I fell asleep at my desk a little while ago and was awakened by a very soft touch on my cheek. When I realized that it wasn't a fly, I probably moved my head, and the touch was followed by light taps on my shoulder. It was Ella, possibly concerned, or perhaps I was snoring and she was telling me to go to bed if I was going to sleep. She was staring at me while she tapped me on the shoulder. She taps me when she's begging for a treat, or to go out, or when I'm up later than I usually am, but she wasn't asking for anything. Once she woke me up, she curled back up in her bed. This reminded me of another time that I think I've mentioned in the forum, a couple of years ago when I slipped on the ice in my driveway, hitting the back of my head, knocking myself out completely. I don't know how long I had been unconscious but I was very cold when I woke up, and Ella was lying on the ice next to my head. I had let her out with me when I went outdoors, but she had access to our much warmer enclosed porch, yet she chose to lie next to me as I was unconscious in the driveway. She's not Lassie. She didn't go for help, but her heart was in the right place.
Some people have cats who are all affectionate with one another, but my cats have always held one another at a distance. It is rare for me to find two of my cats in the same bed unless one of them is trying to make the other leave. Last night, I found Cutie and Ella in the same bed, both asleep, so I took a picture. As soon as they became aware that I was photographing them in the act of not hating one another, they both looked away in different directions, and then Ella left.
When Ella is outside and she doesn't come when I call her, sometimes I'll find her stalking some critter under the woodpile or something, and I'll give her a break on the grounds that she's working. Otherwise, if I have to go get her, I will carry her in and then she knows she's grounded the next day. I never punish her, other than the grounding - I don't even speak harshly to her - because I don't want her to be afraid to come. I didn't think that would work because I didn't think a cat would be able to put the cause and the effect together unless it's immediate. Although that might seem a bit abstract for a cat, she seems to get that, because when she is again allowed to go outdoors, she answers immediately when I call her. Sometimes, I'll just pick her up when she's outdoors to be friendly, or so that she doesn't have to walk in the snow or the wet, and she's okay with that. But when we get to the door, she badly wants me to put her down so that she can walk in on her own. I think she equates being carried in with being grounded. Maybe the immediate effect to her is being carried in rather than being able to walk in on her own. Either way, it works.
Cutie is up in the high spaces today, which means she's feeling good. Ella, on the other hand, is not so much enjoying the fact that the snow has been replaced by rain.
This is why I like cats. It's a challenge to figure them out. And you're never quite sure if you're not just projecting your own feelings onto them. I also like them because you have to earn their respect and trust. They do NOT just accept you with all your warts. A relationship should be a two-way street, imo, even with a pet.
Here is a cat story passed down from my mother. This was before I was born we had always been a cat family. My parents were about to move and at the last day the cat disappeared they checked the whole house and was not able to find her. So the moving took place she left a message behind if anyone see the cat to call. Two days into the new house they her a cat crying, looking everywhere and tracking it down to a chest of draws, opening one draw there was the cat and no mess. The cat knew somehow and was about to happen and not going to be left behind or was that just by accident.
We were moving into another house, not far away, and were packing things up into boxes and moving things to the new place. We had three cats, Baby Girl, Cutie, and Lydia, plus a kitten that we referred to as the wall kitty, which I'll explain later. I came back from the new place to find that there seemed to be no cats in the house. I wasn't letting them out at that time, because of the neighborhood, so I was worried that they had escaped while we were moving stuff out the door, but it seemed strange that all of them would have gotten out without anyone noticing. I knew they were scared because they knew something was going on. Then I found all four of the cats huddled in an empty box. Either they felt secure there, or they wanted to be sure they were taken along, and one of them had even carried the wall kitty in there with them because she was too small to have gotten in on her own. The wall kitty story... A stray cat in the neighborhood had apparently moved her kitten into the eaves of the house I was renting. I didn't know that until I started hearing a kitten howling, and it seemed to be coming from inside of the walls in the bedroom. It seems that she had somehow gotten inside the house from the eaves, and fallen down to where she was now trapped in the space between the drywall and the frame of the house. I knew there was a cat in the wall but I couldn't tell where it was coming from. I broke a hole in the drywall, and then I could hear the kitten, but she was below where I could reach her because there was a board in the way. I was trying to figure out whether I might be able to reach her if I broke another hole in the wall when Cutie darted into the hole before I could stop her. She was in there for quite a while. The kitten had stopped yelling, but I was worried that now I had two cats stuck in the wall. Then Cutie came, carrying the kitten in her mouth. Cutie has never had any kittens, and she would have tried to kill any kitten that I might have brought into the house, but there she was, rescuing a feral kitten from the wall of the house. I figured out that the kitten's mom had found a way into the eaves of the house, and that she had some other kittens up there, but I couldn't get up there, and when I tried to put the kitten outside while the mom was in the yard, she wouldn't take her kitten back. Fortunately, she was at the age where she could eat wet food and I got some kitten food from the vet, and Cutie doted on the kitten as if it were her own. Cutie, who had never had a litter of kittens, was trying to be the mom. So we had the wall kitty until she grew some and I was able to find a home for her with one of my medics, who lived on a farm.
This is our nicest day of the year, so far, and Cutie has noticed. Except for trips in to grab a bit to eat, drink some water, or to use the litter box, she's been outside for going on eight hours now. Mostly, she's lying in the sun but she has walked around the yard at least a few times. Yeah, I know it's crazy, but my cats have always preferred the litter box to doing their thing outdoors. I guess that's what happens when they are taught that the proper place for that stuff is the litter box.