Animal planning......

So many years ago when I was in graduate school, and after spending what was then a lifetime with animals....I learned that animals don't have feelings, and many were theorizing don't do advanced problem solving......

Just another example of why I'm a not a huge proponent of the results of research in psychological, educational, kids and animals areas.......

Of course the research community has turned round quite a bit in terms of animals, at least, since then......and my  additional 40 years with creatures has just supported my original thoughts......

Still the things they do are amazing, and also quite funny (if not irritating) at times....

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There's this guy who comes frequently and stares in the sliding glass door until I put some apple slices out for him.....although there are sunflower seeds easily within his reach, fresh fruit takes precedence at this point...

 ...and then there's Ms. Halle B Berry Black Cat......

Halle is, as you may have read in a previous post, the only cat that I've had since kittenhood since I was probably 20.  The others were adopted as adults from shelters....Halle came from the mean streets of the city as a kitten, albeit a black one, right before Halloween (not a healthy time to be a wandering black kitten).

Halle has, to say the least, not been a very interactive, or affectionate cat.   This may support the belief that shelter animals are so happy for another chance.....at this point I can't even say second chance, as Ms. Toby Cat was adopted from a rescue after having been  abandoned by her previous owner 3 times at the vet's office, so it was maybe her 4th chance?

Halle's primary interests in life are food, food, food, and watching creatures great and small out the sliding glass door.  She does become quite interactive when she thinks it's time for a meal.   She also has a strong sense of routine, every night she gets her hairball medicine, one of her favorite treats, and luckily will sit patiently while I get ready for bed, awaiting her turn.

Thank goodness, as I've mentioned, she has switched her morning routine from feet biting, to lying next to me purring until I wake up sufficiently to get up and feed her.

She also, as I've mentioned, used to be quite huge, and as a 'perk' of her new size, she loves to get on top of the kitchen cabinets.....for the most part she goes from the counter, to the top of the fridge, to the top of the cabinets, and back down.   Not sure why, other than to prove that she can.....

But lately she's managed to get on top of the cabinets over the range.   I am not at all sure how......except that it often involves many missed tries, and lots of banging and noise.......

The thing is that once she gets up there, the only way down (at least independently) is to jump to the floor, and out over some things nearby on the floor.....so she's been stuck up there, until I get her down.....

For the first several times, after I would move a chair over to the cabinet, and climb up on it, she would back away from me, and stay just out of reach.  I could call her, and she might come to the edge, but would back away again.....until I managed to grasp a leg, and drag her to the edge, and then down......

But now, it would seem that she knows exactly what she's doing, and that there is a purpose in what she does......because now she walks to the edge looks over and cries.....when I get the chair and climb up, she now will reach out for my shoulder, climb on my shoulder til secured, and lowered to the level she can easily hop down......

Today as I was standing watching her trying to see what she'd do if I just ignored her, she put her feet over the edge and stared at me as if to say...I've done my part, now get up here and get me down.....

It is as if she needs to be reassured that indeed I do cherish her, not only enough to feed her, but to rescue her from high places......

I'm thinking there are probably many of us who would like to be reminded that they are cherished, beyond the point of being fed, but to the point of being rescued from danger.....even if it's only imaginary........