# What is my roommate's cat thinking? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 12, 2013, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498 "2013-04-12T13:38:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![spunkymuzicnote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@spunkymuzicnote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spunkymuzicnote)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/1 "2013-04-12T13:38:07Z")
Beyond her twice daily demands for food (and cleverness at playing me and my roommate off each other to try to get multiple breakfasts), I often wonder what Ada is thinking all day, curled up in her spot of the week for hours with her eyes slightly open but not moving. If it were me I’d be bored. She does show curiosity at new things, such as going out into the hall to help with laundry, or exploring the usually closed back porch. But she sits there for hours, not asleep, not quite awake. Someone somewhere must have done a study on the patterns of a cat’s brain, though I have no idea how you would even do such a study. Maybe they attach a bunch of those wires that stick on like you see when they study human brains? If it were Ada I don’t think she would stand it; she was annoyed enough by the bows I tried to put in her hair. On a side note, when she runs around at night, pouncing at nothing, is she really fighting invisible ninjas? If that’s the case she seems to be a very good guard cat since we have seen no evidence of them. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/2 "2013-04-12T14:01:10Z")
I don’t think it’s all that different from laying in bed in that half-alseep. At least to a certain extent, I can quite enjoy that state and I don’t really get bored because my mind isn’t in full spin. Also consider that, at least for us, boredom I think is at least as much a function of our social structure and technology as it is anything else. For instance, if my power goes out, I’ll be ridiculously bored within a few minutes, even if it’s still light out, but obviously humanity made it for most of our existence just fine with no power at all. We’re also more social animals, so isolation will be more of a negative for us than less social ones, like cats. Specifically for cats, though, they’re predators. They spend a significant amount of time resting and napping because they need to conserve energy. I imagine when they’re resting, their brains probably aren’t all amped up and bored precisely because the brain uses a lot of energy. So I’m inclined to believe it’s a quite pleasant quiet state of mind. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/3 "2013-04-12T14:55:39Z")
Its plotting your downfall… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/4 "2013-04-12T15:11:54Z")
The cat is daydreaming of the day cats evolve thumbs and don’t need humans any more. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/5 "2013-04-12T15:17:47Z")
Well I think I may be able to help you. You see … (he goes over to armchair, puts on spectacles, sits, crosses legs and puts finger tips together)… your cat is suffering from what we Vets haven’t found a word for. His condition is typified by total physical inertia, absence of interest in its ambience - what we Vets call environment - failure to respond to the conventional external stimuli - a ball of string, a nice juicy mouse, a bird. To be blunt, your cat is in a rut. It’s the old stockbroker syndrome, the suburban fin de siecle ennui, angst, weltschmertz, call it what you will. Mrs B Moping. Vet In a way, in a way … hum … moping, I must remember that. Now, what’s to be done? Tell me sir, have you confused your cat recently? Mr A Well we … Mrs B Sh! No. Vet Yes … well I think I can definitely say that your cat badly needs to be confused. Mrs B What? Mr A Sh! What? Vet Confused. To shake it out of its state of complacency. I’m afraid I’m not personally qualified to confuse cats, but I can recommend an extremely good service. Here is their card. Mrs B (reading card) Oooh. ‘Confuse-a-Cat Limited’. Mr A ‘Confuse-a-Cat Limited’.’ Mrs B Oh. ---
**Author:** ![Tollhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@Tollhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tollhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/6 "2013-04-12T17:51:42Z")
Something along the lines of “mere humans”… ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/7 "2013-04-12T18:07:37Z")
“Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL.” ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/8 "2013-04-12T18:13:37Z")
One of my cats is deaf, and he is obsessed with grocery bags. He works really hard to fit his head into one in such a way that he can then peer through the opaque plastic at the world. I really think he believes he is in a different place or something…but like you, I wonder what he is thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/9 "2013-04-12T18:16:02Z")
But, if you really want to know… > **[What Is My Cat Thinking?: The Essential Guide to Understanding Pet Behavior:...](https://www.amazon.com/What-Cat-Thinking-Essential-Understanding/dp/1571458697)** > > What Is My Cat Thinking?: The Essential Guide to Understanding Pet Behavior \[Bailey, Gwen\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. What Is My Cat Thinking?: The Essential Guide to Understanding Pet Behavior ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/10 "2013-04-12T20:00:44Z")
I wonder this when I find our cat staring at something… Like a blank wall, a chair leg, the oven, the fireplace, the toilet. Is she waiting for something to happen, deep in thought about the object, or just zoned out? ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/11 "2013-04-13T03:25:46Z")
> [@PurpleClogs](#): > > I wonder this when I find our cat staring at something… Like a blank wall, a chair leg, the oven, the fireplace, the toilet. Is she waiting for something to happen, deep in thought about the object, or just zoned out? Sometimes they hear or see something you can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/12 "2013-04-13T03:58:52Z")
> [@spunkymuzicnote](#): > > Beyond her twice daily demands for food (and cleverness at playing me and my roommate off each other to try to get multiple breakfasts), I often wonder what Ada is thinking all day, curled up in her spot of the week for hours with her eyes slightly open but not moving. If it were me I’d be bored. She does show curiosity at new things, such as going out into the hall to help with laundry, or exploring the usually closed back porch. But she sits there for hours, not asleep, not quite awake. Someone somewhere must have done a study on the patterns of a cat’s brain, though I have no idea how you would even do such a study. Maybe they attach a bunch of those wires that stick on like you see when they study human brains? It’s my understanding that going by their brainwaves, they appear to be asleep much of the time when they sit around with their eyes open. Even when waiting by something like a mouse hole to pounce on prey; they can apparently can turn their “pounce” reflexes on automatic and sleep with their eyes open. And they can wake up from that pretty much instantly. A pretty useful set of traits for an ambush predator, if you think about it. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/13 "2013-04-13T04:51:31Z")
> [@spunkymuzicnote](#): > > curled up in her spot of the week for hours with her eyes slightly open but not moving. … But she sits there for hours, not asleep, not quite awake. Sounds heavenly! ---
**Author:** ![wombattver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b77776/32.png) [@wombattver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wombattver)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/14 "2013-04-13T05:32:04Z")
> [@PurpleClogs](#): > > I wonder this when I find our cat staring at something… Like a blank wall, a chair leg, the oven, the fireplace, the toilet. Is she waiting for something to happen, deep in thought about the object, or just zoned out? No, she is staring with great intent, WILLING something to happen, making an object move with her MIND. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluffy_PickleSniffer)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/15 "2013-04-13T19:31:47Z")
What? An entire thread about cats staring blankly and no pics? Isn’t that like, illegal or something? [Let me remedy the situation.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jAn3paZs1s) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/16 "2013-04-14T17:44:31Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > I don’t think it’s all that different from laying in bed in that half-alseep. At least to a certain extent, I can quite enjoy that state and I don’t really get bored because my mind isn’t in full spin. Also consider that, at least for us, boredom I think is at least as much a function of our social structure and technology as it is anything else. For instance, if my power goes out, I’ll be ridiculously bored within a few minutes, even if it’s still light out, but obviously humanity made it for most of our existence just fine with no power at all. We’re also more social animals, so isolation will be more of a negative for us than less social ones, like cats. > > Specifically for cats, though, they’re predators. They spend a significant amount of time resting and napping because they need to conserve energy. I imagine when they’re resting, their brains probably aren’t all amped up and bored precisely because the brain uses a lot of energy. So I’m inclined to believe it’s a quite pleasant quiet state of mind. Boredom is correlated to intelligence, too. Other animals just don’t get bored as often as humans. Boredom is at least a secondary if not tertiary emotion. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/17 "2013-04-14T18:31:13Z")
[You don’t really want to know.](http://www.theonion.com/articles/kitten-thinks-of-nothing-but-murder-all-day,9783/) ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/18 "2013-04-14T19:41:57Z")
If the cat is curled up, prone, completely relaxed and not sitting up with those half opened eyes, she likely really is asleep. You can tell if you can see her pupils while she’s like this. If they’re completely constricted into tiny slits, she’s totally asleep. If she’s not the type to wake up swinging, you can watch her come to consciousness if you gently speak to her or make a little noise while watching her pupils. They will expand as she wakes and I find it fascinating. I’ve known a few cats that sleep with their eyes half open. Also when they’re going into “prey mode” when you’re playing with them, you can watch their pupils go from relaxed to huge and almost round and back again. One of my cats will be just sitting there looking at me and if I move my hand and wiggle my fingers just right his pupils get huge. I hide my hand and his pupils go back to normal. This can go on for a few minutes until he decides to pounce or walk away. ---
**Author:** ![Wednesday\_Evening](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Wednesday\_Evening](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wednesday_Evening)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/19 "2013-04-14T19:47:33Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > “Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL.” “Cat, we only got one question. Have you ever been arrested?” ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-my-roommates-cat-thinking/655498/20 "2013-04-14T21:47:26Z")
> [@spunkymuzicnote](#): > > Beyond her twice daily demands for food (and cleverness at playing me and my roommate off each other to try to get multiple breakfasts), I often wonder what Ada is thinking all day, curled up in her spot of the week for hours with her eyes slightly open but not moving. If it were me I’d be bored. She does show curiosity at new things, such as going out into the hall to help with laundry, or exploring the usually closed back porch. But she sits there for hours, not asleep, not quite awake. Someone somewhere must have done a study on the patterns of a cat’s brain, though I have no idea how you would even do such a study. Maybe they attach a bunch of those wires that stick on like you see when they study human brains? If it were Ada I don’t think she would stand it; she was annoyed enough by the bows I tried to put in her hair. > > On a side note, when she runs around at night, pouncing at nothing, is she really fighting invisible ninjas? If that’s the case she seems to be a very good guard cat since we have seen no evidence of them. Exorcising evil spirits.:o