{"id":4953,"date":"2021-05-10T03:30:01","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T11:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=4953"},"modified":"2021-05-10T03:30:01","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T11:30:01","slug":"mindful-monday-are-you-smarter-than-your-cat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=4953","title":{"rendered":"Mindful Monday \u2013 Are You Smarter Than Your Cat?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"If you live with a cat, and if you\u2019re paying attention, you\u2019ll notice all sorts of interesting behavior throughout the day. Mostly it\u2019s subtle and you find yourself wondering, \u201cDid that cat actually say what I thought I heard?\u201d \u201cDid she sit on that page because she knows that\u2019s what I was reading?\u201d \u201cShe didn\u2019t actually know that was the puzzle piece we were looking for did she?\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe she did know. Maybe your cat is at least smarter \"\"than you realize. Think about some of the things your cat does throughout the day.<\/p>\n

Here in our house of two cats, I\u2019m pretty sure that 16-year-old Sophie uses mental telepathy to tell when I\u2019m awake in the morning. At the first flutter of an eyelid, she \"\"comes from nowhere and starts greeting me. She also uses it to get me out of my seat so she can take my chair. Sophie watches TV, but only when it\u2019s around dinner time. Could it be that she recognizes certain commercials or the voice of a certain TV judge or newscaster? Because I\u2019ve seen Sophie stare at the TV for several minutes, then suddenly turn and meow for her supper. Other times, a commercial seems to catch her ear and she\u2019ll watch, then go back to her lick-bath. Yes, I\u2019m convinced that she figures out what time it is based on what\u2019s on TV.<\/p>\n

One of our former cats, Winfield, loved cantaloupe. As\"\" an aside, cantaloupe is a favorite of some cats, but not all cats can handle it. Do not feed cantaloupe to a cat with fluffy pantaloons when it gives her diarrhea. My attempt to please Olivia with cantaloupe did not go well. Sorry, Olivia. (She did not enjoy the dip in the sink of warm water to clean the results of that cantaloupe treat off of her back end.)<\/p>\n

But Winfield could handle cantaloupe. He loved it and he recognized a good cantaloupe. How do I know that? I always knew, when I got home from the grocery store, that the cantaloupe I\u2019d picked was ripe by Winfield\u2019s reaction. If he greeted me eagerly in the kitchen before I could even put the groceries away, I knew the cantaloupe was a good one. If he didn\u2019t \"\"show up in the kitchen within at least a few minutes of my arrival home, I was pretty sure the cantaloupe I bought wasn\u2019t quite ready.<\/p>\n

Max used to greet me eagerly when I\u2019d return from a walk\u2014and only when I returned from a walk. It was the feather he was excited about. I\u2019d almost always bring home a large feather for him. He loved the scent and would play with the feather until it was mangled.\"\"<\/p>\n

What bright thing do your cats do that you\u2019ve often wondered\u2014\u201cDid she actually do that or was it my imagination?\u201d<\/p>\n

Olivia also comes into my office when she’s bored and bugs me until I follow her into the hallway for a lively game of “Mom throws the ball for me while I wildly chase it up and down the hall.” This otherwise fairly quiet cat will meow and meow until I do as she says.<\/p>\n

A couple of days ago I scolded Olivia in a sort of sing-song tone and I swear she repeated that exact same tone to me in her high-pitched, melodic mew. She\u2019s such a sweet little sassy pants girl<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you live with a cat, and if you\u2019re paying attention, you\u2019ll notice all sorts of interesting behavior throughout the day. Mostly it\u2019s subtle and you find yourself wondering, \u201cDid that cat actually say what I thought I heard?\u201d \u201cDid … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4954,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4953\/revisions\/4954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}