Scribblings

Feline Relationships

In Other Words:

It is a curious truth that many cats enjoy warmer, more convivial, even affectionate relationshops with humans than they could ever do with fellow felines.
--Bruce Fogle, DVM, "The Cat's Mind", 1991

When I read this quote, I thought right away about Mouse and Amber?s relationship with each other. They tolerate each other but that?s about it. Sometimes they chase each other and I used to think they were playing. I?m not so sure anymore. They also wrestle just about every single morning and sometimes it looks deadly. They are not fooling around here. Mouse especially seems to like biting hard and clawing with her back feet. Sometimes I have to break it up before one of them gets badly hurt.

I am not surprised that many cats have a better, more loving relationship with we humans. Mouse is used to being the center of our attention. When she is in the right mood, she is so affectionate. She enjoys having us pet her, scratch under her chin and massage her shoulders.

Amber likes the attention too but she seems more timid especially if Mouse is around. Mouse is jealous of any attention we give Amber. Once we start to go on our merry way, Mouse jumps at Amber and bites her ears or her neck. Sometimes Amber sees Mouse coming into the room and jumps away from me as I?m trying to pet her.

Years ago, I had a gray tabby called Kushna. My roommate Alice and I rescue adopted a cat that just didn?t get along with Kushna. As much as I didn?t want to bring the cat to a shelter, I couldn?t have my kitten abused. Before we were able to take the cat, a friend of mine visited us and said, ?Oh, when are the kittens due?? Well ? how was I supposed to know? I never had a pregnant cat before.

The cat had a litter of six and we did end up giving her away with 4 of the kittens. I moved to Washington and chose one of the remaining kittens to go with me and Kushna. The kitten was an orange striped tabby I called Leo.

Kushna and Leo seemed to love each other. They would rough house and play but then they would curl up together and sleep. Sometimes Kushna would wash Leo?s ears or his face. It was so cute to watch. Even better, they both seemed to love me too. Kushna would sleep on my bed curled up against my shoulder. I can?t imagine Mouse and Amber grooming each other. They?ve never curled up together either.

Cats have a totally different relationship with us inferior humans than dogs. Many people don?t like cats because of their independence and superior attitude. Dogs absolutely worship humans. They fall all over themselves with joy at the least little bit of attention. Cats have too much dignity to fawn over a human pet the way dogs do. Still, you can tell that a cat is loving the attention too. They might act like they are doing us a favor but they?re just hiding the fact that they love the loving too.

The girls:

Amber

Mouse

And let's not even get into feline-canine relationships! ;-)

The Weekly Leak:

? yay or nay for math?

Ick! Math! Yay for the basics, nay on stuff like geometry!

? who gets your taxes done?

My sweetie TB. He?s got the programs to help him.

? have you ever *gasp* cheated?

Moi? But of course not!

? do you usually make plans for your refund or do you save it?

We had plans for our refund last year and probably will use it again this year. Someday it?ll be possible for us to save it which would be cool. We could save toward a long well-deserved vacation!