. . . our cats . . .

[xiphias]

I've mentioned before that, while our cats are both pretty smart, they have different kinds of intelligence. Nora has cat intelligence, Nick has more human-style intelligence.

The thing is, they live in a human-built environment, so there are probably things that cat-style intelligence doesn't deal with that well.

This is to say that, after two and a half years of living here, Nora just now noticed the cat who lives in the mirror over the bathroom sink. She and the cat in the mirror just spent about five minutes trying to figure each other out, going closer, and farther away. Nora turned her back on the cat in the mirror a couple times, then spun around -- only to find that the cat in the mirror, even though SHE had turned her back at the same time, spun around at JUST THE SAME TIME.

The cat in the mirror wasn't being hostile, but was clearly getting nervous at the same time that Nora was, but, when Nora backed off, the cat in the mirror backed off, too, and, after five minutes, Nora and the cat in the mirror figured out they weren't threats to each other, backed away, and left.

Comments

[burgundy.livejournal.com]

I don't think I have ever had a cat even notice the cat in the mirror. I've seen Domino paw at mirrors many times, and she also paws at the glass in picture frames, so maybe she's noticing movement in the reflection, but she doesn't seem to think of it as a cat at all. And Domino's pretty smart. Weird.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I've seen Youtube videos of cats doing that, but this is the first time I'd ever seen it in real life.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Does Nick know he is the Kitty in the Mirror, when he meets it?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

We were trying to figure that out, but he didn't seem to even NOTICE the Kitty in the Mirror.

[bradhicks.livejournal.com]

Of course not. It's odorless. And when it moves, it doesn't displace the air. If a reasonably bright cat can't detect something with all four ranged detectors (eyes, ears, nose, and whiskers) then it knows not to trust it.

Although, now that I say that, the laser pointer proves me wrong. So, what do I know?

[sproutntad.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday btw!!! :-p

[goljerp]

I remember when JD (human boy) went through a similar phase of being very interested in the little boy in the mirror. He didn't get nervous, but was puzzled when he tried to touch the mirror boy. He grew out of the phase a while ago, though.