When I came home from work yesterday, I had occasion to go to the bedroom. Djoser was on the bed and I reached to pet him. Now his usual routine is to strop his body against my hand, weaving back and forth and arching his back while purring and grab my hand if I quit too soon. But this time he didn't; he evidently had something on his mind.

He looked up at me and started making all kinds of chirps and mrrps and little growls and rumbles and was squishing his body shorter and almost starting to squat and every so often quivering his body and shaking his head and even showed his teeth. I was getting seriously concerned for his well-being, wondering if he was ill or having a seizure or hallucinations.

Then he trotted to the edge of the bed and looked down and growled and I wondered then if another wasp had gotten in and stung him. So I looked beyond the bed and there was the object of his distress: he was clearly telling me all about the evil poopie that wouldn't let go and drop into the litter pan and clung to him all the way to the bedroom and finally dropped off when he jumped on the bed!

I got a tissue to pick up the still-warm evil poopie and only then did he relax and start cleaning himself and acting normal. Meowmie can take care of anything! How humbling to think he looks up to me as conqueror of evil poopies!

Seriously, I have never seen a cat exhibit such behaviour as pantomime with cat language to tell a story. That cat is a lot more intelligent than I thought. He exhibited outrage, disgust, sequence of events, and trust in me; and he communicated it all to me! Awesome.

Copyright © Catherine Jo Sadler
May 9, 2002