Actually, Your Cat Thinks You Are a Giant Cat

[SheilaT]

36. I recently read that book and it's quite fascinating.

I think the single thing I found most interesting was this: cats bond primarily with their space, where they live. Dogs, with their humans. Which is why most dogs travel quite well. Just throw them in the car, drive 10 hours, and as long as the human is still there when they arrive all is fine. For the cats, same trip and the presence of the beloved human doesn't matter, because all the surroundings and smells are now different.

I've long known that dogs travel well and cats don't, but finding out why was very helpful.

A couple of cat comments. One cat in old age lost her ability to purr for the last year or so of her life. It was bizarre, because she'd still sit on my lap at every opportunity, but no longer purred. It made her less loveable, since cats and purring are so intertwined.

The other is that two of the four cats I've had, at the ends of their lives, spent every possible moment on my lap. They'd always been good lap sitters, but with them, in the last year or so, I could not sit down for two minutes but they'd be on my lap. Sweet, if slightly annoying. The other two were never lap cats to begin with, so there was no change there.

One of the cats brought live prey (mouse, rabbit) into the house, clearly expecting me to complete the kill. I greatly disappointed her by capturing the animal and setting it loose. I expect the resident cat to do the killing, not me.

Right now I have no resident cats, but some day, some day I will be a crazy cat lady and have hordes of them.