We have two cats. What do they think? Sleep. Eat. Anything that comes into their space that might be interpreted otherwise is generally ignored.
I’m not sure who said it first, but my husband quotes that person daily: “If there’s anything to reincarnation, when I come back, I want to come back as a house cat.”
Love, Phil
[QUOTE=Capcha]
Your post reminded me of a Dean Koontz book. All about Golden Retrievers bringing back the joy of the ‘maker’. I can’t recall the title though…
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That would be “One door from Heaven”, which is a great little read, and a must-read for every dog-lover.
My boy thinks, “I am so happy to be here, I am so grateful, I must be good so they’ll keep me so I won’t have to go back to the shelter.”
My girl thinks, “I can haz lap?”
I dunno…one of our cats was abandandoned and I took him in. he was hard to live with for a long time because he wanted out. He kind of got used to living indoors but was still a bit rambunctious. Then he got out last year and was missing for 2 weeks. I looked for him everyday but I thought we’d seen the last of him. But I found him scratching at the door late one night wanting back in. Since then he’s been a lot more affectionate towards me than he used to be like he’s trying to say "Look, you were right…it sucks out there and I’m better off here where you feed me, take me to the vet and let me generally have run of the house. Sorry I bugged out on ya."
Of course, he still has a bad habit…if the litterboxes aren’t up to his higher than the other 2 cats standards he takes a dump on the floor. Not in the litterbox room either, in my special room where all of my uniforms and dvds are. I think its because he knows I’m going to see it there…he doesn’t even try to hide it. I get mad, I warn him, and I know he understands me. He’ll run into the room and jump on the shelf just to see my expression when I find his giant cat turd. Its like he’s saying **“Look, I don’t give a rats ass about the other 2, but that litterbox is not worthy of my royal personage. Go clean it, chop chop, man-slave!”. **
My Boss has two little Yorkies that she leaves in her office when she goes out on appointments. I always know when she is coming back because the dogs go crazy. They start barking, obviously thinking “Mommy’s coming. Mommy’s coming.” One runs in circles, the other bounces like he is on a trampoline.
I don’t know how they know, but they are never wrong. All I can surmise is that they can hear her car coming from five blocks away.
I also believe that my dog has a really foul mouth. She doesn’t bark much but when she does, I imagine she’s saying stuff like “GODDAMMIT YOU MOTHERFUCKING UPS TRUCK, GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY HOUSE! IF I EVER CATCH YOU I’M GOING TO TEAR YOU APART PIECE BY PIECE. I TOLD YOU TO GO AWAY NOW GO, GODDAMMIT. LEAVE! LEAVE! LEAVE! LEAVE! LEAVE!” …etc.
I mean, she’s the sweetest little girl but sometimes her agitated barks just sound so…agitated. (this is when I pull out the Jesus songs, btw 
)
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas]
My Boss has two little Yorkies that she leaves in her office when she goes out on appointments. I always know when she is coming back because the dogs go crazy. They start barking, obviously thinking “Mommy’s coming. Mommy’s coming.” One runs in circles, the other bounces like he is on a trampoline.
I don’t know how they know, but they are never wrong. All I can surmise is that they can hear her car coming from five blocks away.
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Or they have special powers
[QUOTE=Cecil Adams]
Still, there’s plenty about animals we just don’t know. As the title of Sheldrake’s book suggests, dogs often have an uncanny ability to anticipate their owners’ arrival. Jill reports that when she was a child, her dog Louie was in the habit of meeting her at the bus stop after school. One morning her mom chided the dog for heading out several hours early, but it turned out Jill had left school several hours early too–and there was Louie, waiting to meet her. Morphic resonance? ESP? Lucky coincidence? Beats me. But there may be more going on behind those big brown eyes (Louie’s, I mean) than we understand.
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From here.
My cats are brothers and have spent every moment of their lives together. I often worry about what will happen when one of them dies. I don’t think there’s much chance of the survivor just shrugging it off.
[QUOTE=Jim B.]
Also, I recall hearing this experiment where pigeons were made to act in ways like humans do in religions. Sorry that is all I can recall. Does anyone know what I am talking about? Because I would like to have a link to a site that talks about this unusual experiment. The only other thing I remember about it is that it is often referred to by atheists (as I’ve already said for myself, I do still believe in God, but not much else). Also, does anyone else have any thoughts on animals and their possible religious beliefs?
.*
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It sounds like you are referring to the superstitious pigeons experiment. This was one of a number of behavioral psychology experiments that B. F. Skinner performed. In this experiment, he distributed food to pigeons at intervals not associated with the pigeons’ actual behavior, and observed that the pigeons developed unusual behavioral patterns. From the wiki article, it sounds like this result is somewhat controversial.
My cat Andrew thinks these things:
I love me.
I love you.
My bowl is empty.
Why am I on a diet?
Treat treat!
Please pet me.
I love me.
In a dog’s mind:
This person I live with feeds me, loves me, provides for my every need . . . She must be a god!
In a cat’s mind:
This person I live with feeds me, loves me, provides for my every need . . . She thinks I’m a god!
My yellow Labs Daisy and Buddy think the following:
I want in the house.
I want to be petted.
My ass itches.
I gotta’ crap.
What’s this? Hmm, nothin’.
My ear itches.
I’m sleepy
What’s this? Oh, yeah.
It’s cooler under the porch.
I need a drink.
Still cooler under the porch.
I gotta’ pee.
What’s this? Oh, yeah.
I want in the house.
I’m hungry. Hmph, nothin’ there yet.
My ear itches.
Mmm, my ass tastes pretty good today
I’m sleepy.
I gotta pee again.
What’s this? Oh, yeah.