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Why People Love Their Chaotic, Misbehaving Cats

Some people love their cats for the chaos they create, even if they're showing boldness, meanness or disinhibition.

Credit: Pocket Canyon Photography/Shutterstock

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Sarah Chavera Edwards and her family adopted a cat over a year ago from a shelter in Arizona. While the cat, named Houdini, now trusts Chavera Edwards and her family, he still sometimes scratches and gets scared easily.

“We love him anyway and celebrate his slow progress,” says Chavera Edward. “He’ll never be a super affectionate lap cat, but he’s funny, fierce and independent.”

Before and during COVID-19, cats and their quirky, misbehaving ways brought joy to their owners’ lives. In fact, a study found that cat-human relationships had a positive effect on humans during stay-at-home periods. One reason is that some cat owners do like it when their cats misbehave.

Cats can be little monsters, but some people love them for that. An article published in the Journal of Research in Personality looked at psychopathic traits in domestic cats, namely boldness, meanness and disinhibition. The researchers defined disinhibition as ...

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