Cat Tales

I have a friend. Well, I have several. But one in particular that I'm talking about, and I asked him, because this sort of thing interests me, 'how do you think cats see us? You know what I mean? I've read that they see us as big cats, cuz maybe they don't think beyond the species. . . but then, they recognize and fear dogs or want to kill them. They don't like other cats. . . why don't they acknowledge our speciel differences?' ( I may have made up that word - speciel. not special but 'of or pertaining to species' is what I mean).

Then again you know, if a cat grows up with a dog, they don't hate each other, they either like or tolerate one another, like married humans do.

Anyway, his response was, 'ehh, they're just dumb. they see you as a food machine, or a big pillow.'

Now that's a thoughtful response. I guess maybe we just don't like to think about the same things. Well, my cats are anything but dumb.

I'll tell you that one of them has figured out, that when the telephone rings in a funny way (when my doorman calls up it rings three short bursts), it means someone is coming to the door! And she loves to go out in the hallway, so she bolts for it.

I'm serious. I pick up the phone and say, 'send them up' and she goes for the door. I make no motion towards the door, or at least no discernible body language that says 'someone's coming' (that I know of) and she's on her way!

Usually what I do is quickly finish cleaning up what I've been cleaning, cuz I'm expecting someone. So either she's figured out the subtle hints of my body language - which they're quite good at, that's how they communicate with each other as well- or she recognized and has catalogued the special phone ring in her little brain. Either way, seem dumb to you?

This is the same cat who knows that when things turn off, you hit them in a certain place to make them go on again. . . like a space heater. Even my friend the naysayer was silenced by witnessing this one cold winter morning.

Another friend, a different one, pointed out to me that cats evolved meowing after they became acquainted with homo, that they don't use the meow with one another. . . and they don't! I'm looking up the research as we speak.

They seem to be able to tell time as well. They know when it's feeding time (same every day) and how to piss me off and where to sit on me to get me out of bed, when I apparently have forgotten how to tell time.

They're smart, not dumb. And some animals are smarter than humans even. Well, most of them because they don't watch TV - most of them don't. My friend from the first paragraph watches a lot of TV.