Cats
TheRich's post reminded me of the cat my family used to have when I was around 6 years old. Her name was Mimiko. Well, I'm not sure whether the cat was male or female actually, but the name suggests it was probably a she-cat. It's a remote memory now, but she rubbed her cheeks against my legs whenever I got home from school, and in the mornings she came into my bed purring.
One day, she disappeared, all at once.
We had no clue where she had gone. I don't remember how many days had passed since then, but my friends and I happened to find a corpse of a cat lying by the railway on a grassy small hill. It was decaying, but was Mimiko's. She might have been run over by a train, or might not -- I've heard that cats will leave their owners when they know they are close to death. No proof, but that could be so.
It's always sad to hear about the losses of one's pets.
By the way, do you know when and why cats purr? I've thought they purr because they are happy. Yesterday, I watched an info-variety program on TV, and it was on cats' purring. They say cats purr 1. when they are relaxed, 2. when they are in poor health or injured, and 3. just before they pass away. Cats' purring has been a mystery so far, and even how they make the sound hasn't been made clear. They are cute, yet mysterious animals.
Comments
Throughout my lifetime I've had two cats disappear when they were getting rather old, so that could continue to add on to that theory.
That's rather interesting information reguarding cats purring. Did they go into why cats meow? I heard from someone that cats only meow to communicate with their human counterparts. In the wild, cats stop meowing after childhood. Hmmmm.
Posted by: TheRich | December 2, 2002 3:31 PM
No, they didn't. That's interesting. When I look a cat in the face, I feel as if s/he was talking to me. Hmmmm.
Posted by: Kiyo | December 2, 2002 11:00 PM
I've read that cats purr when they're happy or when they're upset about something. The common theory is that they only purr when happy - like a dog wags its tail.
We have 2 cats. They both meow when they want our attention, be it for food, water, lovin' or just to have our attention. They rarely meow at each other - and if they do, it's more of a growl because the younger one is trying to beat up the older one.
Cats have such unique personalities, too. Makes it easier to forgive them for tearing up our living room furniture...
Posted by: bcj. | December 3, 2002 1:29 AM
Yeah, they get their way.
Posted by: Kiyo | December 4, 2002 10:34 AM
I am a first time cat owner. My cat (who will be 1 in November) sometimes just walks around the house and meows for seemingly no reason. When I rough house with her she meows while she play bites me or whenever I pick her up. What do you think this means??? I think it's strange. She only purrs when she is happy, but I have heard that they purr before they die as well. I think it's a result of relaxing certain muscles, so when they are happy they are relaxed and they purr. Also, when they are about to pass away they lose certain motor movements which results in purring.
Posted by: Beth | September 26, 2006 11:29 AM