Have you ever noticed how sometimes your cat seems to have no legs at all, yet at others you can actually count more than four legs protruding from underneath the sleeping feline?

After having spent many years observing this phenomenon, I've decided that the only way cats can manage this is by having a timeshare agreement on legs, with other cats. This means that on those occasions when all four legs disappear (also known as the tea-cosy pose), another cat somewhere on the globe has borrowed them. Your cat will be unable to move around until his legs are returned. The alternative occasion is when you cat appears to have more than four legs - my cat exhibited this frequently when curled up asleep, legs and feet appearing from all angles. At this moment in time, some poor cat (elsewhere on the globe) is unable to move, since your cat has borrowed his legs.

What really worries me is the thought that there is a central repository for cat legs, and the legs that your cat is currently in possession of, may not be the same ones that he had yesterday!

Copyright © Rachel Craddock
October 19, 2003