Sometimes When I Stop And Think.......

Sometimes when I stop and think, it never ceases to amaze me how we can understand our pets and they can understand us! I mean my pets and I don’t speak the same language yet I know what each of our cats and dogs want and they are able to let us know what they want (within reason).

When our cat Nanny comes down the road to meet me, as I’m walking up to the house, her meow is different even her facial expression her mouth is open wider and I can see her teeth! That’s her friendly, happy to see you face. Yet when she has found a chicken leg or got a mouse in her mouth, I can hear her before I see her and her meow is different again, it’s louder, I think.

If I don’t give Hotel his milk with his breakfast, after he’s eaten, he’ll wait, he won’t walk away from his bowl. When he has his milk, he’ll drink it all up and then he’ll walk to the door of the living room for me to open it, so he can go into the front room to sleep for many many, hours. The door is then shut to stop the other cats going in and bothering him, as he’s be out all night. Then when he’s ready to come out he meows, has something nice to eat, food is always left aside for him that the others might have had in the day, he has it with his milk then he goes to the window and usually he’s out for the night. Snow or snow. He does have a love though and his back scratched before he goes out, by Paul. You can read about his amazing story here on ABC Tales called The Two Phone Calls…. Since then his name has been changed, I call him Hotel and Paul calls him Fat Bloke!

Then there is Gray, she is the most beautiful shade of gray, which happens to be my favourite colour. She is almost like the perfect cat, her temperament is always the same, quite and gentle, she won’t always run for food first, she will sometimes pause and look at me to see if I’m going to put other food somewhere else, as I sometimes do to give the other cats a chance, as there is definitely a hierarchy, with Nanny been the boss! Now if Nanny who is the fastest eater finishes first, and wants to go over to the others, I will simply put my foot in her path, and she knows not to cross it, how clever is that! When Nanny has finished her breakfast, and wants to finish off somebody else’s, if I pick her up and put her the other side of the kitchen, she stays there, again amazing! I DO call myself the cat whisper! For Paul doesn’t have that control. Then when the others have finished, I pick up Nanny, who Paul calls Boney Arse and bring her to the food that the others have left and she will happily finish it all off.

There is another meow that the girl cats will do that the boy cats never do, it’s when they can’t finish off the food that’s there, it may be chicken, haslet, ham whatever it is, but they just can’t eat anymore, they will put it in their mouth and with a different meow bring it into the living room to hide it for later! The boys never do that.

Really, I suppose Paul is the cat whisper for all the cats love him for they sit on his lap for a fuss, for maybe five to ten minutes, but we have a special cat, called Jonathan! We had him as a kitten but he is different than any cat I’ve met, he doesn’t purr, Paul says it’s a very faint purr, but I’ve never heard it. What’s so special about him? Well, if you pick him up, he will jump straight off your lap! In fact, he never wants to be held until you are sitting down, and he comes and sits on you lap! We always feel very honoured then, but the thing is you can’t move! He is the loveliest cat, he speaks volumes when he is on your lap, he looks at you with his big round eyes, he cleans his paw, then curls up and goes to sleep, but usually it’s the wrong time for me or Paul, as we have things to do and places to go! But not for Jonathan, the only thing that matters to him is your lap. When Jonathan is on our lap, if we use our mobile phone, he’ll nudge our hand, so that we stroke his head, only while he is on our lap does he love been stroked, especially his head. He can’t get enough He’ll sit on your lap for up to twenty precious minutes, or until we have to get up, which always grieves us, I sometimes think of the image of the skeleton with a cat on the lap and the words, “The cat was on my lap.” And if Paul has Jonathan on his lap and I sit down, Jonathan will leave his lap sometimes and come and sit on my lap! Then I’m known as, “The Cat Thief!” And vice versa. Another lovely thing Jonathan does, but only with me, is occasionally when I’m wearing sandals he’ll lay down with his head on my feet! WOW! We’ve never had a cat that has ever done that before, he makes me feel really special, his communication to me is unconditional love, I’m not sure what he gets out of it, but it must be something.

We have two dogs, one I call, The Mum Dog and the other I call Turmeric, this is not the names my Husband Paul has given then. They are lovely dogs and both get on well with the cats, it always amazes me how big they are to the tiny adult cats, it must feel like me standing next to an elephant, yet they know they are safe, unlike the Cat Killer we had before!

With the animals we have our morning routine, but if Paul gets up early, the routine is changed, for me but not for the pets! After the dogs have been out, on their return they always have a treat from me, the treat is small and it includes me putting my forefinger and thumb, right in their mouth, while holding it, so they take it from me, always with the softest, greatest care, they have done this since they were babies. It doesn’t matter what the treat is, if it’s a dog biscuit or a tasty bit of chicken, I’ve saved for them from last nights dinner, their gentleness is still the same. If I’m distracted when I bring the dogs back in, Turmeric will bark, to remind me, he’s not had his treat, but The Mum Dog would never bark to remind me. How clever is that though! His communication.

When Turmeric is outside and he don’t want to be out, he barks non-stop! So, I let him back in quick! But sometimes, it backfires on Turmeric, for I let him bark for a minute or two longer, so any unsavoury People nearby will know there is a dog here! I have taught the dogs from a pup to give me paw, before they can have their treat, I don’t ask for, “Paw,” Often now, but I know when I do ask for it, they can’t give it me paw quick enough!

Sometimes, when I stop and think, it still amazes me that although we don’t speak the same language, we can still understand each other!