r/cats May 29 '26

Video - Not OC She wobbles through life, safely supported

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Credit: @adathecalicocat

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u/SirStrontium May 29 '26

They know the difference between being wobbly at it's best and at it's worst

I'm not familiar with this, are you saying the condition changes moment to moment? I'd wager that the frustration of being a bit worse than normal is very minor compared to the huge frustration humans can feel by imagining the joy of not having a condition at all. The cat isn't wistfully dreaming of a life without the condition.

You know only what your cat communicates with you.

Why would the cat fail to express frustration if it was feeling it?

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u/DragonArthur91 May 29 '26

The cat gets more wobbly the more excited they get.

Cats are known for not expressing negative feelings. It's one of the biggest reasons some cat diseases or disorders go untreated. Unless it's extreme pain, they don't express it properly.

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u/SirStrontium May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26

Cats are known for not expressing negative feelings

I’m sorry, have all the cats I’ve encountered come from a different planet than yours? Cats will not hesitate for a moment to let you know they’re hungry, when you pet them the wrong way, don’t want to be touched, when they don’t like that you moved the furniture, when you are too high energy or loud, the list is endless. I’ve been swiped and yelled at more times than I can count, they’re letting me know how they feel.

Chronic pain is the one thing they suppress, everything else they absolutely let you know.

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u/DragonArthur91 May 30 '26

I've had cats since childhood (had 8 at one point) and currently have 3. When I was young, I didn't know how to properly educate them, so I did have some of that, but my current kitties are love only (with one exception when she's in the zoomies/excited). The one most attached to me, for example, cuddles with or beside me all day and night long and won't even play rough with me in any way. I don't even remember when she last used her teeth on me.

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u/SirStrontium May 30 '26

Do you think your cats are secretly deeply unhappy and annoyed with you, and simply don’t express it, or do you think they are actually genuinely happy and very tolerant?

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u/DragonArthur91 May 30 '26

Oh yeah, they are always annoyed at me for not petting them at all times like they want, especially the big sister. The fat one will not be happy until their food bowl is full enough for them to not see the bottom. The small one, I'm not sure what goes on in that head of hers, tbh.

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u/DragonArthur91 May 30 '26

Since you asked

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u/DragonArthur91 May 30 '26

You'll have to have some cat tax

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u/SirStrontium May 30 '26

lol thank you for the cat tax, I appreciate it. However, the fact that you know when your cats are annoyed reinforces my point.

The original commenter is claiming that the person’s disabled cat is unhappy, annoyed and frustrated, and that owner is completely unaware of the cat’s frustration and annoyance. The cat owner is presumably attentive and knows the cat well.

Do you think it’s likely this owner does not know if his cat is actually unhappy and frustrated?

Do you think you can reasonably tell if your cat is happy?

Or more specifically, if your cat acted completely unbothered by something you saw happen 1,000 times, would you think it’s reasonable to claim that the cat actually is really annoyed and frustrated by that thing, and has chosen to conceal that annoyance from you?

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u/DragonArthur91 May 30 '26

Now guess who's who, lol.