OK, I'm back in the house with the animals! Not babysitting, this time, just hanging out.
The cat was so happy to reconnect with me!
Communicating with animals—inter-species communication—is an incredibly fascinating thing. With some sorts of animals, it can be done exactly; you've probably read about the gorilla who learned sign language, and could actually talk to humans. There are dogs that actually know words, about a hundred or more, and they often know what you want to say before you finish saying something!
Some dogs, I have read, listen intently, their heads tilted to a side—you know, in that listening attitude—and then respond intelligently!
The cat tries to communicate, by blinking ("Hi!"), jumping up on my lap ("I want something! You have to guess!") Purring, miaowing, standing in a special place, etc. The only thing is, she doesn't try very hard. Dogs won't quit, but the cat quits fairly soon. It's amazing that it tries at all!
In their own home, the cat is allowed to go out. If she stands near the door, it means "I want to go out." If she's doing that, but I don't see it, she just walks off, and does something else. No wasted effort.
There's a cat I know, who keeps howling until someone responds. That's annoying; but that's a very young cat. This cat (I'm tempted to call her my cat, but she isn't, though) sometimes jumps into my lap. I say "What do you want? Go outside?" And she jumps off, and walks to the door. Then I know: she's wanted to go out, but I wasn't noticing her, so she jumped on my lap, to get my attention! She hardly ever cries, so she gets my attention by jumping on me, or jumping on the arm of the chair I usually sit on.
Kay
