Poor Captain and Stanley can't bear to hear harsh voices. They don't
react when I'm watching a hockey game and hollering at the TV, but if
they hear human voices hollering at each other, that's a different
story.

DH and I were watching the movie "Rocky" on television last night.
There's a scene where Paulie and his sister, Adrian, get into a huge
argument. When the hollering started, Captain and Stanley went
upstairs. After the scene ended, they came halfway down the steps and
peered through the railing, to see if the Angry Voices had gone away
yet.

Apparently, the Stripe Committee can't bear the sound of angry
kitties, either. On Sunday mornings, Animal Planet in the US shows a
program called "Barking Mad", a UK-based show that helps people whose
pets have problem behavior. One of the pets this morning was a Persian
cat named Oliver who H-A-T-E-S being groomed. When the grooming brush
appears, he starts swearing profusely in Feline.
"GrrrrrrrrrRRWOWWWWRRR...grrrrrrrrRRRRREOW! FFFFFFT! Grrrrrr..." and
so on. At the sound of the snarling cat, Captain and Stanley fled
upstairs as if their tails were on fire. Again, when the scene shifted
to the next pet, two big-eyed cat faces poked through the railing, to
make sure it was safe to come back downstairs.

This time, I was prepared. When the scene shifted back to a progress
report on Oliver, the second I heard the growling start, I hit the
"mute" button on the remote control and watched the closed captions.
(Oliver is OK with being "groomed" by a soft baby brush, but he's
still not acclimated to being groomed with a real brush; hence, the
growling.)

The TV program is over and Captain and Stanley are suitably recovered
now, judging by the game of Stalk My Brother they're engaged in. But
boy, they sure are sensitive to the least bit of hostility in a voice,
be it human or feline!

Donna and the Pacifist Kitties, Captain and Stanley