What are cats like?

Once upon a time, if we wanted to know what cats were like, we had to actually have cats. Who liked us.

This was the reason there was such a divide on the topic of cats. People who lived with cats, who loved them, would have a great time. But people, who did not understand cats, would not believe it.

But now?

Now, it is very different. We don't have to actually have a cat to observe cats doing intelligent, funny, or sweet things. Now, we get to see anyone's cat doing intelligent, funny, or sweet things.

This has been a great boon for cats. People are able to see that people who love cats are not making it up. Their cat really does do funny things, and make them feel happy, and cares about them.

Cats really are great pets!

For more on this topic, see my post, Has the Internet helped cats?

Fit our cat into our life

If we feel we are not getting enough cat companionship, we might not be "letting the cat into our life" enough. The more we involve our cat in daily activities, the more we enjoy time with our cat... without trying.

I know that letting the cat "help" us with changing the sheets, putting groceries away, and assembling our hobby items, is not efficient. But it is: fun. We have to look at our cat's input as something enjoyable.

Because they do.

Cats love doing things with us. We are the Masters of the Universe. We make food appear out of round metal objects. A simple gesture makes fresh water happen. And they love to interact with us, because they love us and want to spend time with us.

All of this gets thrown away when we don't make the small amount of effort required to fit the cat into our life.

We get a pet so we have someone living to share our life with. This is a simple fact. If we want something more complex, we get a life partner. If we want something simple, we get a goldfish.

A cat is the perfect balance between these two extremes. Flexible enough to adapt to any circumstance, yet intelligent and emotional enough to fulfill human needs.

So make room, for our cat, in our life. We will both appreciate it.

For more, see Companionship Timing.

Do cats manipulate humans?

One of the complaints about cats is how they are "manipulative."

What does this mean? Seems like it's based on the way cats get us to do stuff. Oh, isn't that terrible!

Yet, when a dog brings his ball over and stares at us, it's just, "The dog wants to play! Isn't that cute!" Yes, it is. Dogs like to chase things, and we are excellent at throwing things. Thus, love.

But cats are the same way. It's just that their "play" is different. In the wild, cats don't get dinner by chasing it, the way dogs do. Cats get dinner by outwitting it.

So when they play, that is what they do.

Cats learning how we work is just, you know, how they work. Cats put their intelligence on the line, every day, as they work on their understanding of how others think. This is what makes cats so fascinating and fun.

Of course they try to get us to do what they want! Isn't that what we are doing to them?

The more we play the cat's game, the more they will respect us. And, then...

Up their Game.

Learn more about the way cats work our levers with Willing to Be Manipulated.