In the past couple of weeks, my feline friend, Piper has displayed some very dog-like tendencies. Almost all of the "normal" cats that I have had the pleasure of knowing going as far back as I can recall to about 1958, have been very independent. The human/s who attend to the cat's needs are like slaves attending to a King or a Queen. You may want to pick up, pet, cuddle, play with, or simply just move the furball, however if it doesn't want to co-operate (99% of the time), then the human is likely to end up with at minimum a few scratches, or worse.
Up until a couple of weeks ago, my friend Piper fit the above profile almost to a tee. And then something changed. Even though I have had plenty of experience with cats, I would have to admit that I have absolutely no idea what goes on in their brain. Perhaps, because I spend so much time with Piper, he now acts more like a dog than a cat. He spends the entire night on my bed. He's right there in the morning when I go to the bathroom, to the living room to open the blinds, and when I head to the kitchen, he's there meowing away, as he awaits his breakfast. Once breakfast is done, he searches me out, and settles in for a nap in what ever room I happen to be in at the time. With the exception of him going outside to do his business, he has become my shadow. Even when I go for my bike ride, he is there to watch me leave, and is waiting in the driveway when I return. I like that.
At the beginning of the housesit, there would be long stretches of time when he would be on his own. You see, Piper has a second residence, I call his cat "condo", which is located in the garage. This is what it looks like.
But he seems to have lost interest in his home away from home, and now spends most of his time indoors with his housesitting buddy. Lucky me.
As far as the advantages of being a non human, I think that there are basically two. I strongly suspect that like most animals, with the exception of humans, cats live in the present, appreciating each moment as it happens. In addition to that, they have no idea about what crazy, stupid, dangerous, or self centred plans and schemes that humans are up to on a regular basis. Lucky for them. If they did know, we might see them marching in protest around the White House, or the Parliament buildings in Ottawa in an effort to tell their two legged companions to clean up their act, and do it now. But instead of that, we see this:
However, I could be totally wrong as might be demonstrated by the photo below. Perhaps Piper knows what's really going on, but like his human friends, he chooses to turn a blind eye.
Whatever the case may be, I am very grateful that I have had the time to spend with Piper, and I will miss him when I leave, but the life of a Thoughtful Wanderer has me getting ready to be on the move yet again. I'll be curious to hear from the owner, after I leave, whether or not her furball, continues his dog like behaviour.
Happy Trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer
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