You don't have to get that complicated to look for the reason. It's the purring. I am just one data point and you'd need to find others, but I find cats that purr loudly much more appealing than cats whose purring is so quiet that it's hard to hear. I believe if you were to survey other people who keep cats as pets, you'd find most would agree with that.

> The question is why

I've had one or more around most of my life. They're fun to play with and comedic. They genuinely like their people. They're simultaneously willful and cooperative. They have many habits and preferences, and each one is distinct. They're highly communicative if you understand their motives and language.

If you need to control rodents they are extremely effective and earn their keep. There is nothing more endearing than a proud cat eagerly bringing its catch home to share with its pride. Some people are freaked out by this, not realizing that there is no higher praise a cat can express, hunting on your behalf.

So many dimensions. If a cat likes you it actually likes you: there is no lie in them.

All that said, I'm glad house cats are small. :)

My cat sleeps in the same bed as me and greets me when I wake up

And in the article “They were…continually caressing the cats, and holding them up for the admiration of their companions on shore.”

the admiration of the companions on shore - that is some particularly quick acting distance obliterating parasites

Gwern gives his opinion (I'm inclined to agree but I really love the idea that it could be the reason!)

"The Toxoplasma literature is dogged by small effect sizes and associated pathologies like p-hacking, extensive confounding (in addition to the obvious reverse causation), poor replication (every study seemingly finding a Toxo correlation in something else), and lack of any clear mechanism for how Toxo could be doing anything in a primate species so evolutionarily distant from its rodent target. So, as entertaining as it would be if cat-lovers were being brainwashed by a mouse parasite futilely attempting to get them eaten by their pet cat, I doubt that any effect exists at all—much less that it is the explanation."

> I hypothesize that parasites affecting the human nervous system (…) Toxoplasmosis

Yeah yeah, I read that same article fifteen years ago. I don’t buy it.

For one, there are many other symptoms besides behavioural changes, so we’d have way more known cases of infections. For another, those parasites aren’t transmissible over the internet and thus do not explain the whole of human fascination with cats.

It’s a much more plausible explanation that cats are interesting and reliable companions, with distinct personalities and preferences.

If you read the article, it specifically talks about phenomena not observed with other animals, like dogs. I don't know if I agree that such phenomena certainly exists, but that doesn't mean it can't be a fun thought exercise to speculate about potential reasons for one.

While historically dangerous to people, <0.001% of snakes will prey upon humans. Large cats vs. primates is quite different.

From Wikipedia:

> Although phylogenetically closer to felines and viverrids, hyenas are behaviourally and morphologically similar to canids in several elements due to convergent evolution: both hyenas and canines are non-arboreal

So for the purpose of this article, which states that because cats can climb trees are more of a danger to humans than dog/wolves, we can consider them on the dog side.

My first thought before looking was "meh it's probably not that bad" but yeah, it's pretty sad. Alas, that is nature.

I think your comment and the reply might leave some people even more curious, so I’ll just reproduce the image’s description so everyone can make a more informed choice.

> 2022 photo by wildlife photographer Shafeeq Mulla (23yo) in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia. The image shows Olimba, an old female leopard, carrying a deceased vervet monkey (with its infant clinging to it) to her lair to feed her cub. The cub reportedly killed the infant monkey while playing. Photo originally posted on Latest Sightings.

You can hypothesize something older too: that neoteny is about mammalian caretaking, not even human per se. I hypothesize if it's furry and small enough, with simple enough facial features, it will look cute.

> My guess is that both (cats and anime) hacked our visual network in a sense

It's not just cats. It's many furry mammals. But it's also most birds, which look completely different. And bees and bumblebees, even more different. To a lesser degree even some beetles and even turtles and frogs.

I would say a love of all of those is quote widespread, given how many of them are the main or major supporting characters of Youtube videos, movies, books and web novels and other publications.