The reason is not always evident —

Trying to understand my cats —

The power of the slow blink —

With any hope of success —

Hint: file under lost causes —

And other interludes —

Because even felines need some reassurance from time to time I have said it before: cats are among the most complacent creatures on earth. But that being so, there are still times when cats find their nearly-perfect selves in need of some additional affirmation. I know this from experience. Every…

Both an exercise and an art form —

It’s only what they think they deserve. —

Aren’t we all? — Cats can be independent and unpredictable. Very true. But it can also be said with equal confidence that cats are creatures of habit. Cats don’t like change, whether it’s change to the arrangement of furniture, the brand of cat food, or a new person entering the room. When a cat…

And practice all their lives There are many people in the world who don’t like cats. This article is not for them. Instead I am writing directly to those cat owners and cat fanciers who love cats in spite of (or perhaps because of ) their mysterious, sometimes exasperating behavior. If somehow we had the…

Paradise for a cat — A patch of sunlight on a kitchen floor becomes a bit of paradise for a cat. Where there is sunlight there is warmth. Where there is warmth there is rest. Where there is rest there is peace. A moment of metered eternity measured in feline ecstasy punctuated by languorous purrs. …

Remembering a very special friend Many years ago I had a lovely grey cat named Rosemary. She was one of a kindle of three kittens we found (along with her two brothers whom we named Parsley and Sage)that someone had thrown out of a car, into the woods. Of all…

Why should she? — A cat feels no guilt for doing what a cat does choosing its own way If I ever return in this epoch-cycle-of-life-and- death, I want to come back as a cat. Not just any cat, mind you, but as a pampered and much-loved house cat, that most complacent of creatures. …

In a world safe and warm — My cat is snoring too sound asleep for purring her world safe and warm Listening to my cats as they purr or snore, oblivious to all the world, I feel the drowsy-lidded temptation to succumb to sleep as well. . .just …

Impossible to ignore —

What would we learn? — It is late morning. My cat jumps from his warm bed, arches his back, and treads with cool deliberation to the closed door leading to the screened porch at the back of the house. Ready as always to assist, I open the porch door for him, and stand in the…

A house becomes home — A cat curled in sleep engulfs a small room with purrs A house becomes home. Nothing is as soft beneath your stroking fingers as a sun-warmed cat. Asleep one moment stalking a toy mouse the next. What a pleasant life. A cat flicks her tail not to welcome but to warn. Ignore…

They know the value of the moment — Cats are creatures of comfort. The softest lap, the warmest patch of sun they claim without apology knowing their very essence embodies a life force so perfect and complete that even their claws come sheathed in velvet while their purrs mask their unrepentant urge to spit and hiss on any of the unenlightened world who…

Resistance is foolish — A cat on your lap. An immoveable object, foolish to resist. I was browsing through a catalog this morning and came across a tee shirt with the words “ She believed she could. But her cat was asleep on her lap, so she didn’t.” Brilliant! And, oh, so true. There…