupuncture despite the process itself not doing anything, we just benefit from feeling happy and cared for.