The Way of Cats

I see that people are searching for these two, sad, keywords. So I’ll answer.

In a word, yes.

Cats mind being neglected.

more cat pictures

Too many people take low maintenance in the wrong spirit. There is no license to neglect the cat.

It’s not only their reputation cats have running against them. It’s a person’s own experience. Compared to dogs, as they often are, cats are less demanding of our attention on a continuing basis. Kittens play by themselves more easily and more often. A puppy needs to have us play too, and will not be happy unless they get a lot of interaction with us. Kittens welcome interaction with us. But they don’t always require it.

Dogs have to have their bodily needs met with access to the outside and intensive training to get them reliably trained. If we don’t have a fenced yard, we have to walk them. Cats take care of their own needs with a good litter box setup, without our immediate attentions.

Cats can regulate their food intake and have a bowl left out so they can help themselves. They do not need us to organize their play or wipe their feet or give them commands. They don’t need us… for that.

They do need us to be there.

Cats can adapt to most schedules, but they need a schedule. Knowing what is supposed to happen, and have that happen, makes a cat feel secure and relaxed.

But this is only the beginning. There are many reasons people get a cat for a pet. The cuteness of kittens, the pull of stepping in so a cat will have a home, the fact, as I hear so often, that their circumstances does not allow them to have a dog.

But a cat is not a toy, a burden, or a substitute. A cat is a living, thinking being. Eager for loving interaction with other living, thinking beings. That’s the impetus behind a pet; any pet. Wanting something we can take care of that will offer interesting companionship.

This is what cats are made for.

The problem is that people often don’t know just what cats are capable of. The myth is that cats are solitary creatures, expecting care as their due, asking for little, and giving less.

If that is what we want from a pet, we should just get the goldfish.

If we aren’t getting what we want from our present cat, we might be partly to blame. If what we want is affection and interaction, someone who misses us when we go and is glad to see us when we come back, a cat can do all that, and more.

We just have to ask for it. And give it in return.

If we aren’t getting what we want from one cat, we should get… more cats.

We are already opening cans and cleaning cat litter. Another cat adds only fractionally in maintenance time; it does not double it. More cats works well to make the cats happy. More cats offer opportunities to make us happy.

The only thing about cats most people don’t understand, to their mutual detriment, is that cats can be just as close, sweet, and caring as any other pet. But, unlike dogs, it doesn’t appear automatically.

It only comes from us realizing it’s possible. Then acting on that thought.

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There’s more ways to get our cat to be affectionate in The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See all of my CAT AFFECTION posts.

One hallmark of a functioning cat civilization is the appearance of one or more “spokescats.” The spokescat has the job of letting us know what the rest of the cats are thinking, and will carry back our message.

Like any elected official, the spokescat moves freely between two worlds. They are recognized for their communication abilities among the other cats, and we know them because they are always keeping tabs on their responsibilities through us.

more cat pictures

We never have to wonder who is the spokescat. They are the ones who remind us it’s dinnertime, or that the litter needs cleaning, or any other task that requires alerting the humans to what needs to be done.

One of the things that distinguishes the Spokescat is their hearty interest in the area in question. With many cats, there can be more than one, and they tend to specialize. There will be the cat who keeps track of the feeding stations, the cat who flags the field for a litter violation, and the cat who watches for visitors or our own arrival.

In our house, Mr. Bond is the Spokescat. (He knows there is no use in trying to get Puffy to do anything important.) If something is making a funny noise or there is something going on outside, Mr. Bond is the first to draw my attention to it.

How can we distinguish our own Spokescats? They will announce themselves. We don’t even have to know which cat is the right one to consult on a particular issue.

Showing great interest in, speaking aloud about, and making small changes to, the part of the house at question will attract the cat responsible.

As long as we are sincerely trying to figure out what they are trying to say, they will continue to say it. This is a training tool that gets sharper with practice, so any discussions with the cats where we try to explain their own issues is cumulative and will always improve matters.

The Spokescat not only gives us messages about what the cats are thinking. They can act as translators who let the other cats know what’s up. I may talk about “dinner” or “breakfast,” but the other cats won’t take it seriously until Mr. Bond announces that proceedings will begin.

With the help of a Spokescat, even matters complicated to convey become easier. If we are trying a new food, saying so when we unpack the groceries and when you feed it to them later will link the two incidents in the Spokescat’s mind and help them understand what we mean. This will help us down the road, when we tell them the grocery store is out of their favorite treats. The Spokescat will help explain that it’s not that we don’t love them.

Think of someone we know who hates surprises, and multiply it quite a bit for cat sensitivity. Cats prefer to keep in close touch with their routines, so if we anticipate and inform them, they will appreciate it.

Really.

So when we have to move furniture, change our schedule, or do anything else that will have a dislocating effect on our cat routine, we can involve the proper Spokescat into our process and streamline our communications.

The Spokescat is the cat’s union representative. We should treat them as an emissary from Catland with a diplomatic request. It’s another way of respecting their wishes and showing that we care.

And we do care, don’t we?

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There’s more about multiple cats in The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See more posts on the MULTIPLE CAT ADVANTAGE.

Mr. Bond worries about Dear Husband when he sleeps during the day, coming to me, asking if he’s all right, and seeking permission and encouragement to go into the bedroom and hang out with him. I’ve always been proud of my Supervisor for taking on this unasked role.

Yet the other day, when I come home with the flu and went immediately to bed, Mr. Bond was even more distressed. He kept poking at me, pawing me, and demanding I get up. I wound up in the recliner, with a blanket over me, and Mr. Bond watching over me, reassured that I wasn’t that sick.

Normally Mr. Bond is happy to join me in bed. But Dear Husband has been sleeping a lot during the day lately, and it seems that worrying about both of us is overloading Mr. Bond’s worry circuit. I’m slowly feeling better, and Mr. Bond has reverted to his normal behavior.

These actions illustrate just how much thought and effort cats put into their feelings when they have an environment that allows them to express it. To me, the evidence has always been simple, clear, and undeniable.

Cats care.

more cat pictures

They care about us. We might not always recognize the ways they express it. Cats don’t have the same abilities we do to show they care. They can’t make me a cup of tea or pull the blanket over me. They don’t have the physical ability to take actions. They would if they could.

In October of 2003, Dear Husband and I saw the news report about Roy, of the magic act Seigfried and Roy, who had been attacked, onstage, by his own tiger. My reaction was blunt, and immediate. “I don’t believe it went down that way. I’ve seen them with their cats. They live with them in their home like pets. The tiger was trying to protect him, somehow. I bet he had Roy by the neck, trying to drag him away from danger, like a kitten. They misinterpreted it.”

As the story unfolded, that was the way it turned out. Roy had a stroke onstage. The tiger, previously distressed by some rowdy audience members, must have concluded that the audience was somehow responsible for Roy’s collapse. So he grabbed him, like a kitten, to take him away from the danger.

Roy knew it, too. His last words before losing consciousness was, “Don’t blame the tiger.”

But the rest of the world didn’t get it. All the news reports, even after Roy recovered and explained, couldn’t get away from the “unpredictable and vicious” attack. Which didn’t happen. This is how pervasive myths can be, and how difficult to eradicate.

So when we are feeling down and the cat seems to be “bothering us,” they aren’t doing it to be annoying or asking for attention. They are trying, the only way they know, to share our distress and soothe our feelings.

It’s a myth that cats are indifferent and uncaring. It’s probably the most pervasive myth many people have about cats.

People who have felt that cat-human bond know just how untrue this myth is.

Got here from a Link or Search?
There’s more ways to get our cat to be affectionate in The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See all of my CAT AFFECTION posts.

When people speak of loyalty in a pet, they often hold up the dog as the epitome of loyalty, and disparage cats as lacking those qualities. Loyalty implies a devotion to their people, and a willingness to overlook hurt feelings, that can smooth a relationship and allow love to flow freely between the parties involved.

more cat pictures

Well, cats can do that.

If we are loyal, too.

The loyalty of dogs is both immense and impervious to how the dog is treated. This is the nature of the dog. Whether this is viewed as a bug or a feature depends on the person.

Because it’s true; cats don’t do that. How a cat treats us is directly dependent on how we treat the cat. Which is also either a bug; or a feature.

Cats are reciprocal.

Cats do not have any innate behaviors that drive them to form relationships. If offered love, they will respond. If ignored, or worse, mistreated, they will avoid contact.

Getting loyalty from a cat requires giving it first.

We keep the routines running, we show an interest in them, we give affection. The cat will come to prefer spending time with us. They will seek us out to give us attention. They will hang out nearby because they want to look at us.

They can follow us from room to room, if we spend enough time there for them to feel comfortable settling in. If we give the cat a chance to spend time with us when we will be still, this encourages them to be nearby, and even sleep on some part of us.

If we are going to be sitting down for a while, we should call in the cat and show them attention every so often. This will trigger their curiosity, as well as bestow affection on the cat.

They will look forward to their time with us and miss us when we are away. When they get a chance, they will make a big fuss over us.

Is that loyalty? I think so.

Got here from a Link or Search?
There’s more ways to understand our cat with The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See all of my posts on WHY CATS DO THAT.