While it was nice to watch a collection of cute cats passing the time in the amiable environs of Shamley Green while being cossetted by their loving human carers, it was not exactly revealing anything secret. We all know cats go out at night and some go farther than others. We know they are terratorial and don't like intrusions into their space. And any cat owner will tell you that it is only Chris Packham who believes that domestic cats are decimating the bird population of this country.
The companion piece; Little Cat Diaries might have been more interesting but it the "researchers" merely dragged up some American experiment in child psychology from the 1950s and in a very facile way tried to draw comparisons with a cat's interractions with it's owner. The conclusion was that cats are more independent than either dogs or children and that it is folly to interpret their reactions to us as "love". Well I'm sorry to disappoint you Aunty Beeb. That is exactly the reason we cat owners love our cats - BECAUSE they are independent and actually choose to be with us rather than desperately need us. If we wanted some kind of fawning lickspittle pet we'd have a dog instead.
The ONLY really interesting fact to emerge from Little Cat Diaries is that it turns out that there is such a thing as a pet detective. I was sure that it was a puerile concept of the Hollywood film industry. Who Knew?
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