In last month’s Scratching Post I gave a link which Rev Marian Hale (US) sent me of a humorous article from www.earthporm.com.
The article – How to trap a cat in 3 easy steps – shows how, by just marking a circle – no matter how crudely – a cat will sit in it.
I tried it out on Casey. I have a hula hoop which usually sits in the back of my wardrobe waiting for the time when I will release it from its dark prison and whittle my hips to hourglass perfection.
Putting the hula hoop on the rug in the front room, I waited for Casey to see what he would do. First he looked at me as if to say: ‘What do we have here and am I supposed to do something because she has the camera ready?’
Then he stepped inside the hoop and finally he laid down!
So try it – follow the directions in the article on this link:
http://www.earthporm.com/trap-cat-3-easy-steps
Then send me your photos.
Glenda, a friend of mine who moved to the beautiful county of Somerset (where the cider apples grow!) tried it out on her cat Oscar – one of our Calendar stars.
Does this exercise prove that cats are intelligent or stupid? Hard to say but they all like to explore new things and I think that Oscar and Casey have proved this point perfectly!
Here's Oscar modelling his circle! As you can see he's just sitting in the middle of his circle wondering what he's supposed to do next.
A few minutes later and he's still sitting there unsure whether he should just get up and go or if it will offend the circle.
Oscar's 'cousin' Thompson also tried the circle test - as you can see here:
A morning kiss, a discreet touch of his nose landing somewhere on the middle of my face.
Because his long white whiskers tickled, I began every day laughing.
Janet F Faure