Tuesday, July 12, 2005

More than one way to communicate

I have a routine when I get home from work. I change out of my work clothes and get into something comfortable, then I play a bit with one of my cats. Tabitha is usually laying on my bed when I get home. I always get an enthusiastic "Meow" hello. I usually cup her face in my hands and rub her fur back and forth. Her eyes partly close and she starts purring. Sometimes I even get a short "row" of approval. If I forget to greet her like this, I am nagged until I respond. She is all black with yellow/green eyes. She's quite beautiful and part Siamese. This is apparent in her vocabulary.

She's quite verbal. She can demand her dinner quite clearly by yelling at me, as much as a cat can yell. This has been confirmed by the "Oh my God" elicited from my son in response to the volume of a prolonged "meeeeeeeeooooow!" on more than one occasion. It's as if she is saying "HURRY UP AND FEED ME ALREADY!"

Once I give her a hello rub we will usually play for a bit. I will tickle her belly, pat her back by her tail and rub her head in a way that tells her I am up for a bit of roughhousing. She doesn't like getting too aggressive with my naked hand, but if I hide my hand under a blanket or towel it's a different story. She clicks into Great White Hunter mode. The butt goes up in the air and wiggles back and forth as she crouches down to stalk her prey. Her tail twitches wildly. All at once she shoots across the bed and skids to a halt with her arms outstretched to slip under the towel and catch my wiggling fingers.

We were in the middle of this little romp. She had caught my hand, rolled onto her back and started scratching her hind legs against the towel. I knelt down and got closer.

That's when it happened.

It was a small sound, like a squeak. I went still. We looked at each other. She had a look on her face as if to say "Why'd ya stop?". It only took me a moment to realize.

My cat had farted in my face.

Ever so delicate sounding. A small feline queef. "You farted in my face!" I couldn't believe it. She was licking her paw and looked up. "Reow?" So? It was a look that said "Whadya expect? You feed me that indoor cat crap with greens in it?"

That ended our play session for the day.

5 comments:

izchan said...

our pets can get away with nearly everything.

nearly. :)

Mel said...

Well they don't think there is actually anything wrong with normal bodily functions - only us neurotic humans do ... sigh. :)

Rurality said...

With 3 new kittens I have suddenly learned all about feline gasses.

It's not pretty.

I'm currently in search of a less-smelly, less-poop inducing cat food!

izchan said...

You know what ruality?

I thought your 3 kittens were named as

... Less-Smelly ...
... Less-Poopy ...
... and Cat Food ...

:) ... I could not stop laughing.

ME said...

What is even worse than a cat fart is a smelly dog fart... Those are the worst especially right after he gets done with his rawhide... I know this from experience...