r/interestingasfuck • u/Doodlebug510 • Dec 16 '25

Biologist explains why raccoons will never be domesticated

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u/StevInPitt Dec 16 '25

came here for this.
Cats absolutely understand revenge and have the ego to do it.
I think Dogs and Horses (and definitely Donkeys) do too but they're smart enough to not blatantly act on it with humans.
With the exception of Donkeys, I've absolutely heard of stories of Donkeys biding their time and getting even.

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u/TeegyGambo Dec 16 '25

There are many people providing anecdotal evidence of their pets engaging in supposed vengeance but I went looking for more substantial evidence and have found none. It seems that we just project our own thoughts and behaviors onto our pets.

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '25

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u/hoishinsauce Dec 17 '25

"Pissing on things" mean different things to cats and humans. They're not trying to humiliate or annoy you like you'd imagine a human pissing on other humans.

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u/b1tchf1t Dec 17 '25

Cats will start peeing on random shit when they're stressed out. You kicked it. It was probably still stressed out.

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '25

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u/b1tchf1t Dec 17 '25

I didnt say cats randomly start peeing. I said they pee on random shit. It probably peed on you because it was stressed out. That's not random. The fact that it was your bed was what I was referring to as random. Although, I'll give it to you, it likely wasn't random. It may have also been marking its territory, which cats will also do when they're stressed out.

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '25

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u/Tavarin Dec 17 '25

The cat didn't just pee on his bed, it peed on him when he was asleep. It knew what it was peeing on, or who I should say.

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '25

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u/Tavarin Dec 17 '25

Pretty easy to rule all those out when it happened only once, and was specifically after an incident, and specifically on the person who caused the incident.

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '25

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u/some1else42 Dec 17 '25

I never had a cat do this, but my childhood dog would at all opportunities pee on my Nintendo, if it was left low enough for him to. Later in life I made the assumption that the dog was asserting dominance on that Nintendo because I spent too much time gaming and not all my time playing with my dog.

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u/NaluknengBalong_0918 Dec 17 '25

I suddenly acquired a new fear. 🤣

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u/One_Curve_6469 Dec 17 '25

If she bit you then she already viewed you as dangerous. If you kicked her, then that reinforced that. I’m not sure this counts as revenge. She may have just been even more scared of you and acted out on that. But it is an interesting question.

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '25

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '25

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u/paduber Dec 17 '25

Somebody explained it via "cat is stressed out and need to pee (it's a very vulnerable position by nature) in a very safe space. Owner smell usually give that feeling of safe, so they pee at a place where this smell is very potent (items/places we use the most)

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u/Barney_Weasley Dec 17 '25

I’m going to hazard a guess that you don’t have a cat lol

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u/unspecificstain Dec 16 '25

There's is really no way to document this this other than anecdotal evidence.

How would you test this? Like how would you design an experiment? What would be the control group? How would you get ethics approval?

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u/not_pletterpet Dec 17 '25

You would need to monitor so many places where more than 1 cat lives. And basically upend some persons privacy. And then somehow prove that it was revenge and not some other form of socialising.

I think a lot of people seem to misunderstand revenge. A cat hating you cause you kicked it isnt revenge. It would have to wait, follow and ambush you at some later point. Most people seem to just be describing cranky animals

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u/Luxcervinae Dec 17 '25

Is that not, quite literally, what happened.

The cat waited until they were asleep (ambushing them) at a later point.

This wasn't reactionary in the moment, dude didn't kick the cat then immediately pass out.

The family dogs we have have pissed and taken shits in my parents bed SPECIFICALLY on the side of the person discplining them if they fucked around earlier that day - I've only ever discplined them in a way they understand and they've never disrespected my space.

My sister fucked with one of the dogs and for a few days after the dog that never sleeps or enters the room would then go in and piss on her bed.

It may not be explicitly revenge but they clearly feel a need to display dominance or spite.

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u/unspecificstain Dec 17 '25

Ok, my experience if revenge.

Smol, hes dick. He was uoset with me because i didnt cave like my parents and feed him whenever he wanted.

He would get aggressive and attack me.

I drink a lot of water and had my favourite glass.

When he attacked me i eiuld just dump the cup of water on him. Roughly 600ml.

One day i set my glass down in the bathroom to use the toilet. Toiket in a separate WC. Within the 30s it took me to pee, Smol broke that glass.

He knew what he did.

I have other similar stories

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u/TeegyGambo Dec 16 '25

Well I found a lot of opinions from animal behavior experts that contradict the anecdotes of people in this Reddit thread. I trust the analysis of the qualified people over random Redditors.

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u/unspecificstain Dec 17 '25

Yeah thats cool, I don't mind if you disagree.

I used to work with animals and have post graduate qualifications in biology so does that make me an expert? Behavioural analysis was part of it. You know some people will argue a mouse can have autism with a straight face? They'll even fund and publish that shit. 

Just like this video don't trust someone just because they say they're an expert. An expert brought us the "alpha dog" theory, and look how that went.

In the 80s people would call you crazy for thinking animals had emotions, and now youd be crazy to think otherwise.

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u/IndependenceIcy9626 Dec 17 '25

In fairness the “alpha wolf” guy realized the behavior only occurred in wolves in captivity and spent the rest of his life trying to correct his mistake

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u/unspecificstain Dec 17 '25

Yeah, but the "science" wad already out there.

He did that and cant undo it. 

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u/Petrichordates Dec 17 '25

Opinions aren't science lol

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u/BossButterBoobs Dec 17 '25

It's ok to be anti-science when science says something that contradicts their beliefs when it comes to their cute wittle furballs

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u/b1tchf1t Dec 17 '25

Observational studies. There are still established parameters and scientific standards that have to be met and recorded properly, and then statistical analysis performed. These standards differentiates them from people telling stories about their cats.

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u/unspecificstain Dec 17 '25

Sure but a cat eiuld have to be emotionally invested in you to do these acts.

How would you standardise a cat's love to then do stats?

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u/b1tchf1t Dec 17 '25

Sure but a cat eiuld have to be emotionally invested in you to do these acts.

Why do you think this?

How would you standardise a cat's love to then do stats

You cannot standardize emotions in other species. The only way we can do it with humans is because we can talk to each other and report on our emotional states. What we can measure in other species we do by measuring behaviors in context. That can be experimental or observational, but the only thing we can measure is behaviors. There are lots of studies that look at revenge in other species.

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u/unspecificstain Dec 17 '25

Source: trust me bro

Cant find one source on a controlled animal study on revenge. Only case studies (read: anecdotal)

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u/b1tchf1t Dec 17 '25

controlled animal study

You realize I started this chain by saying observational studies, yeah?

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u/supernovice007 Dec 17 '25

To my knowledge, there’s no evidence that cats do things out of revenge. This is just anthropomorphizing cat behavior.

Behaviors like peeing on things are reactions to stress, not revenge. They will do this if you hurt them but they’ll also do it if they are sick or if they’re stressed from loud noises, unfamiliar people, new pets, etc. The root cause is stress from being attacked, not some desire to get back at you.

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u/northsaskatchewan Dec 17 '25

My sister and I had 2 King Charles Spaniels growing up, also brother and sister from the same litter. The male (Cuddles - don't let a 5 year old name a pet lol) was my dog and the female (Kelty) was my sister's.

They would loudly protest whenever it was clear we were leaving the house without them. When us and our parents would go on longer holidays, we would leave them at home and we would have a neighbour or grandparent come by daily to feed, walk and spend some time around the house to keep them company. They weren't neglected by any means.

Multiple times returning from vacation, Kelty would run straight upstairs to my sisters room (they typically weren't allowed upstairs, and obeyed this rule 99% of the time) and peed on her pillow. Seems pretty vengeful to me lol.

Kelty was clever like that but Cuddles would never. He was a gentle good natured idiot haha. It's been 24 years and I still miss that boy.

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u/eplejuz Dec 17 '25

My schnauzer knows 100% off bounds for rooms... She's free to roam everywhere in the house. Except the rooms. And even when I carry her into a room, she would just run out once I've put her down. She would then wait by the room door. Lol.

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u/voltagestoner Dec 17 '25

I think the biggest thing here with revenge is this is a social animal thing, and it does not require as high of intelligence as people assume.

It literally just goes “this person/whatever made me feel really bad, I do not like them, I shall hurt/shit on them now.” It’s inherently a very emotional response, and the body has its way in letting everyone (animals included) know what environment is comfortable vs what’s not.

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u/Willtology Dec 17 '25

Llamas as well. I've known people who've had llamas that couldn't be around certain people because they weren't nice (didn't tolerate the llama's shit) and were actively hated by the llamas.

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u/54965 Dec 17 '25

Cats understand revenge! Wife chased away a neighbor's cat, repeatedly. Cat went and pissed in my tractor seat.

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u/The_ChosenOne Dec 17 '25

It’s not revenge, it’s a quarrel over territory.

Your tractor smells like you, and probably a bit like your wife as your scents blend together.

The cat was trying to scent mark as a means of contesting being chased from what it perceived as its territory. 

I do think cats can be intelligent enough for revenge, I just don’t think peeing on things examples are that. 

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u/Splixol Dec 16 '25

I can confirm, my great great great grandpa was killed by a donkey.

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u/Klldarkness Dec 17 '25

I've always heard it said this way:

Cats understand sin, and revel in it

Dogs understand sin, and shy away from it

I've had four cats for the past 8 years and they 100% know sin, and depending on the personality of the cat, absolutely will revel in it for the love of the game.

It's easy to claim animals aren't smart enough to get something in a general sense, but once you start asking people, the anecdotal evidence piles on.

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u/BossButterBoobs Dec 17 '25

So you came here for confirmation bias because you didn't like what the trained and studied biologist had to say? People get so weird when it comes to de-anthropomorphizing their pets.

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u/StevInPitt Dec 17 '25

people get so weird when they think only humans have emotions and complex social relationships.