I once had a cat "actually 12 cats at that time" who formed very peculiar behaviors. He was a stray that I took in, much younger than the others that we had by around 2-4 years. The others didn't take to his presence generously, and for the lack of a better word, ostracized him. Now this isn't that strange by any means, we humans do it all the time. He never really associated with the other cats, and sometimes fought with them, so most of the day he was with human beings. That's when the interesting things happened, he started opening tupperware, cabinets, doors, stopped meowing altogether, and frequently used the toilet for his "business". Having no connections with the other felines within the house, he developed the behaviors of the only other animals inside, human beings. Perhaps this belongs in pseudo-science, but I was wondering, if a cat that doesn't associate well with other cats and therefore forms the behaviors of its human companions....could a human that has been somewhat ostracized "social isolation" begin to develop some of the behaviors of their pets? I'm not saying that they start using the litter box, but subtle changes in body language, communication, etc.