Even if that is all they do.
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If we have cat buddies in the house, we are familiar with the way cats enjoy sleeping with, or on, each other. But they don’t have to be asleep to enjoy low key closeness.
Since cats communicate with each other using body language, they can be exchanging the subtlest of signals. When they pass in the hallway, one can lean a bit to nudge the other’s shoulder. When they come in a room, look around, and leave, they might have taken the time to have an exchange of glances and a swift squinting of the eyes.
Older cats especially enjoy the little things, and savvy cats of any age will make friendship overtures accordingly. RJ enjoyed playing by himself when the other cats didn’t feel like thundering down the hallway, but he could also hang out near them, doing nothing. Olwyn won Mr. Bond over by rolling around on the bed and winding up with her head on his tail, accidentally.
When a cat shares their territory, and shares all the patrolling and observing duties that come with it, this expresses the highest compliment one mature cat can pay to another. They are seeing the world the same way. We might not know just how much information is being exchanged, evaluated, and enjoyed, but I’ve concluded it is considerable, since plotting is also part of it.
It’s easy to see when kittens enjoy playing with each other; it’s usually hard to miss. But older cats will have looking out the window time, peeking around the couch time, and waiting by the door time, all without too many clues to just how close that friendship is.
Except, you know, they’re close.
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Some 25 years ago, or longer, I had two cats who seemed to only tolerate each other. Just barely. There was lots of hissing, territorial confrontations, etc. The neighbors next door had two or three of those yappy little hyper active little dogs. My cats were outside and one of the dogs got out of its yard. I watched as the dog prowled around my yard, sniffing bushes and being nosy. He encountered the first cat, and gave chase. The cat being chased made a beeline across the yard where the other cat was hiding. At the perfect moment the second cat charged from the bushes, scaring the beejesus out of the dog, who turned around and ran for home, with both cats close behind. I had to smile. The two cats had obviously worked out who would do what, and when, and had the whole thing timed perfectly. The next morning it was back to challenging each other with ribbed spines, laid back ears and hostile hissing. I figured from then on that all of the drama was just show. If they wanted to relate that way, well who was I to get involved?
.-= Woodstock´s last blog ..First Homestand =-.
I do worry about Annie and Charlotte not getting along because Annie is a major drama queen who starts shrieking at the top of her lungs when they’re wrestling around and she gets pinned. (She HATES being pinned and freaks out every time.)
And then they sit next to each other at the window to watch the birds, or Charlotte will come over and lick Annie’s head while I’m petting Annie.
They are very confusing animals.
That’s hilarious… and I mean both Woodstock and Mnemosyne’s accounts of over-dramatization.
This is also in the skill set, and I’m working on an article about it.
We’ve seen this with our own kitten, with Olwyn squealing when RJ sits on her… because she knows Mr. Bond will come over and smack RJ on the head for it.
But she doesn’t do it that often anymore. She’s gotten bigger. And we’ve gotten wise to it.
Our new kitty Esme is in an extended time of getting acquainted with the rest of the tribe. Esme’s weeks outside without her people had made her the target of some pretty rough ferals, we knew it would take some time to fit her in. So far, it’s been lots of hissing – from her, mostly, as we let her spend more and more time beyond her “safety zone” with the other, much bigger cats.
Today, for the first time, she did what I call “nose-kissing” with TB, our sleek young male beast. They did the squinchy eye thing, too, and then each turned and walked in the opposite direction. (I want to put about a dozen exclamation points after writing that, I was SO pleased!)
5 minutes later, however, Esme saw TB again and growled and hissed this time, but no moaning or yowling, just sitting down quietly after a quick hiss. TB turned away and disappeared under the bed. Still, I count this as real progress.