We cats have active imaginations. My girl is one human who still has an active imagination as an adult. I think that might be one reason she gets so silly. We do have an active imagination in common. I think that’s why she understands what I’m doing when I’m stalking my food bowl. She knows I’m pretending to hunt and sneak upon my prey. She finds it amusing.
When she plays with Spot, they both are using their active imaginations. She will tease him with a teddy bear. He pretends the teddy bear is someone to play with. They can do that for longer periods of time than I ever could. Yet, we all have active imaginations. Spot also has a tendency to play with the Y2K bug. He grew up with stuffed animals. The fake kind. He plays with them. My girl never minded. They were hers after all…
That particular Y2K bug lost all six of its legs to Spot. He’d wrestle with it and pretend to kill it. Then he would carry it in his mouth and puff out his chest. He’d announce to all of us about his latest kill.
We cats certainly know how to have a good time without much of anything. All thanks to our active imaginations. How else could we have survived for centuries without you humans to entertain us? I can assure you we weren’t bored as long as we had our active imaginations to entertain us whenever we needed it.
Spot and I had to travel in some planes to get to another part of the country with my girl. We were separated from my girl during the journey and then reunited in the new place. We were placed into carriers. I hate being trapped in a box and I wasn’t the only one. Spot hated it as much as I did. We were separated from my girl and stuffed into cargo with luggage and a dog… I do not like dogs. Even when they are nice and fans of cats. Fortunately, the dog was in a carrier as we were. No way that one was going to come near either one of us.
We were frisked before we were separated from my girl. She was tense and I could sense her guilt towards Spot and me. Oh, I do wish I knew what was wrong with her. I didn’t understand at the time. I’m not sure I understand now. I look back now and realize she did what she had to. She did keep us together. She kept her promise to us.
I know she will continue to keep her promises to my kind until she is no longer able to. I know she will do her best. Her best was good enough for me. I hope it will be good enough for any other cats she will have to look after in her life after I’ve gone over the rainbow bridge.
Oh, humans why do you put cats in cargo? We’re people. Yet, you want to treat us as if we are objects to be owned by you. You don’t own us. You can never own us. We choose to live with you. You only think you choose us. We allow you to believe that little lie so you will continue to care for us for the rest of our lives.
Well, it was horrible to be in the cargo of a plane. It’s cold. We were trapped inside of cages. There was turbulence. The planes weren’t that still in the air. It was a bumpy ride! It’s painful on our ears. You think your ears pop when you’re on a plane? You think it’s uncomfortable? Imagine what it feels like to be us. I couldn’t stop screaming during the flights.
I couldn’t have one sensible thought while trapped like that. Spot was near me, but it wasn’t enough. He was busy shouting the whole trip.
Spot yelled and cursed my girl. She did deserve it. Of course it was her fault. She put these things in motion and then we landed in the cargo hold of a couple of planes. That plane trip was terrible. I don’t recommend flying on a plane as a cat. My girl didn’t like it either. She was so worried about us that her anxiety was too high. Served her right. She wasn’t even on the same planes as we were. Yet, she could hear the two of us.
Then Spot and I were put in a garage. We weren’t allowed into the house until after we had our foreclaws removed. I at least did the sensible thing and found a safe place to hide while I waited and became used to my new home. Spot— I don’t know why he’s so curious— he went and explored our new home. While he was exploring, he stepped on something he shouldn’t have.
But I suppose it was going to happen. He tended to walk around everywhere without a care in the world. The blind guy and my girl’s mother must not have known he is like this. They had left a remote garage door opener lying around in the garage. Then Spot stepped on it and opened the big door with a very loud noise.
It scared him so much, he ran to my hiding place and jumped on top of me. *Shakes head.* Honestly, I don’t know why he did things like that. It was his fault he stepped on the remote. Well, my girl’s mother came out and figured out what had happened and checked on both of us. Until she found us, she had thought Spot had run away.
I’m glad he didn’t. As much as he drives me crazy, I love him and I never want to lose him as I had my mother and my brothers.
It some time later when my girl arrived. She came in and checked on us. I’m just glad that in spite of that terrible trip, she still loved us and wanted to take care of us. I didn’t want to lose her too. Even though she couldn’t tell me what was wrong, she still stood by us.
If she hadn’t, I don’t know what I would have done without her. That whirlwind had become such a big part of my life, that I couldn’t imagine what life would be like without her. I know I wouldn’t have felt safe enough to complain whenever things were wrong.
Who would be there to listen to me and do her best to fix everything for me? In spite of her fumbling and her silliness, she was the one constant that I love to keep in my life.
This month’s cat vocabulary is a term from Twitter known as furever home which means the home that cat gets for the rest of their life after living in a shelter.
Some cats don’t even make it to a shelter. Sometimes they find themselves homeless and not liking living on the streets. So, they wander around the neighborhood looking for their furever home. Some tend to find one by recognizing the signs of crazy cat people. Not that the humans always know it. Sometimes they find a way inside the house and settle in and wait for the human to show.
Much like the ones who are in shelters waiting for someone to come and adopt them. It’s hard to say how long they wait. It seems easier when they are kittens. When they become seniors, their odds of getting adopted decrease significantly. But seniors cats need homes too. They probably need something quiet and relaxing as their lives wind down. It just all depends upon the cat.
So, if you want or need a cat, please go to your local shelter first. Chances are good that you will find at least one good companion who needs love as much as you do.
We cats like to dream about all sorts of things. We have active imaginations and we sleep enough to have an active dream life. Some humans have proven it with our permission of course.
What do we dream about? You, us, mice, dogs. Really anything. My dreams are fairly mundane unless the fairies show up. For me they are tiny humanoids with wings made up of pure white light. They are quite beautiful. And playful. And silly. And magical. They sprinkle their dust on me and… it’s too embarrassing to discuss any further than that.
I dream of it all. I dream of my lost family and I dream of my current family. My dreams are usually pleasant. Sometimes I have nightmares. Fortunately, they don’t last long. Then I’m back to my pleasant dream life. Can you say the same about yours?
Cats always know whether people like or dislike them. They do not always care enough to do anything about it. —Winifred Carriere
Cats are highly intelligent. Yet, they are rather apathetic at the same time. They are sensitive and do know who’s a crazy cat person and who isn’t. They know when they are instantly liked and loved and when they are not. They also know when your opinion of them changes. But that doesn’t mean they care about what you think about them.
If a cat does something, we call it instinct; if we do the same thing, for the same reason, we call it intelligence. —Will Cuppy
Cats are animals and so are humans. I know there are plenty who would insist humans aren’t animals, but they are the ones who are blind. They are denying our biology. We haven’t even proved we are better than any animal on this planet. Just because we can’t understand why non-human animals behave or think doesn’t make them less intelligent than ourselves. It just means we don’t know everything.
I’m not sure what happened after we had camped out. I saw my girl moving our stuff out of the place we were in for one night. Spot and I hid from her. Just out of her reach. But it was no use. After she had taken everything out, she came back for us. By then it was dark. She stuffed me into another carrier. She put Spot into a backpack that she put on her back. She set my carrier down in a basket. The back basket of her tricycle. She took us to our new home.
I had a lot to say about this move. It was the first time I had ridden on a tricycle. It wasn’t as bad as a car. My girl could ride it well. I knew it was her vehicle of choice. I couldn’t understand why Spot was so quiet. Perhaps because he was on her back? He could see better than I could. He had nothing to say about this ride we were forced to take.
It was a short ride. She locked up her tricycle and then picked up my cage. She carried us into the new place. I was still complaining. Now Spot was joining in too. We met no one along the way to our new place. Well, as soon as we were inside, my girl let us out.
Spot went exploring. I wasted no time finding a place to hide. Our stuff was everywhere. It was a big mess. I couldn’t find anything. I didn’t want to do anything. I just wanted to hide. It was a strange place. It was much too scary. My girl was busying organizing things and making too much noise.
As a cat, I don’t need to own a lot of things. It’s just the way it is. Sometimes we get some good extras like furniture made for us. But typically we just need food and water bowls, a litter box, a place to sleep, and something to claw up. We can use the furniture typically thought of as just for humans. It’s our home too. We like to share everything. Have you noticed? I know my girl did. She is quite smart about us cats.
But you just wouldn’t believe how much stuff my girl used to own. It was unreal whenever we had to move. It was too much. She doesn’t have that much anymore. She is traveling as light as she’s been able to. Some people have told her she still has too much. She’s shocked by that. She has reduced what she’s owned over the years and feels freer and lighter than when we were moving around too much as far as I’m concerned.
Even she could agree on that. So, it was good for all of us that we had another apartment for just the three of us again. It had a sleeping alcove. My girl loved it. She had a job that caused her to be on a different sleep schedule and she appreciated having that alcove. She put up a curtain and it was cozy and dark. There were lots of pillows to protect her when she tossed and turned as she slept.
She even went swimming in a pool at night. I could smell the chlorine on her when she came back. It wasn’t a pleasant smell. Then she would do some writing and work on her magazine that she had at the time. It was quite a life for a time.
But that place was so dark when she turned out the lights that she couldn’t see me at all. In fact, she couldn’t see much of anything. I could tell her I was right there. She never stepped on me when I told her how close she was to me. Bless her for that.
Then I don’t know what was going on. I made a vocal sound that disturbed her. I was loud about it too. She complained that I was sounding just like a full fledged tom cat. She reminded me I wasn’t one anyone and hadn’t been for quite a long time.
I didn’t listen. I kept making the noise, but then I would jump up on the bed and rub up against her. I so love my girl. For once I was the one who was driving her crazy. I suppose we were outside for too long. Spot never did this. It could be that he was fixed at a younger age than I was. He never sprayed either. I of course knew how to spray. I did it on purpose to get my girl’s attention whenever I got mad at her. It annoyed her so much… And the ways in which she reacted tended to get ridiculous that I still knew she hated what I was doing, but still loved me unconditionally at the same time.
But he was the one who sometimes would venture out with her. We were inside a building, so it wasn’t a big deal. But he usually freaked out when he heard someone else. I don’t know why he wanted to explore the place beyond our apartment. But that was Spot. I was quite content to stay inside our little place to ponder my life as it was in our safe little space.
My meditation was good there. It was a nice place. Don’t ask me why we left there. My girl never said. I was beginning to think something was wrong. Something she found difficult to talk about and difficult to deal with. But our lives were about to change radically again.
But at least we were able to stay together. Otherwise I don’t know how I would have gotten through it. The whirlwind was having some serious trouble. I just never knew how bad it was for her. But I do know she did everything she could to keep us all together.
With her serious problem, I don’t know how she was able to keep her promise to Spot and me, but she did. As far as I’m concerned, she did what she should have for us. She did it without complaint to us. But it made her cry too much. I knew she was sick to some extent. In spite of that sickness, she could take care of us and herself. As a cat, I do have a unique perspective on my girl.
I doubt my views of her matched what some other humans were saying about her. Those humans weren’t very nice to my girl or to my kind in general. Unfortunately, they were the ones who dictated certain things to my girl and she had to comply. At least for a time. But never forever.
Sir Socks Le Chat 