This is What Happened

Yesturday our Tom Cat's rival tried to assume ownership of the porch and leadership of the cats. He was bigger and fluffier than our Tom but none of the cats would let him take over. In this particular cat domain the Alpha Male loved and washed and played with the kittens ever since they can remember. It is not just survival of the fittest. Its like the old saying "Anyone can be a Father, but it takes someone special to be a Daddy." Apparently their Daddy was beaten by this other cat and he had come to claim the wife and kids, drive off the sons and make more kittens. Which is how life in cat world operates. Except here. Here they are a loyal family and they drove away the new guy and welcomed their daddy back even if he wasn't the biggest and the fluffiest. He was theirs and they loved him. I went out to take a picture of the family all piled on top of each other sleeping in the cat carrier, but they all jumped up when I opened the door and the Mom jumped into my lap and the Dad and kids watched me from a distance - in a cat kind of way. To the untrained eye it is difficult to detect being watched from being ignored. Sunday the cats were watching me. I pretended not to notice until they looked straight at me. Then I looked up quickly and made eye contact. That caused them to turn their head and yawn in an exaggerated way. Cats are very good spies. They use everyday nonverbal signals to confuse and mislead you. They are one of my favorite animals.