Don’t Cats Drool?

Earlier today, while googling something, I came across a book titled, Waiting for your cat to bark? and I wanted to shout to the empty room: “Yes! Yes, I am!” Actually, the book is about customers and marketing. But I loved the title.

We have two cats in our house. We are certainly not the owners of those cats. If they could talk, they would probably say they belong to us. In that sense, they are normal cats.

But I’m not so sure they are normal cats in every way. And as behaviors emerge from both, I wonder if it is something that we are doing that causes them to behave the way they do, or if they are learning from each other. I guess it’s a combination of both.

Our oldest cat is about four years old. She didn’t start her life acting more like a dog than a cat. However, we had a dog in the house for about a year, so perhaps you learned some of its behaviors from him.

What does she do? Well, for one thing, you can’t wait until the humans in the house finish dinner so you can lick the dishes or eat whatever is left. When it comes to cat food, she is a normal finicky cat. But he loves to find leftover food from people on plates. They don’t have to be bites of meat either. He loves macaroni and even some veggies. Strange cat.

He also loves to walk outside on his leash. She waits at the window for my husband to get home from work, then starts meowing at him until he takes her out for a long walk. When he’s at work, she often sits close to the leash and pushes it while meowing at me. Weird cat.

Our youngest cat is in that state that he is neither a kitten nor a cat. She doesn’t need a lot of toys. Instead, he will entertain himself for hours chasing the plastic ring on a milk bottle. Or the plastic cap of the milk bottle.

This kitty will choose a “toy” as her focus throughout the day and carry it from room to room. As I go about my daily routine, cleaning or putting away clothes, she follows me with her toy in her mouth. He will jump on the bed with whatever plastic daddy he has in his mouth, then proceed to toss him into the air and try to catch him. He will try to bury his toy under the covers and then attack you when he finds it. For her, playing does not require any help from humans or her cat friend.

She is also interested in people’s food. You will carefully watch food move from fork to mouth, then jump onto your lap to smell your mouth as you chew. If it smells of something interesting, it will jump back to the ground and sit there, staring and purring. If you ignore her, she’ll place her front paws on your leg and sit up easily, like a pleading dog. Stranger cat behavior, if you ask me.

Speaking of strange cat behavior, both cats are sitting by the mailbox at the front door. And meowing. And waving their tails. I think the postman just delivered something.

No, they are not wagging their tails. That’s what dogs do, right? Cats don’t wag their tails. And they don’t drool. Or do they?