Somewhere, there is an equally confused dog

[rj_anderson]

A few months ago we acquired a lovely five-month-old calico kitten from the local shelter. When they notified us that she was ready to come home, they warned us that she had a slight respiratory infection (which soon cleared up) and also that she would be tender for a few da

Image by rj-anderson via Flickr

ys after her spaying operation.

What they did NOT warn us about, however, was that at some point during her stay in the shelter, some crazed scientist operated on her and swapped out her Cat Brain for a Dog Brain.

Seriously, this is the only way I can account for some of her behavior. The way she follows us around the house and lies at our feet wherever we go, for instance. Or how she shows little interest in being stroked, but loves it if you scratch and tousle her ears (after which she shows her gratitude by licking your arm ardently until you push her away). And whenever we go out as a family, she sits in front of the door and waits for us until we come home, so that the first thing we see on returning is a little cat face peering hopefully through the sidelight.

Snickers possesses only the most rudimentary sense of balance: when she jumps up on some narrow surface like the top of a chair, she either misses the mark entirely and tumbles back to the floor in a highly ungraceful sprawl, or she wobbles around for a few seconds and then falls off again.

Image by rj-anderson via Flickr

She is convinced that the leg of our coffee table is her sworn enemy, and frequently wraps herself around it and kicks at it with all her might. And though she may seem to have some feline grace when you watch her prowling about the house, I have seen her stalk face-first into a doorframe on more than one occasion.

She is, in short, a complete dork.

Her favorite sleeping position is also something I have witnessed dogs do, but never before a cat: lying on her spine, with her front paws folded over her chest and her back legs splayed wide. I have frequently also found her curled up in the sink, or sprawled in the bottom of our bathtub—even when the porcelain was still wet from the last person who washed their hands or took a shower.

I would almost be worried about Snickers, except that she seems to be in perfectly good health, and capable of doing everything she wants to do. She's a beautiful, sweet-tempered creature, loyal and affectionate and amazingly patient with our children. But I can only conclude that she slept through all her classes in Cat School—so it's a good thing we plan to keep her indoors for the rest of her natural life, because I can't imagine she'd last two minutes in the ring with an Actual Cat...

Comments

Welcome to the club

[bittervillager.livejournal.com]

We have two cats who are a little odd. Daria sleeps on her back, sprawling like your cat, and Clovar has been known to play chew-tug and fetch.

[npkedit.livejournal.com]

She does sort of sound like a dog--the wonders of mother nature :)

[kerravonsen]

(icon love!)

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

I think that's an orange cat trait (calicos being part orange). We've had three orange cats, all males, and all of them were goofy and dog-like. Two of the three were extremely clumsy for cats.

When Zippy the Wonder Cat, who is our current orange cat, was about half grown, we bought a nice floor-to-ceiling carpeted cat tree with wide perches for him. He fell from the top of it so many times we had to take it down. :D Zippy also sits near the door, in our case on top of a storage bench, so he can watch for us out the glass at the top of the door.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

LOL, that does sound like there's an Orange Cat trend! Very interesting.

(And hee on Zippy the Wonder Cat.)

[po-thang.livejournal.com]

Ummm...actually? The sleeping on the back and the bad balance thing? That's not just an orange cat thing. (although, that does fit my roommate's cat who is a calico and she looks just like your snickers)

My cat does all the things you said about Snickers...and he's all black. LOL

In fact, I'm kinda glad to know that our two cats are the only balance-deficient kitties in the world. They've both been known to fall off of a chair (or table) and then walk away like "I meant to do that." :-)

[fabulousfrock.livejournal.com]

Haha...cats all have their own weird behavior, don't they? My boy cat Oskar does that weird sprawled out tummy-up sleeping thing and I'd never seen a cat do that before. (He also gets extremely bizarre when he sees a yo-yo, but that's another story.)

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Gets bizarre in what particular way? You have made me curious!

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

Snickers sounds awesome. :)

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

She is, actually. Fits very well into the general weirdness of our household. :)

[shveta-thakrar.livejournal.com]

So cute! And I love the name. :)

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I can't take credit -- the shelter folks named her, and we thought it such a great choice we decided not to change.

Her (plain orange) brothers were named Oh Henry and Mr. Big. :)

[kismeteve.livejournal.com]

She sounds like the feline twin of my dog. They even share facial expressions. :)

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

She sounds a lot like Wooster cat. He follows us from room to room and lies on our feet. He sleeps at the foot of our bed every night. He sleeps on his back in chairs sometimes as you described and sometimes with his front legs stretched out like an upside down superman.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Heh, that's a great mental image. Super-cat!

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Does your kitty sleep with her face smashed in between couch cushions and into pillows? He does that too and I have never seen a cat do that before.

[sheryll.livejournal.com]

We see some of those things in our cats, but not all focused in one of them! Akira is the one who likes to sleep on his back, front paws over is chest and back legs wide open.

Any of them will wait for us at the door when we come in, but I think this is mostly just because they know that when Andy comes home from work he will feed them. They become confused when I feed them when I get home, though. Go figure.

The wee girl is not much for jumping up on things but Akira, the fatty of bunch is the one who can sleep balanced on the narrowest of spots. It's highly amusing to see because it really looks he couldn't possibly sleep like that. :D

Though I have to say, none of mine have stalked face-first into anything!

Oh, and I meant to mention much earlier that I notice you'll be Ottawa towards the end of the month. Is your time all filled up or are you up to dinner/coffee if our schedules permit?

[queenofthefae.livejournal.com]

She is a very cute dork!

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Dinner/coffee sounds like a great idea! I'll have to see what my final schedule is, but let's stay in touch about it -- I'm almost certain we can work something out.

[robinellen.livejournal.com]

Our last cat was almost exactly like this -- and he bit too (kind of like a dog might to play). But he wasn't graceful with his biting, and it hurt. I finally had to take him back because I couldn't handle the biting anymore (and he bit my daughter on the face)...but he laid on his back, just like you described.

[writerjenn.livejournal.com]

Our cat sleeps in every position imaginable, including that sprawled-on-the-back position. But he is white, not orange. :-)

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

She is gorgeous! And apparently got her Dog Brain from the same place that Harvey got his.

Harvey also does the back-sleeping thing, btw. We have a photo of it, but it's not fit for public consumption, as it's dominated by his giant furry testicles.

*looks lovingly at cat, plans snip snip*

[juliakarr.livejournal.com]

LOL! I currently have a cat who licks the olive oil soap and one who falls to floor and rolls on his back when you pet him - so you'll rub his belly. I have had a dog/cat before, who followed me everywhere - they are so strange... but lovable!

[necessaryspace.livejournal.com]

**Her favorite sleeping position is also something I have witnessed dogs do, but never before a cat: lying on her spine, with her front paws folded over her chest and her back legs splayed wide.**

I have a Calico, and she sleeps the same way that your cat does in that second picture -- on her back, front paws curled up. She also follows me around like a dog, sits in a chair like a person at times, and has a horrible sense of balance. She also likes to sleep under the quilt on my bed -- not on top. Under. I'll go into my room and there's a giant lump under my quilt.

[tezmilleroz.livejournal.com]

*snuggles to Snickers*

[pameladean]

I have never seen a cat sleep like that, but there is a remarkable number of LoLcat photos showing cats in that position. I don't know if that means more cat do that than it seems to me, or if people are just impelled to take a picture whenever a cat does sleep that way.

Snickers is a fine girl.

P.

[stephanieburgis.livejournal.com]

Hee. Her brain may have been swapped with our Maya's - she's a dog who uses her front paws exactly like a cat (but unfortunately without the ability to retract her claws, which would really come in handy). Hmmm....

[meril.livejournal.com]

This far and nobody's posted the link to Cats in Sinks (http://catsinsinks.com/) yet?

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Clearly, they were waiting for you! :) Thanks for the fun.

[tree_and_leaf]

I'm not a big cat person, but that's adorable!

(Maybe you could take her for walks on a lead? *g*)

[bluemoon02.livejournal.com]

Firstly ... Oh my god, she's beautiful!!!

Next, it's something I've witnessed that damaged cats do tend to behave more like dogs. Both my cats were strays that came to us, but the eldest I think has been knocked about a bit. She's very dog-like. She waits around for us, and follows us, and is very clingy and needy in a way that cats usually aren't. She also likes to 'go walkies' with us -- ie, she'll only go in the garden if we're going out. My Mum's cat is a shelter cat, and does the sleeping on his spine thing, and the attacking specific pieces of furniture as though they are mocking him thing. And my friend Gill's cat was abused by his previous owner (we're pretty sure he's brain damaged) and has zero balance and isn't very good at jumping. He displays the 'dorky' behaviour you described.

It's pretty special to have all these behaviours lumped together in one gorgeous package, but I guess you're just lucky :P

[shoebox2.livejournal.com]

*sporfles* Nothing quite like watching an oh-so-graceful leap end in scrambling failure, is there? Our old family cat used to give us the 'Don't laugh at meeeee!' glare a lot.

On the whole, though, I'm thinking it's better than a cat who's convinced we're merely playing host to a little person in a fur suit.
Dolly quite literally talks to us, explaining her every need in great detail. If we don't get it first go, she calmly inserts herself between us and the distraction (sitting on the keyboard, pawing the glasses off Shoemom's face, etc.) and refuses to leave.

*is typing this around a stubborn cat right now*

Incidentally, it's been my expeirence that most cats like having their head and ears tousled more than they do stroking (Dolly adores having her ears outright rubbed). Something to do with the skin being unusually dry in that area, I believe - also, their special 'this person/place/thing is MINE' glands are on the sides of their mouths.

[newport2newport.livejournal.com]

She's an adorable dork! My cats sleep on their backs, too. I think it's a sign of willing vulnerability. Obviously, she feels safe and loved.

[tinpra.livejournal.com]

She sounds like a hoot! I love other ppl's cats. All the fun, none of the veterinary bills.

[infiniteviking]

Awwwwwwwwww, what big eyes she's got. *grin*

Not to worry, my dad's cat goes in the sink all the time, and it's not even a round sink. We come into the kitchen and there she is, sitting there with the faucet dripping on her back. It's adorable.~

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

In the summer my cat will only sleep in the sink. I think it must be nice and cool, especially when you're wearing a thick fur coat.

[jonnyskov.livejournal.com]

LOL, I have a cat-dog, too! He eats the dogs food all the time (which really upsets the dog) and plays fetch.