The attention span of cats is noteworthy. They can focus intently for what seems to be minutes on end without even blinking (it seems). This is remarkable to me. And... they never rush when they are just viewing their surroundings. They will slowly, deliberately pan from one item to the next that catches their (eye or ) interest, which usually doesn't take much. So they look (at something) and really focus on it and then just as easily, pan to the next item. This could go on for hours. That is a cat's life.
Do you suppose cats focus on their breathing when they are engaged in this intense observation process? Or do they like us, just rely on the autonomous system to handle the breathing. Perhaps their breathing is naturally synchronized to their body speed, that is, fast moving cat means fast breathing. And it follows; cat at rest - breathing is restful. Wow, that describes cat breathing pretty good - restful!
That's my point this time, when doing nothing else, spend just a little time thinking about breathing restfully. Appreciate your breathing and relax.

Nicknamed: The Clark Bar.

Clark, of our brother cats, his other brother being Otis, is a creature of habit. Every day as I sit for my second cup of coffee he will always make his way onto the dining room table and park in front of me. But, not before successfully getting my attention, gently at first, however, if necessary headbutting me to do so.

Seconds after being acknowledged by me stroking him down his sides, first one way and then repeatedly stroking him back length ways with the grain, returning his fur to more presentable cat liking. Frequently, he will close his eyes. He knows such petting is not a visual pleasure, but is a sensual one. When cats need attention, they know how to get it. Simple, find someone to give it and get it from them. It's not complicated to a cat! They don't care if that some one is a stranger. If they can get what they need, it doesn't matter.

Then, for most of the remainder of the day he is absent. Unless his mood is such and he finds me at the table again. He will come by just to say hello, seeing if I am willing to give away some attention, to him. It seems most of this unaccounted time is likely spent napping. He has his favorite perch on the cat credenza. Naps come easily there. He uses that spot to his advantage for both its comfort and its isolation from the normal foot traffic which certainly would interrupt his otherwise peaceful naps.

Then later, in mid-evening as I am watching TV, he doesn't have any particular favorite shows nor does he dislike my tastes for sports (hockey and football) and repeats of action features, he will come again and park in the prone position right up my midsection, where he does the big-feet for a while as his purr develops to full strength. And I don't mind at all, he's as warm as toast and doesn't leave any crumbs.

Clark is a happy cat. I like to think that my wife and I are partly responsible for that. He sure makes it easy for us to love him. He probably doesn't know how lucky he has it being with us, or maybe he does. Life is good ... Do like Clark does ... Take it Easy!

Cats maintain their calm, no matter what!

In the middle of a world that has always been a bit mad, the cat walks with confidence. - Rosanne Amberson

I don't know about the world being a bit mad, but the cat walking with confidence part is pretty obvious, even to an unskilled eye. They just never hurry, unless quickness is in their plan from the beginning. The normal cat walk is always casual and unhurried. They walk slow and deliberate, taking in their surroundings and listening for small sounds. Sounds that indicate something they might have to investigate further. This is confidence and alertness. They do not anticipate, they just react. But, in most cases, they are not surprised by something, unless it is loud and/or sudden. The rest of the time they have either visually or with their hearing, tagged possible disturbances to their otherwise peaceful walk. Cats will react without hesitation, usually taking caution as the highest priority. Their safety is most important. A cat motto might be: "It's better to run and live for another day" (than to fight and lose this one!).

Cats walk as if they had all the time in the world. Maybe they do. Maybe we do too! It's like that old TV commercial (airlines) where they advised people to : Walk through airports! That is great advise anytime, anywhere. Who knew? Cats did, that's who.

The Cat Mirror

Here is a quote by Winifred Carriere about cats: 'The cat is the mirror of his humans mind, personality and attitude, just as a dog mirrors his humans physical appearance.'

We have four cats in our household, so we have mirrors all over the house! Our three guys (and one gal) each have their own personality and attitude, quite independent from us, though. The eldest of the troupe, 'Ms. P' (short for Ms. Parker, from the TV Pretender series) has by far the most attitude of the group. She tolerates, but very little. She is very space conscious, especially her space! If her mood so suits her, she will growl and take a swipe at any of the other cats who stray either inadvertently or accidentally into her space, where her space is at that time. She takes no guff from anyone, including us. When she has had enough, its enough. Stop now or risk the consequences.

The next two in line, are the brothers, Otis and Clark. From the same litter of orange Tabbys, Clark got the classic tabby circle on his deep orange side and Otis, a kind of light orange, almost yellow did not. They are as different as night and day. Clark was playful as a kitten and has not lost a bit of his talent as he grows. His most spectacular stunt we call the wall trick, which he uses to show off, I think. Or, maybe its just happiness welling up inside him that finally just erupts in cat creativity! He starts by just standing near a kitchen wall and looking up the wall (maybe he is picking out a target spot). Then he suddenly jumps up the wall, tags it with his front feet, pivots and comes back down to the floor. Then of course, in true cat fashion, walks away as if nothing in the world happened.... but he knows ... yup, still got it!

Otis on the other hand, has no repertoire of unusual cat skills. His chief skill is that of sheer speed and invisibility. If we have guests over to the house, Otis is invisible. We tell them that we really have four cats, but can not prove it. Otis will not be seen. He is just too nervous. He is likely to become our oldest cat because he is very cautious. And as for speed, he outruns danger. If we are sitting, say watching TV or some relatively quiet activity, then start to sneeze, Otis (and Clark) have left the room before you get to the 'Cha' in the Achoo. Otis' main defense is his speed. He can easily outrun the rest of them. And because he is so slight (compared to the others), he can run much farther than the can. He easily does two laps around (inside) the house without trouble. He just tires them out.

Tucker is the latest in our gang of cats. He's got attitude. He bites. Since he was little, you can hold him for a while, but then he gets bored or something and bites. So you drop the little bundle of joy to the floor. He wins. He attacks the brothers and gets his bites in. But not Miss P. She outweighs him greatly and simply does not tolerate his attempts to engage. But he is not deterred. He tries to engage her, though to this date has not had any success.

So do cats mirror their guardians? Maybe, maybe not. Cats are cats after all. That will not change, nor should. We are who we are. We just need to keep discovering what that is. If cats are indeed mirrors of us, then it behooves us to use that mirror whenever we can. Some of the things we see might surprise us, but that's OK. It would be a rather dull place with no surprises!

Do cats think?

Someone asked me if I thought cats think. Undoubtedly, they do. They must! It is quite unprovable though, until we become clever enough to communicate with them. And at that point we will simply ask and they will answer.... (probably in valleyese.. Duh!) But I have no doubt that they do. Simply watch one for a while, it spends most of its time observing and if something falls into its domain of doable practices (the complete list of learned behaviors). Whatever provokes it to action though, has to be above the threshold of activation. If whatever it is does not exceed the threshold, the cat will simply remain forever in observation mode. And could as easily, relax completely into nap mode!

But of course, cats have feelings too. All sentient beings have feelings. And so if logic and logical extension are trustworthy or even applies to cats, then what I believe is that if thought leads to feeling... then by some reverse logic, if cats feel, then they must also think (have thoughts). Now I am not a master logician, the logic used here seems viable. A leads to B, so if B is present, then we might assume that an A is involved. The problem here of course is the initial assumption, thought leads to feeling. This falls into the 'might be unprovable' category. But in this mysterious world we live in, I have to take my proof of it (thought leads to feelings) by the venerable Occum's razor proof (when all other proofs fail, use the simplest explanation.) I believe that feelings are the result of thought. You sometimes have to think about something for a long time before it becomes a feeling in you. I also believe that there are only two ways to learn; first through modeling (or by example) and the second way is experimentation (by doing, failing or succeeding and mentally retaining the result for the future.) So, you try something, possibly fail the first time. Try again, maybe a little better result and again and again. Each time mentally saving the 'result' for future reference. Then finally, you think again about doing that something and voila! You have a feeling about it! Now, let's think about cats again. Yes, cats repeat things, just like we do. They should, like us, develop feelings about things and also think about them!

Cats never suffer from poor self image.

Have you noticed that cats are very space conscious. If they see a space that would otherwise be empty and they believe that they could fill it, why, of course, they do (fill it!). They seem to know what is required at any given moment. Well, at least they act like they know.

Now to be sure, cats do get confused. But they disguise it well. Confusion in cats is only temporary. Now I'm talking the normal, non-sedated variety. If, of course, you administer drugs in any shape or fashion to a cat, then their mental state is compromised greatly. Their otherwise exquisite balance is completely gone and they should be watched closely to prevent them from harming themselves. For the most part, cats act as if everything they did, every action was well planned, even orchestrated in advance. Even if you surprise a cat (like with a loud noise, not recommended though), it will of course, be startled, perhaps jumping straight up. But almost immediately afterwords, and I'm talking a matter of seconds, it will continue about with its business as if it was not really that surprised. Kind of like, 'Oh, I knew that' or 'That's an old trick you played on me, please avoid doing that again and there won't be trouble.' Or, they will give you that look, you know the one - "Humans are so exasperating, but what are you going to do about them?" Probably followed by the thought that 'at least they feed us.'

Cat adoption

'One never adopts a cat. A cat adopts you.' - Tom Bennet

We have four cats. One just showed up at our door, meowing as if we should let it in. It had just ran away from home, got scared and our house looked as good as any. So it came to the front and meowed until it got our attention and has been with us for nearly ten years. We must have seemed friendly enough, it didn't run away from us! That's sorta like adoption. Two others we picked out of a litter and later they adopted us. They grew to like us well enough to call us their guardians. Again, sorta, kinda ... adoption.

Our latest, Tucker, hasn't officially adopted us yet (as official as cats will get!), but is slowly warming to us. He's not making it easy though, his habit of biting to show interest is sometimes a little painful. But we pulled him from the brink of death about a week after birth (wild raccoons nearly ended his brief start), so we have a deep connection with him, which he frequently tries to return to us by his playful biting!