I just walked through the bedroom, say the cat on the bed and said, “Hullo, Baby Cat!”.
It suddenly occured to me, “What is she thinking?”
This is the moron I depend upon to open those little cans. I must do something about this…
It’s not too difficult to put some words into Boo’s expression here.
You know, I don’t really care what they think of me, as long as they know they need to keep on letting me believe it’s my house. I believe that this mindset is why I get along so well with cats, because I’m pretty sure they don’t give a damn what I think of them either.
Cats. Gotta love 'em.
My two year old saw the picture and started laughing. That’s somewere between scary and hilarious. Does he assume that expression very often?
Unless we’re scratching them behind the ear or opening them a can of food, I doubt they think of us very much at all.
I’m sure they think I’m just the big clumsy dummy. I serve a purpose though, as the Bringer Of Food and the Opener Of Doors. Also, when the weather is bad, they probably blame me, like in “Door Into Summer”.
Mine think I am a being of superior intelligence, great charm, devastating wit and dazzling beauty, and I shall believe this until they tell me otherwise.
Y’know, cats have a good act going. They make us believe that all they care about is that we feed them, open the door for them, etc. But I don’t buy it. Whenever I’m sad or upset, my cat Zen can usually sense it, and she usually comes to sit on my lap. Any other time, though, she acts like she’s the empress and I am a lowly peon put on earth to serve her.
I myself have often wondered how complex cats’ thought processes are, and what they think about. Can Zen remember her dear departed companion cat Pixie? (They were inseparable.) Does she ever think about her or miss her? I couldn’t tell you. But I do think that cats care for us, even if they can’t “love” as humans understand the term.
As for thoughts, my best guess is that they are fairly rudimentary. “Feed me!” is plain as can be, “Pet me!” is pretty obvious too, and “Feel better. Now.” is how I’d put it when Zen is trying to comfort me. Also “Don’t go, I’m cuuuuuuute” when she flops on the floor and shows me her tummy when I’m trying to head out the door to work.
Fatcat, my smart one, is very dog like. If you talk to him he gets this expression of someone who is straining to understand. He’ll stare at you face and watch your mouth to try to see if there are any words he recognizes. He has a pretty good comprehensive vocabulary (“No! Get out! Dinner, cheese, chip, beans, do you want… , jog, let’s go,” and assorted commands for the tricks he does).
I think he thinks of us as the biped buddies, who always have the potential to give him a cat cookie.
I always enjoyed my cat’s facial expression when I was the only person in the house and I was talking on the phone. “Is she speaking to ME? Should I answer her?” It was a mixture of confused and mildly annoyed, very adorable.
The strongest message I ever got from a cat occurred one time when I returned home from a 3 day weekend. Having left plenty of water and food, I felt certain that Bob would be OK. He was OK, but he was pissed. No hugs or kisses, no petting - he went straight to the litter box and pooped right in front of it. “See, you may be a larger animal but I control this house!”
Johnny Cash must have been using telekinesis and time-travel to view that photo when he wrote Mean-Eyed Cat.
"I am going to eat your liver. S l o w l y . "
My cat thinks I’m her pet monkey.
Hal, that picture is great. Could I borrow that for a possible icon?
Whatever my cats are really thinking, I’m hoping it isn’t speculation on how I taste.
Our cat Winston would come and get up in our laps when we were upset. He would mew softly all the while, especially if the human in question was crying. He would stay right there until he thought you were feeling better (at least that’s what it looked like) and then leave you in peace.
At night he would try to eat your toes.
*I like when you feed me and scratch me, but I’ve had it with the random moving me around when I’ve just gotten comfortable. And the kid has to go!
I need more Vaseline now*