How do they KNOW?

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Singh - 15 Jul 2006 22:56 GMT

Yesterday when I was told to Resign Or Else, I posted a message which
remarked on the cats' behavior early in the morning: how Stosh was
extremely agitated, and the normally unflappable Brandy got so freaked
out she jumped and left her neatly clawed autograph on Louie's arse.
Quite unusual, really. If Stosh gets irritated in the morning it's with
squirrels and randy males who come about the property, and then he only
gets into the window and mutters cuss words at them. And Brandy is as
friendly and easygoing as it gets.

When I left that upholstered toilet which is my former workplace, I went
pounding the pavement and put in a few applications, then indulged my
love of all things yarn at Michael's; I found a cuter than hell pattern
for a little handbag and will work on that when I'm not doing a thing
for Jeff Mullen who asked for the world's largest poncho. (I know you're
reading this Jeff, be patient; the thing's freaking HUGE!) I have time,
now...

When I got home, the cats were calm, headbutting and purring, attentive
and polite with one another. The last is quite amazing because the
Juvies like to sneak up on Roxie and tempt her to kick their butts.
She's very good at it and I'm surprised they haven't learned better yet.
And when I went to bed I got a good, thorough masssage from Stosh, and
another after I woke up briefly in the wee hours. In fact, he came
running from another room to tend to Mama after I asked Louie the time.

Today they're the calmest I've seen them in weeks.

I don't know how they know. They just KNOW.

Blessed be,
Baha

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Takayuki - 17 Jul 2006 01:56 GMT

>Today they're the calmest I've seen them in weeks.
>
>I don't know how they know. They just KNOW.

You have very bright cats! My Betty on the other hand, was either
naive, or found me completely opaque. Whether I was in a good mood or
bad, she was always the same. She would gaze at me the same, curtsey
at me the same, climb on top of me the same, press her paw against my
chest the same, from the day I brought her home to the day she died.
She was a constant. No adaptation whatsoever. :)

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Singh - 18 Jul 2006 17:23 GMT

A curtseying cat! How charming that must have been. Betty must have been a
little lady like my Roxie, except Madame doesn't curtsey. She expects us
to curtsey to her, but then she is very much like a little schoolmarm in
many ways.

I'm willing to bet, though, that Betty had what we would call "people
smarts." Pushing a paw against the chest is a sweet constant that she
probably knew deep in her gut that you needed. Jeff Mullen had a cat named
Tigger who did something like this, and Jeff used to call it Tigger
petting you back; the cat figured that the two-legs show affection by
using their paws to touch and stroke you, so maybe they wanted the cats to
do it too. I think Betty must have had a certain something in her that
knew what a person needed and went with it. You had a smart girl of your
own.

Blessed be,
Baha

> >Today they're the calmest I've seen them in weeks.
> >
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> chest the same, from the day I brought her home to the day she died.
> She was a constant. No adaptation whatsoever. :)

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Takayuki - 19 Jul 2006 04:32 GMT

>A curtseying cat! How charming that must have been. Betty must have been a
>little lady like my Roxie, except Madame doesn't curtsey. She expects us
>to curtsey to her, but then she is very much like a little schoolmarm in
>many ways.

Most of my cat experience has been with Betty, but I think I've seen
other cats do this before.

The most elegant version she used to do was used to greet me when I
was sitting down. She would stand up and put one paw on my knee, then
stretch and bow her head. Sort of like the position when they use a
scratching post, except with claws in, and one-pawed. The gesture
looked like someone taking someone's hand and bowing to one knee.

She was already 3 1/2 when I got her, so she might have been raised as
a courtier or something. ;)

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