What? Our cat doesn’t have a favorite move? How do we know?
Some movies offer opportunities to interact with our cat. Some movies are about cats, and prompt us to say nice things to our cat. Some movies offer built-in cat interest.
Best of all, this could be a movie we already know and love.
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Romance movies. If we’re already suffering from the pint of ice cream on the couch syndrome, go all out and watch one of our favorite happy/sad movies. Some of us recognize the cathartic potential in crying over other people’s problems.
Horror movies. The cat won’t like us screaming and levitating from the couch. However, if we want to clutch a good friend, the cat understands that. Just make sure it’s one we’ve seen before, so we don’t startle them.
Action movies. If we can’t watch this kind of movie without yelling advice about driving or handling explosives, we will be too rowdy for the cat to enjoy. However, if we quietly enjoy our favorite moments while repeating favorite lines, this can be a cue the cat will look forward to.
Cat, mouse, or bird movies. From Hitchcock to trashy drive-in classic, lots of fun movies have close-up prey action. Giant bug movies can excite the cat’s curiosity; they don’t get to see them this way very often.
Many of us have movies we like to watch again and again. If we find moments our cat enjoys too, this will be a just another reason to choose that particular movie. We can also use television shows.
Early on, my cats tended to ask for dinner during Jeopardy; and we can’t pause it. So I began singing along with the Jeopardy song during the final round, and springing up to feed the cats as soon as the answers were over.
And the cats learned the song.
Now, any interruptions during the show can be quelled with, “But they haven’t played the song yet!” And if we tune in early, we respond to cat questions with, “That’s the opening theme. It isn’t Final Jeopardy yet.”
Cats are all about integrating their routines with ours. This is an opportunity we shouldn’t miss.
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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.
“That’s the opening theme. It isn’t Final Jeopardy yet.”
I just lol-ed for real.
Two of mine aren’t much for movies (one, I suspect, because her vision is poor), but Sif loves them. She always enjoyed certain kinds of movies, but when we got our big plasma tv she discovered a whole new world of fun stuff. She loves really colorful movies and movies with lots of scenery and maybe horses. So far her favorites appear to be Prince Caspian (bonus prey animals behaving cutely, while I get to enjoy Ben Barnes) Phantom of the Opera (I can’t explain this, aside from it’s gaudy and there’s lots of motion) and Kingdom of Heaven (lovely colors, lots of outdoors footage, and horses). Lord of the Rings is nice, too. Stardust. Pretty movies. She doesn’t like big battle scenes, though, and Watchmen actually freaked her out horribly. She hissed at the TV and hid in my bedroom. She likes Justice League cartoons, too.
The colorful thing is interesting. I know they see color differently from us. Her enjoyment of color in movies only really started to show on the huge plasma screen. I suspect the larger areas of color are easier for her to see. Small areas wouldn’t register, but larger ones do. That she CAN see the color is not in dispute; she very obviously can, and appears to really like things that are yellowy-green. Odd.