Finale: Cats vs. Dogs

There is more to cats than meets the eye. I have shown you what I have discovered about my cat in past month or so, and we have barely scratched the surface. I can't speak for every species of cat, but mine is incredibly complex and interesting behind her shimmering green eyes. I think that concept holds true for anything; if you look hard and long enough at something, new things will appear that you never saw before. That is why I believe that my cat is the greatest cat throughout the history of the world.

Any cat owner will say the same thing about their feline friend. In fact, any pet owner will stake that claim. It's like having a kid, you always (well, most of the time) believe that your child is the best in the world. That is how our brains as a species are wired. The same thing happens with animals, you grow an emotional bond with your pet that closely resembles that which you grow with your own offspring. How your pet treats that relationship varies with the type of animal, and that's where the Cat vs. Dog argument comes into play.

Dogs are needy. They need attention from someone or something most of the time. Leaving a dog alone for a little while can cause stress. True, dogs are easier to train and are much more obedient, but they require a lot of attention.(Bradshaw, John) Dogs are notorious for chewing up household items and tearing through the house knocking things over. Most of the time, I believe, it is because they are stressed out over being alone. They need constant care and energy dispersion (a.k.a. walking), and have a nasty habit of pooping where ever they happen to be. They can be trained not to, but then it becomes the owner's job to clean it up, but that's a rant for another time. Dogs are very dependent on their owners for attention and care, and have an intense relationship with their owners.

Cats are independent animals. I have seen this a lot in Nutmeg over this past month. She is more inclined to sleep under a blanket or bed all day, detached from interaction with other living creatures.("Nocturnal Activities") She does seem to like affection from me on a daily basis, but it never lasts long. All she needs are her basic living requirements: food, water, a place to go to the bathroom, and a dark, quiet place to spend [sleep] the majority of her life. She is, as all cats are, a night [nocturnal] animal. Every night I hear her romping around the house, hunting shadows and creaks in the floor. This means that she will play at night, and sleep all day. Because of this pattern, not much human-to-cat interaction happens. She has no problem being left alone for an hour, or a day. In fact, on a few occasions we have left her alone with extra food for 3 days and she wasn't affected at all. We can't leave her longer than that, though, because of how full her litter box would get. That brings me to a big point I want to make. When was the last time you had to clean cat poop off of a shoe? Now, when was the last time you had to clean DOG poop off of a shoe? Cats, well indoor cats, are trained to use a litter box every time they use the bathroom. Some are even train to use a toilet! Dogs are allowed to use the world as a bathroom. It's disgusting. I have to watch my step any time I go to someone's house that owns a dog. Again, this really does fall on the owner's vigilance on cleaning, but cats poop in the same spot every time, whereas a search party is sent to locate the final resting places of what a dog ate in the past week.

I am a cat person, through and through. People can argue with me all they want but they won't turn me to the dog side. I believe that cats are better than dogs, and mine is the best of them all.

I think it's time you wonderful people saw my cat. I have left your brains imagining her appearance for long enough.

Bradshaw, John. "Pets and Their People." Psychology Today. N.p., 9 Nov. 2012. Web. 14 

        Dec. 2014. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/pets-and-their-people/201211/the-

        bond-between-pet-and-owner>.

"Nocturnal Activities in Cats." Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 

       2014. 

       <http://www.peninsulahumanesociety.org/resource/pdf/cat/nocturnalactivity_cat.pdf>.

Stop and Smell the Roses

"She is alert, but calm. Her ears are on a swivel, constantly twitching to keep tabs on anything and everything around her."

Nutmeg is fascinated by the outdoors. She is too scared to go out there, but she can watch it all day. She will perch on top of a couch or a window sill, and spend hours soaking up the sights and sounds. Cars tend to scare her, briefly disturbing her watch. Nothing goes unnoticed behind her either, her ears make sure of that.

Cats' ears are like an owl's head, they have over two dozen muscles in their ears that allow them to rotate them 180 degrees. ("Cat Behavior") A lot of a cat's body language comes from the movement of its ears, but that is a topic for another day. Cats have incredible hearing, and can pick up sounds below and above our human capability. When a cat freezes randomly and appears to stare intently at something, it could mean it is listening to a sound that we cannot hear. They can also pick up the slightest sounds, sounds we couldn't hear if it was in our range. ("How Well Do Cats Hear?") Cats' hearing is their most incredible sense. It is nearly impossible to sneak up on one. Even if it doesn't acknowledge its stalker, it knows that he/she is there. So the next time you see a cat's ear twitch, or even follow your movements, consider how effective its hearing truly is.

Nutmeg is, as I discussed in previous posts, scared of everything. As a result, her ears are in constant motion. She hears everything, and will keep track of every noise. If she hears something that she doesn't recognize, she races to the darkness under a bed in a flurry of claws and fur. They snap back and forth with an unseen precision. Some of the sounds that scare her into the asylum of the bed aren't even perceivable by human ears. Most people would think she is crazy, possessed perhaps, and avoid her. That suits her well, because she is terrified of new people. They make unfamiliar noises and have an unfamiliar smell. But those people don't understand why she does what she does, or why she is the way she is. Not many would take the time to find out, either. But that is true for most things, isn't it?


"Cat Body Language." Catster. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.  
       <http://www.catster.com/cat-behavior/cat-body-language>.

Merritt, Pamela. "How Well do Cats Hear?." Way of Cats Blog.
       WereBear Media, 2 May 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. 
       <http://www.wayofcats.com/blog/what-cats-hear/17870>.

Fight or Flight... or Lay Down and Look Cute

So far you have heard much about my cat Nutmeg, but I have yet to inform you of the other feline presence in my house. My sister's cat Taffy is a Tabby, like Nutmeg, and has very soft fur striped with yellow and orange. Taffy is older than Nutmeg by five years, and asserts a dominance over her. She is a chronically angry cat who loves her sleep. Wake her up, and you will be wiping blood off of your hand for the following hour or so. Despite Nutmeg's timidness, she has a certain fascination with disturbing Taffy's slumber. Like a sleeping bear, Taffy will always strike back.

Nutmeg is skittish by nature. She may be scared of everything, but her reaction to those things is peculiar. She doesn't run from them most of the time, and she certainly doesn't try to face them, but what she does do is curl up into a ball and stare at her foe with widened eyes. It is extremely effective when her assailant is a human being, because those green eyes can melt the coldest heart. Taffy, however, will take the opportunity to smack her around a few more times before she wises up and skitters under a bed. Beds are her sanctuaries. She spends most of her life in or under them, and uses them to escape any danger that she stumbles across. They are much more than a place to sleep; they are her homes.   

Staring Contest

"...there she was, on top of my bed, staring at the wall."

Everyone has  a moment in their lives where they act downright strange, and Nutmeg is no exception. Among her many quirks is her ability to stare at something for an extended period of time.  It can be anything. This time, it was her faint reflection in the shine of the paint on my wall.  I was tempted to bring her a mirror, but I didn't want to scare her.  She knew I was watching her, but her eyes never wavered from the cat staring back at her.  Blinking was rare.  Cats can go without blinking for a considerable amount of time when they want to.  They are bound by the same impulse to blink their eyes as often as we do, but can suppress the desire for extended periods of time if necessary.  People unaccustomed to the ways of cats can be easily unnerved by the unblinking stare of a cat.  In fact, they stare only because they are interested in the subject. (Why do Cats Stare?)  A word of wisdom to those of you who aren't familiar with cats, never get in a staring contest with one, because you will always lose.  The only way you will win is if the cat gets bored enough to look away.  Nutmeg's quirks are what develop her personality.  She never ceases to fascinate me.

The Non-Adventures of Nutmeg

She has always been afraid of everything.  Yes; everything.  People, loud noises, vacuums, shoes, soft noises, mops, creaking stairs, etc.  You name it, she is scared of it.  So naturally, when the construction started in our kitchen, she took sanctuary under my parents' bed.   The shine of her pale green eyes was barely visible from within the darkness.  I looked at her from the outskirts of the bed, and our eyes locked.  I could see nothing but her eyes, and they never moved.  She was always alert, ready to retreat to the asylum that total darkness offered.  It appears to calm her. Darkness, an agitator of humans, and a soother of cats.

There is one characteristic that is common to all indoor cats, they always want to go outside. Nutmeg, like her four predecessors, is an indoor cat. All four of the cats that have come and gone had strove to escape the walls I call home. They lived by the doors of my house, waiting for an oblivious passerby to crack the door long enough for them to slip out. Nutmeg is different. She is a skittish cat, and is quite easily scared. As a result, she has no desire to venture beyond the walls of my house. I have tested this, too. I have opened the door as wide as possible with her standing next to me and she skittered away from the door, not through it. She is truly one of a kind. It is normal for a cat to yearn for the outdoors. So, by definition, Nutmeg is not normal. That's fine with me. I'm not normal by the definition put in place by society, so we fit perfectly together. Normal is too mainstream.

An Overview of Cat

For the majority of my observations, my cat slept.  She seems to do that a lot.  Occasionally, she would meander around the house, bumping into assorted furniture.  But even in her sleep, there is beauty to be seen.  I saw things I had never seen before.  Her whiskers shift with her breathing, and will twitch every now and then.  Her tail will twitch as well, and will maneuver as if she is awake.  Who knows, she could be awake, wondering why in the world I am staring at her so intently.  She also sleeps on her stomach, always.  It really doesn't look that comfortable, but she seems to find enjoyment in it.  Her fur is the most spectacular of all, however.  Each of her hairs has many colors streaked across it, some having up to six different colors.  It gives her a very speckled coat of brown (dark and light), black and white, and it shines in the sun.  Already these observations have shown me things I had overlooked for years, and this is only the beginning.