Comment on Startup will brick $800 emotional support robot for kids without refunds

• pennomi@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  That’s where the term “catatonic” comes from, or so I’ve heard, and it’s a reflex because mother cats carry their babies by the scruff of their neck. From what I understand it’s totally harmless.

  Someone who actually knows these things can correct me if I’m wrong of course.

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  • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    As the owner of various cats over 50 years it does nothing to adult cats. It will hurt an adult cat because their weight is too much for the skin to hold. As a kid I tried it many times because I heard the myth and it only made my cat more angry.

    I don’t believe kittens are affected other than being physically unable to do anything. Sort of like if you were put in a half-Nelson hold. You wouldn’t be catatonic, just unable to fight back.

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    • uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      You don’t pick an adult cat up by the scruff! But – at least for some videogenic cats – they will instinctively relax.

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    • grue@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      To be fair, he wasn’t talking about picking the cat up by the scruff of the neck, only squeezing it there.

      Anyway, regardless of your anecdote, it is a real thing: cambridge.org/…/CFCC52F39F2235340C1DBA4630EC07F0

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  • TachyonTele@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Poisoning your cat so it’s in a coma before it dies is not where the word catatonic comes from.

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