Do you love me like you say you do…

There are studies that show a cats intelligence level (quantifying intelligence comparatives can be tricky given species have different thought processes) is close to that of a toddler.

With that in mind, I’ve been considering a situation that arose a couple of years ago where I inadvertently caused offence to someone who often crates strays to acclimatise them to people.

Obviously this isn’t something that would be a normal environment for a cat, and recently I started wondering if the responses people exhibit when feeling threatened (if a cat is forced into a situation that isn’t familiar I can’t see them feeling anything else) are also present in our feline counterparts.

In short, I wondered if the fawn response humans exhibit is a behaviour a cat would use as a survival tactic as well. And if that is the case, is what we perceive to be a cat adapting to our presence simply a defence mechanism? This isn’t discounting the possibility that changes in behaviour may be the development of genuine trust over time. But what if the initial behaviour we perceive as a breakthrough is simply a cat feeling they have limited options but to react in a certain way?

In human psychology, there are five recognised trauma responses. Fight, flight, freeze, fawn and flop. In cats, we acknowledge the first three responses as behaviour they’re likely to exhibit when there’s a situation they’re unsure of. 

If a cat is likely to exhibit three of the five trauma responses recognised in people, isn’t there a possibility they could exhibit the other recognised human trauma responses  in an unfamiliar or unsettling environment?

Obviously this is a subject I’ll be seeking further clarification on, hopefully studies already exist on the subject.