Cats respond to humans through their intelligence. But how much do they know and how much of what might be perceived as intelligence is actually synchronicity? This story looks at that question.
***
I’d just awakened and was sitting on the edge of the bed when I noticed Simba, our one-year-old orange male cat watching me from the doorway to the bedroom. I looked from him into the bathroom where the window was open several inches. He goes in and out early in the morning. I usually open it for him at 5:30. Somehow, he knows when it’s 5:30 and it’s always within a few minutes either way when he lets me know.
Simba has a little friend, a younger black male cat from next door, who follows him faithfully around when he’s outside. The cat likes Simba a lot. He might be gay. Simba is very gentle, a peace-loving cat, and quite a bit larger than his buddy Shadow. He tolerates Shadow, allows him to sit or lie next to him. But like most cats, Simba has his limits when it comes to friendship. He gets annoyed with the ever-present Shadow and sometimes growls at him to stay back. When he’s had enough of him, he comes in.
Once in a while Shadow will follow Simba through the window into the house. That’s when Simba gets upset and chases him out. He needs his space.
So, on this morning, I looked back at Simba and in a soft voice said. “Here comes Shadow. Get him out of here.”
I didn’t really expect a response. But suddenly Simba crouched, crept forward the way cats do when they’re outside, in the grass,, and peered to his right into the bathroom toward the open window. He took a long look, then relaxed, realizing that Shadow wasn’t there.
Trish thinks he’s smart and knows Shadow’s name, and knows that we don’t want that cat in the house any more than he does. But I think, in that instance, it might’ve been synchronicity. In other words, as I spoke to him, he acted on his own, moving forward to check the window. So it appeared he was responding to my words. Is intelligence or synchronicity at work here? I’m leaning toward synchronicity or telepathy, a form of synchronicity.
As I write this, the cat in question is staring at me from the doorway of my office. Maybe I should ask him.
Rob
What a beautiful story, Natalie!
I reckon they know. I was telling a story today (synchronicity) of my cat, who used to walk up to the corner everyday at 3p.m. and pick me up from school and walk home with me.When i was sad, she would sit with me and lick my tears away. We ran away from home together, and she would never leave my side. She died when I was 23, and I have never replaced her. When we first got her,(I was 5) she actually came up to me and I knew she was the one we had to buy.
Wow, Adele. I love this story! & maybe it's a little of both – understanding and synchronicity.
Being the self declared cat Mom of the planet, I have pondered your question many times. I phrase it more like, "Do cats understand English?" Sometimes they seem to and other times they act like they don't hear me at all, in any language. I'll share one striking example when my cat convinced me that she understood every word I said – when she felt like it.
When I was living in California I had two brother – sister black cats, Magic and Mystery. I had a deck over the water with a hammock I could relax in between bouts of work. I could let Mystery out with me because she would jump on the hammock and sit at my head at the top of the hammock and she seemed to enjoy the gentle rocking. I could not let Magic out because he immediately jumped over the rail to wander and make me worry.
Both Magic and Mystery loved to be brushed. They loved this more than eating. All I had to do was hold the brush in my hand and say, "Do you want to be brushed now?" and they would come running. But that is not the part where I wondered if they understood English. They saw the brush.
One day as I was brushing Mystery I said out loud, talking to myself or to her. "Why can't you brush me? That would be so nice to have someone pet me and brush me."
When it was time to sit in the hammock, Mystery followed and perched herself above my head, as usual. The next thing I knew I felt a claw slowly gently running through my hair like a comb, not piercing my skin. I lay very still, not wanting to disturb what felt like my hair being combed. She did this for several minutes.
Of course I wondered if that were a coincidence. Wondered if she understood my words. What ever it was, I was thrilled. But after that I made sure to say to her, "Are you going to brush my hair today if we can sit on the hammock?" And she did.
You tell me. Do cats understand English? Was that synchronicity? Cats are mysterious creatures and Mystery was aptly named. I will miss her always – and Magic too.
Rupert Sheldrake, in his book Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home, has some fascinating stories and research on the links between animals and humans. & Sheldrake is a biologist, which adds a whole other dimension to his material.
Cats and dogs have evolved certain intelligence and personalities that are attractive to their human “benefactors” since we work into their survival equation. Likely this is from selective breeding synchronized with natural selection.
Perhaps cats have simply learned to ‘play coy’ while turning on the ‘lap lustre’ affection from time to time as a response to the human tendancy of vacillating between “familiarity breeds contempt” to “familial ties equal security”.
Cathy and I had a cat—Penny, that looked exactly like Simba. Penny was an inheritance (after my daughter left for New Zealand). Now, although I love cats, my partner does not. Penny seemed to sense this because every morning she would leave Cathy a little present just outside the driver’s door of her van—a dead mouse. Since Cathy hates mice worse than cats, she started to warm up and every now and then I would catch the two of them curled up together 🙂
I think Trish is right—smarts played into it—Simba responding to Rob’s tone and need— so the ‘dog’ comes out of Simba and he went to face down the intruder (bet it gained extra points with Rob). However telepathic communication is possible too.