Important Stuff -- Or Not: I Think My Cats Can Count

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

I Think My Cats Can Count

OK. I have about a dozen clocks, of which six chime. I get home from work between 7:00 and 7:30 am and the first thing I do is feed the cats. I then go to bed and set my alarm for 7:30 pm. I have noticed over the past several days that after 7:00 pm, (after my clocks have chimed seven) my cats descend on me and wake me up before my alarm can go off. My black cat Guinevere pokes me in the back or touches my arm. My crazy calico Willow stomps up and down on top of me, and my precious Ginger rubs her head against my face. Sarah is already out sitting next to the food bowls. And they won't leave me alone until I get up to feed them. Seems cats don't have snooze buttons. So, can cats count or am I imagining things?

6 comments:

Trader Rick said...: oUR CATS DO THE SAME THING. tHEY KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS.; 6:41 AM
Jean said...: I don't think it's so much counting as having a very accurate internal clock and a strong understanding of their human's habits.

Our Ajax becomes quite agitated if at least one of us hasn't made our move to go to bed by 10 pm. He also knows when we usually get up, and if we aren't up by then, we get several visits involving tromping upon. My husband gets up earlier than I do, so he gets visited before I do. It's not food-related, because the cats have a food tower and eat when they want.; 12:12 PM
Tonto said...: I don't know if the cats can count but if I was resting peacefully and heard SEVEN clocks CHIMING at ONCE!...I would poke you too! - to get up! and shut them off! :)

But if I were a cat and hungry I would also think - MAN I LOVE THE SOUND OF THE DINNER BELL! and thank you for reminding me - Dinner's coming! :); 1:48 PM
Joe said...: Our pugs have a routine. At 4 PM they start running to the door to go outside. They begin scratching to get back in at 4:50. They actually get in and get fed at 5 PM. Then they run to the back door and whimper to go back outside to do what dogs often do after they eat.

Can they count? I don't know. But Jean is certainly right about animals having some kind of internal clock.; 12:51 AM
Trader Rick said...: As far as internal clocks go, it's even more than that:

Years ago some experiments were made with clams from New England that naturally open with the incoming tide and close when the tide goes out, to feed.
They moved the clams to Chicago, and after being confused for a few weeks, they started opening and closing in conjunction with what would have been the tides in the midwest.

So I guess they can feel the tug of the moon.

I know I do.
Clam chowder, yum!; 5:58 AM
Anonymous said...: I refer to Twix as Pavlov's cat. She's a grazer, but she runs to the laundry room for food anytime the dryer buzzer goes off--anytime, day or night. She bugs me until I get up to answer it. If there's already food in her dish, she has a nosh. :); 12:43 AM

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1. Hate makes people stoopid.

2. There is nothing so impenetrable as a closed mind.

3. A stupid person is not someone who can't learn, but someone who refuses to learn.

4. It is a small mind that has no room for God.

5. You can take Stalin out of the gene pool, but you can't take Stalinism out of liberals.

6. The best way to sabotage a bad plan is to follow it to the letter.

7. The race card is the first refuge of people who have nothing to say.

8. Ignorance is the cornerstone of arrogance.

9. Which is more racist, to hate someone who is not white or to assume someone is racist because he is white?

10. Children are not stupid. If a child is taught, the child will learn. If a child is not learning, the child is not being taught.

11. To express righteous indignation, one must first be righteous. And that's a label that doesn't stick to liberals.

12. Profanity is ignorance made audible.

13. An open mind is a liberal's worst enemy.

14. Paternalism is the purest form of racism.

15. People who bend the truth, usually bend it in their favor.

16. If you always stand in opposition to liberalism, you will never be wrong.

18. Life is simple. People who make it complicated usually have an agenda.

19. Getting your news from the corrupt, liberal media is like sticking your head in the sand, except you don't get grit in your teeth.

20. Liberals' emotional development stops at the age of 16.

21. To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell the truth.

22. Idealism seldom matches up with reality.

23. Those who don't hate communism have never lived it.

24. This was a much more civil country when men walked about heavily armed.

25. This economy will never heal as long as Obama keeps picking at the scab.

26. Liberals don't think outside the box; they ARE the box.

27. You cannot change the hearts and minds of liberals, because they possess neither.

28. There is no such thing as a kind liberal.

29. Reading Democratic Party platforms is like reading the history of human rights abuses and crimes against humanity in this country.

25 Immutable Truths About Liberals

Over the years I've been writing this blog, I've been throwing out little self-evident truths that seem to have no exceptions that prove the rule. I've made a list of some of them and will add to it as I remember them or make up more. Most of this list I've come up with myself. A few I've borrowed from others.

1. Always expect the worst from a liberal and you will never be surprised.

2. Never try to reason with a liberal. They disregard any evidence that conflicts with their beliefs.

3. You can always tell what liberals are up to by what they accuse conservatives of doing.

4. Liberals don't debate, they argue.

5. The only standards liberals have are double standards.

6. Liberals feel, conservatives think.

7. Whenever you don't understand a liberal's motives, just look for the money.

8. Liberals cannot be embarrassed. They lack the gene to blush.

9. The Liberal Golden Rule is, "Do unto others but scream bloody murder if they do unto you."

10. Liberals don't have leaders, they have demi-gods.

11. There are no honest liberals. If they were honest -- especially to themselves -- they would be conservatives.

12. A liberal's business is nobody's business, but everyone's business is a liberal's business.

13. Liberals have an inflated sense of self-worth. They are like house flies that criticize the air-worthiness of a Stealth fighter. (Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, ad infinitum are morons.)

14. Liberals lack a sixth sense that conservatives have in abundance -- common sense.

15. Liberals never stop hating.

16. There are only two types of liberals -- the deceivers and the deceived. The difficulty is telling them apart.

17. Every time liberals get on their high horse, they get bucked off.

18. Liberal programs are so wonderful that they have to be forced on people.

19. Liberals always choke on their own medicine.

20. When given a moral choice, liberals always come down on the wrong side of the fence.

21. The only way liberals can build themselves up is by tearing others down.

22. Liberals not only refuse to learn from their mistakes, they refuse to admit them.

23. Liberals have only two political positions -- blind devotion and blind hatred.

24. Liberals are incapable of attacking the message, so they always attack the messenger.

25. Liberal diversity is only skin deep.