Some basic cat behaviors were covered in this video. Homer has a few comments in italics.
- Greeting you with tail up. You should stop whatever you are doing and acknowledge my presence.
- Rubbing objects with head. Everything is mine, including your plate, your library book and iPad, so I will mark them in case you have forgotten.
- Slow blink. I am mellow and relaxed right now. Don't dangle that toy mouse in front of me. Give it to the other one.
- Ears back. I have never actually had to put my ears back in this house. The other one did it a lot when we first got here, but she's a little strange. I am tempted when they try to brush my hindquarters but I swat instead.
- Belly exposed. Exposing my soft white underbelly does not mean you should brush it. Just gaze at its beauty.
- Lip licking. I'm just cleaning up after a meal. I don't have stress unless the meal is late.
- Purring. Whatever you're doing, it's acceptable.
- Looking up at you when you are at the table. Move a chair so I can get up there too.
- Opening the pantry cupboard. My kibble dish is bare, dammit.
- The gruff meow. It's dinner time.
- The sad meow. You've forgotten my breakfast I should have had it hours ago.
- The meow that sounds like a stomach growling. I'm too weak with hunger to meow properly.
9 comments:
Gwen would like us to know that she doesn't appreciate her family being missing for a week, regardless of how nice the lady was who came every day to give her medicine, food, and water. No purring and slow blink yet :-)
Cleopatra is most excellent in correcting the belly rub tendency with her nip and grab technique. (I grew up with a cat that adored belly rubs and Cleo has to remind me that such behavior is abnormal. Aside from being Siamese, JB -- a.k.a., Johann Sebastian Bach, a.k.a., Baby -- was a unique cat.)
Cleopatra is also skilled at herding: she will nudge and meow until you come to see what she is upset about... often this is to point out my need to get off the computer and go sit in her favorite chair so she can sleep in my lap, although she has been known to point out that there is a deposit in her litter box and she wishes it to be gone NOW (and not when there are others taking up space in said place).
Cassi, I got smart and had our dog-lady neighbor take care of Cleo last time we were gone for a week. Dog lady can be taught anything about cats and she believes it so we told her that Cleo might need her to sit in Favorite Chair and be pet for a while each day. It worked! For the first time in our 9 years together, Cleopatra gave us the purring and slow blink on our very first night home. Perhaps you can teach your nice lady this trick?
The noise emitting from cat that sounds like she is choking:
She's not choking, she's chirping at the birds as she watches them hungrily from inside the house. She is trying to attract them to come closer... closer, my pretty...
Side note: we had a cat that looked like the one the lady is holding in the video. My husband named the cat "Suc" (rhymes with "kook", pronounced like "soup" with a K). Suc was actually an acronym: SUC = Shut Up, Cat. Strangely enough, she was the quietest cat we ever had... er, that ever had us! She also liked to take walks with us in the evenings. Sometimes if we walked too far and she fell behind, we'd have to scoop her up into our arms, tuck her inside a jacket, and finish the walk that way.
FEED ME! Feed me NOW!
Homer sounds pretty specific--but most cats are, aren't they?
I loved that video! I didn't know that my kitty didn't want a belly rub, but she is so sweet that she lets me do it anyhow.
She gets her revenge by head butting and by drooling. She is turning into a middle-aged drooling cat.
Smalltownme, thank you for the sweet comment you left on my blog!
I have cats who like the belly rub. Lulu will roll side to side just to be sure you get the entire belly taken care of. I'm going to slow blink at my cats now...
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