Cats are composed fauna , seldom given to aroused outbursts . Get a khat wet , however , and you are likely to see a full abandonment of any semblance of composure , with the feline going from teachable to a wind generator of claw , teeth , and fly fur .
The Mogwai ( L ) , another specie that develop anxiety when expose to water ( gas constant ) . Warner Bros
According to John Bradshaw , Ph.D. , the Foundation Director of the Anthrozoology Institute at the University of Bristol and the writer ofCat Sense , there ’s more to the phobia than just matte fur : CT may have an ancestral fear of getting wet . “ Domestic cats were descended from Arabian wild cats , ” he read . “ Their ancestors lived in an area with very few gravid body of water . They never had to learn how to swim . There was no reward to it . ”
A big cat ’s displeasure pass to the physical sensation of being doused . According to Shaw , an oily coat does n’t shed urine easily , have it backbreaking for them to retort to a dry , warm land quickly . big cat are also used to feeling spry — in piddle , their motion become sluggish .
Not all species of cat avoid swimming , however . The vanguard cats that live on near the shoring of Lake Van in Eastern Turkey are raise to plunge in as kittens , with their mother nudging them in . There ’s also the self-contradictory behavior of many cats who look at trickling faucets with what is likely awe . Some dip a paw in the stream ; others start to drink from it .
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But it ’s not really the water that the cat is interested in . “ That flickering convention , the light come off the water , is heavily - wired into their nous as a potential sign of prey , ” Bradshaw say . “ It ’s not because it ’s wet . It ’s because it moves and makes interesting noises . Something moving is a possible thing to eat . ” As far as true cat are concerned , a short water start a long way .
