Text From Cat: How rude!

#TextFromCat I can't believe it! So rude! Me: What's the matter Calvin? Cat: I was here first. And Athena keeps looking at me. Me: So ignore her. Cat: But she's staring at me! That's like yelling in Cat!

I grew up with dogs. We also had, during the course of my childhood, a rabbit, a guinea pig, three mice, and assorted goldfish. As an adult, I added gerbil and ferret to the list of animals I lived with. But it wasn’t until about eight years ago with the arrival of Dawn and Athena that I had the opportunity to share my home and life with cats.

One of the first things I learned was that, while I was relatively fluent in Dog (I’ve learned a lot more over the years), I was completely ignorant in Cat. Early on, though I began to understand the power of the sideways glance, the slow blink, the half-closed eyes—all of which mean, essentially, “I like you and I respect your boundaries.” Looking at a cat directly, on the other paw, is Very Rude if not downright threatening.

Staring can be seen as rude in Dog, too, and I wouldn’t recommend looking intently at a dog without blinking, as it is seen as an act of aggression, but cats seem particularly sensitive to a look or a glance.

If you take the time to closely focus on two or more cats interacting (and if you are a student of cat behavior), you’ll see that an entire conversation can take place with a twitch of an ear, a tail flick and a narrowing of the eyes. Often an entire silent argument is taking place:

“You’re in my spot!”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are. Now move!”

“Nope. Make me.”

“If you don’t move, I’ll swat you.”

“On second thought, I just remembered I’m late for chipmunk watching duty.”

Do your pets talk to each other? What do you think they say?

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8 Comments on "Text From Cat: How rude!"

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  1. Ruby says:

    OMD, Ma was just sayin’ the other day that she wouldn’t knows what to do with a cat! BOL! I thinks she would figure it out, butts mostly, with us doggies, all you have to do is keep things up high to keeps them outta reach….Ma would have to actually put thingies away! In the cupboards and closets! Oh, the horrors! then I couldn’t tells what treaties were on the table!
    Kisses,
    Ruby ♥

  2. da tabbies o trout towne says:

    care full dood…..yur sisturr haz ya kornered…..that mite knot bee
    a good thing…..ya noe ~~~~~ lezz ya haza pocket saw N ya can sneek out de bak !!! ☺☺♥♥

  3. The photograph just makes this post perfect – especially for us visual learners 😉

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