When folks talk about their cats, I think about mine - all of them. Even about the cat who used to put his tail into my crib to keep me occupied... Shadow did that for all of his kittens, all 96 of them....
Pets are wonderful windows into our own experience. Not just the cute antics and 'singing' mama's name or "I wuv voo..", but, because they are built with the same basic biological parts and plan. Cats, and since I have more years living with them then dogs, will be my example of how something like our precious human mind can be examined simply by observing our feline friends. They have brains, therefore they think, and if they think, they have logic.
I didn't know that red cats were mostly male... I have had only male red cats and wondered about that. All of my red tiger cats were great pals. My big red long haired tiger tabby, Topaz, was twenty pounds of love. ...When he would walk into the room people stood up!
This is Fred, Red Fred. He lives with me because, a lady who was getting her Ph.D. in biology, and who was baby sitting my kids, were moving away and they could not keep 'Tigger'. They said he was female - I had to point out how to tell the difference.... (she was studying microbiology... Yes, yes... I thought she should have known, too). You know, all the cats I have known ALL KNOW what sex a human they meet is...
At the time I was about to adopt Fred, I had another cat which my son named, Playful-Velvet-Paws (he got that from a children's book). I shortened his name to PVP... 'cause, if you have to call the cat inside, the short name is much better.... you know, the neighbors (the other cat, Boogars,(that was her polite name) I only called into the house with hissing). .....
Anyway, PVP loved any cat that was red. It didn't matter who or what, if the cat had red somewhere on its body, PVP loved it! And he especially was enamored by tabbies. PVP was so anxious to talk to and lick this new red cat .... and Fred, who was upside down in my arms - PVP was looking up from my feet. Well, I agreed, and Fred was amenable to being loved by PVP.
PVP had preferences as to which kind of cat he was going to adopt (he had several before Fred who lived and visited from the neighbors) but he absolutely knew WHICH kind of cat would be mild mannered enough to handle a nudge and motherly type like himself.
Fred also has many friends, human and non human. Here is Fred sleeping in the late afternoon sun with his buddy, Miss Chicken. She too, loves to sleep in the late afternoon. Fred has never teased or stalked Chicken. And Chicken knows that Fred is a good companion but does not understand why Fred won't sleep standing on one foot next to her. This is an example of 'chicken logic'... different and a topic for another day....
PVP died five years ago and I have had Fred, now, for 15 years. He is getting skinny. He eats, but .... These little friends are so important and it is hard to let them go. Here are some pics of my mother wither her cat that died last year.... Torchy, my mom's cat, knew his time had come, and wanted my mom to be with him in his favorite place, the back yard. He would teeter towards the door and my mom would follow him until he would have to lie down. My mom knew where to take Torchy that would make him happy. After years of living with these 'people' you finally learn their unspoken language.
Fred is not only sweet but he is smart in a cat-smart way. He tries to logic stuff out that seem to baffle him. For instance, I was having my bathroom fixed and the old tub was removed leaving a hole to the dirt basement. My cats love the dirt basement. Probably, they love to "poo" in it - pity the workmen. Fact is, Fred loves to scare work men who leave open holes where he can hide until their return. I think it's scaring the guys into screaming. Plumbers, that I have known, have high pitched screams, by the way.
Fred isn't into 'mean' things, though he does love a little excitement now and then. And that hole in the floor? Well, the day had come that the hole had to be filled in with the new tub. And the wall to the plumbing had to be closed up. Fred used to get all excited when Walter, the builder, would come because Fred could go down the hole into the dirt floor below. Fred ran to the bathroom, ready to jump down the hole and.... THE HOLE WAS GONE!!!! THE HOLE IN THE WALL WAS GONE!!!! Fred searched the floor for signs of 'hole' .... and then, he noticed that the window was open... AH HA!!! He jumped up on the sill searching, scanning the horizon for the errant hole .... THIS IS WHERE THE HOLE WENT!!! OUT SIDE!!!! But - wait - I can't see the hole!!!! "MEOW!!"
This is a perfect example of cat logic. It is flawed but, as I think about it, so is ours. From where we stand we think we are pretty damn smart but, you know, if cats think holes can be moved like in cartoons, then sure enough, we can think that some folks can be leaders... and believe that folks in the electronic box tell us the truth... and ... well, you know the rest...
Keep loving those critters.