"HeyBub" wrote in
m:

Red Green wrote:
Open the damper. Get a cat.

My 7-year old cat, Bob, who hasn't been outside since he was a wee
kitten caught a swift.

He howled like the Cat of the Baskervilles until I came to see what
all the ruckus was about. There he was, silly grin on his face, one
paw holding down a scared itty-bitty bird.

I retrieved the unhurt, but terrified, bird and loosed it out the
door. It flew away.

Bob, however, wasn't fit to live with for about a week. He had to
tell the other cats about his adventure. Several times. Buttons
popped off his shirt, he swelled his chest so much.




Got two of em'. Keeping fireplace blocked. Lat ting I want is to
fetch cats from the damn chimney!

??? Never heard of a cat in a chimney! I guess it could happen...

Bob caught the swift in the kitchen, but (I reckon from the noise) he
chased it all over the place first.

With cats, it's not the capture - or even the possible meal - it's the
chase! All cats have a chase reflex; if you run into a mountain lion
in the park remember this: If you run, you merely die tired - the cat
WILL chase you.




After having them in the household since my earliest memory, I know a lot
about them - more than they think I know and a lot less than I think I
know.

It's quite interesting how they are exactly the same whether it's feral,
domesticated or a wild big cat yet every one, like people, have
individuality and temperment.

I've learned a lot about their extensive complex language of body part
movements to communicate with each other and with humans. Complex in that
one movement can mean several things depending on their frame of mind.
And that movement+frame of mind is further complicated by what other
movement(s) accompany it. You start to get into some large factorial"!"
possibilities. And yet they each create new movements that they know we
will lean to understand - something betweeen their language and ours.

One of the most simple and useful is looking at the animal in the eyes.
This is always a challenge! unlesss...accompanied by a slow wince of the
eyes then it just means I want to look at you. Works both ways. If you
take note you will see they will stay relaxed. They will often wince
back. Between each other, you will see the wince with a slow head turn
right afterwards. I've seen it personally as well as read about it in a
study. Of course I could not attest to it but the study showed this is
exactly the same with big cats.

Yep, with big or little cats it's the chase. Once it's started, instinct
and genetics take over. The mouse, 3/4 dead and not moving, the cat will
paw and bat it till it moves somehow then beat another 1/8th dead.

A simple summary I saw was they stay with us because simply because they
like us and we like them. We make life easy for them. Knowing the animal,
I think the second part carries more weight. They latch on to and go with
the primary human they know as "The Feeder".