Are cats sociopathic?

[swagmaster420x]

I really like cats, but so many people think nothing about them but that they have no souls and live to callously manipulate their owners into providing sustenance and entertainment, while being natural harbingers of destruction to nearby wildlife.

My cat has a soul! An endearingly obnoxious one.

[Bob]

Of course your cat has a soul.  He sucked your soul out of your body through your breath while you were sleeping.  He's got your soul, leaving you soulless.   I suppose you could say, "The cat's got soul," now. 



Like so, but with a cat...

[outin]

I really like cats, but so many people think nothing about them but that they have no souls and live to callously manipulate their owners into providing sustenance and entertainment, while being natural harbingers of destruction to nearby wildlife.

My cat has a soul! An endearingly obnoxious one.

I don't have a soul, so why would my cats have one?

But I do think cats are a bit sociopathic in nature...they can get along with each other quite well if the conditions are right, even if they are naturally no herd animals. Just like high functioning human sociopaths.

[indianajo]

Cats can be trained to behave, as long as the task it not beyond what their instinct will allow.  
For example, my cats were trained to claw trees and carpet scraps, not the furniture. None was declawed.
My cats were trained to not meow for dinner or other annoying times. They were fed quickly when I woke up or came home, or was preparing a meal on the weekends. 
My cats were trained to use the litter box.  
My cats were trained to not wake me up before the proper time.  One used to stand on the bed and watch me sleep in the morning, then when I opened my eyes, she would run to the kitchen to be fed.
My cats were trained to not jump on the kitchen table,  When I was done with the food, they knew they would be allowed to share the delicious ketchup, gravy, or fatty leftovers on the plate. on the floor.  
You have to communicate with the cat in a way they can understand. For example , yelling NO means nothing. Yelling no, then putting one out of doors on a frigid day, that means something.  On a nice day, yelling no, then putting the cats head under the faucet and squirting it, means something.  A few times of that, they begin to know what the word NO means.  They modify their behaivoir to minimize experiences they don't like like standing outside in the cold with dinner late, or having a wet head after a hissy experience.  
You can also say nice things to the cat when they do something appropriate, like clawing the carpet scrap.  They don't understand words, but they do understand tone of voice.  They like being talked to nicely by the person that feeds them.  
Their mother's usually train them about the litter box.  Cats go where other cats have gone, which after my last cat misidentified the Steinway piano as a very safe tree in his late middle age, means I will no longer have any cats.  
Children can be trained to understand language in the same way. I was trained to stay out of State Road 3, and not touch the coal stove, before I could talk and reason, ie before age two.  My parents believed physical punishment helped the non-verbal child to learn the meaning of the word NO,  and I believe they were correct in their use of physical punishment that way. It would have been cruel  to physically keep me away from the coal stove when it was the only source of heat in the house.   I see so many children now that feel it is their right to walk down the middle of the driving lane.   There seem to be no barriers these days that can't be solved with psychotherapy and a time out. - HA.  I'm a very creative person, having experienced physical punishment to protect me from dangers or unseemly begging as a child did not hurt me a bit, IMHO.  When I had reason, my parents used words to modify my behaivoir.