scientists have come close to unraveling a cats DNA

[blondie58]

which could lead to unraveling the dna of humans and help us to find cures for diseases.


http://news.aol.com/story/_a/dna-breakthrough-is-the-cats-meow/20071101065209990001

[Ian David]

1. Will this help explain why cats like to watch us when we use the toilet? n/t

[JMDEM]

7. Your cat does that too????

That's weird stuff, I'll tell you. My cat will even push the door open if it isn't completely shut, just to have the chance to watch me... you know...

[Ian David]

13. Yes, my cat does it too. And so does Jim Ward's cat.

I think they're up to something.

[bdamomma]

11. why is it cats like to do this, go in the bathroom when you are in

there, my cat does it too, and sometimes jumps into the tub for water, weird cat, but smart!!

[havocmom]

18. Potty monitors.

They are the potty monitors

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

25. It's a Cat Rule.

No human may be in a bathroom for more than five seconds unless accompanied by at least one cat.

[Lisa0825]

28. All 7 of my fosters accompany me to the bathroom.

And they rotate through so that each gets petted. I think they feel that if a human has there pants down and is sitting on the toilet, they are a captive audience and must pet them.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

29. ROFL!

That must be quite a sight. I have only two, but even so, sometimes I just say, "Jeez, you guys, can't I even PEE by myself?"

[waiting for hope]

37. I have two cats and two kids -

I have not been able to pee alone in my house for years....it's a pleasure to use the john at work! :hurts:

[Ian David]

40. Someone needs to "Ask Doctor Maddow" about this.

You know, I'm judging a school science fair in a couple months.

Maybe I should suggest one of the kids examine this?

[Ian David]

42. This is my little kitty Stephanie...

See also:

Kitten Adoption Update: Randi is Keith, and Keith is Randi.
Topic started by IanDB1 on Aug-30-07 09:43 PM (0 replies)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=158x13105

Brockton, Mass. Free Kitten to Good Home (Adopt Keith or Randi... we're keeping Stephanie)
Topic started by IanDB1 on Aug-28-07 04:01 PM (0 replies)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=6875921

[waiting for hope]

43. She's adorable!

I have two calico's, Dax and Kes (my Star Trek Days :) ) and both are rescued strays, I think they make the best companions.

[LynneSin]

34. Yours watches? Hell mine wants to sniff

:scared:

[madinmaryland]

2. Will they be able to turn the gene on that will allow them to open their own cans

of tuna in the morning?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

3. Let's hope not.

If they could do that they'd no longer have a use for us humans and we could be eliminated.

[blondie58]

5. of course not, silly

cats have us trained as their personal servants. They have to keep us in our place.

[smokey nj]

8. And change their own litter boxes!!

:woohoo:

[madinmaryland]

19. That would be the best result!!1!!

[Az]

4. Let us know when they succesfully unravel a cat

Thats a lot more difficult than unraveling their DNA. Cats are so damn inscrutable.

On a serious note this is very cool. We share lots of diseases and disorders with cats. Having a basis of comparison makes for a huge advantage in figuring out such matters.

[raccoon]

6. Maybe they could figure out how to improve humans.

"If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat."
- Mark Twain, Notebook, 1894

[JMDEM]

9. Maybe they will be able to make violin strings in a test tube now...

That would be humane!

[Vinca]

10. Maybe the unraveling of cat DNA will answer one of life's great mysteries.

Why cats eat grass, puke it up, then eat grass again.

[bdamomma]

12. grass is a laxative for them.

[mondo joe]

14. Well that's a fine reversal. It's usually the cat doing the unraveling.

[Atman]

16. I was going to post that!

My cat's unraveled my rug, my blanket, my jeans, the sofa...

.

[mondo joe]

20. ...

[librechik]

15. when it finishes unravelling, it always lands on its feet n/t

[chitty]

17. Well - we haven't unravled it, but

we have crossed it with another species..........

[bdamomma]

21. what a cute kitty, what costume is he or she wearing?

[chitty]

26. Why he's

a bee of course!

[bdamomma]

39. cute!!

[blondie58]

44. and he looks like one angry bee!

looks like he's going to sting someone.

[Individualist]

27. Mine refused to wear his devil horns and red cape last night.

:(

[smokey nj]

30. I'm impressed - you dressed up your kitty and lived to post about it.

Are you ok? Do you still have use of your eyes? Just kidding!! Your kitty's adorable.

[Terran]

31. OMG! That is one tolerant cat!

None of mine would stand for such torture.

[SidDithers]

22. scientists...meh...

what have they ever done for us.

Sid

[yurbud]

23. "soon we will be able to transfer the lazy cat gene to dogs so they lay on top of TV

all day and walk on the newspaper when you are trying to read it."

[Zodiak]

24. Well, I guess this is news

With the number of EST projects going on right now, the completion of a new genome is hardly a blip on the radar screen (an organism's ESTs can be sequenced in a matter of days). But I suppose from a disease perspective, it is noteworthy.

[Forkboy]

32. Forget that curing diseases crap... This could lead to.....

Mecha Cat!

[MilesColtrane]

33. "which could lead to unraveling the dna of humans...

...and help us to find cures for diseases."

The human genome was mapped back in 2003.

[Zodiak]

36. It really is a clueless article

Written by someone who is not on top of the sciences. Typical for modern journalism.

[LynneSin]

35. If they find some recessive gene for opposible thumbs we are all fucked

:scared:

[Didereaux]

38. But it is a cat from Missouri...so can't be universally applied to all cats! lol

...or maybe any other cats at all!

duckin' & runnin'
heheh

[Ian David]

41. Why do cats follow you into the bathroom?

June 7, 2007 6:18 PM RSS feed for this thread Subscribe
Why do cats follow you into the bathroom?

This question has basically been asked before here. I found lots of support for it being commonplace cat behavior, but I didn't see any answers that really satisfied me. The closest was the comment suggesting that cat's see you as an alpha animal and how the poop thing is all part of the alpha dominance. But I'm not convinced that cat's really see us humans as alpha animals in any way. I firmly believe most cats see us as their property, not the other way around.

A lot of people suggested that it was just a good opportunity for cats to get the attention they deserve. But even the most anti-social cats who never want attention will do this. This behavior fascinates me as it seems to be common to almost all cats, no matter what their personality. And I've never known two cats who even had close to the same personality. I'd love to find a cat psychologist who actually knows something about this so why not AskMeFi?

posted by bdun01 to pets & animals (53 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite

More:
http://ask.metafilter.com/64315/Why-do-cats-follow-you-into-the-bathroom


I also sent this in to Stephanie Miller, for the Pet Stack / Science Stack / Bathroom Stack.