Caturday: Cats are People, Too.

People who aren't into pets, and have none of their own, have no idea how human cats and dogs can be (and maybe other animals, too, but my experience is limited to cats and dogs).

Cats and dogs have personalities.  They have favourite foods and favourite ways to be petted.  They have random days when they feel insecure and need extra hugs, and random days when they feel cranky and act like jerks.  Birch is basically just a small, furry roommate.

Recently, I've noticed that whenever The Boy beats Birch at wrestling or chastises him for doing something bad, Birch spends the next half hour or so storming around the apartment in a huff and attacking random objects.  He'll, like, grab a plastic bag, pretend it's The Boy, and be all "Who's not allowed on the kitchen counter now, bitch?!"  *KICK*KICK*KICK*BITE*KICK*.  If he were a human, these fits of rage would of course be frightening and inappropriate.  But he's not a human; he's a fluffy widdle kitty.  So it's hilarious!


The last time Birch got mad like that, I swooped him up in my arms and petted and kissed him, and after a few minutes he relaxed and started to purr.  By the time I put him back down on the floor, he was mellow again.  I'm glad I was able to get him out of his rotten mood; I wasn't sure if cuddle therapy would work on cats.


In other news, we watched Charlotte's Web tonight (the 2006 version with Dakota Fanning) and during a scene with Templeton the rat, The Boy nudged me and whispered, "Birch is watching the movie!" ...And he was!  He was all alert and interested and his head swiveled around to follow Templeton's movements.  We've never seen him pay attention to the tv before.  He remained mesmerized for that entire rat-intensive scene, then lost interest when the other characters came back on the screen.  Could Birch have recognized that Templeton was a rodent?  Was he like, "Hey, there's a great big mousie on tv!" and only watched the movie for the great-big-mousie parts?  Are cat brains that sophistimacated?

I'm thinking probably not...but it's interesting to ponder.  Maybe we'll rent Ratatouille sometime and see if it happens again.