by, Jo Carol Hebert

I Am Your Cat…

I lounge on your couch. You cater to me with toilet facilities and gourmet foods. I let you pet me when I feel like it.

But I will always be an enigma. You don’t really know me. But I will let you in on a few cat facts about me . . .

Did You Know?

• I have more toes on my front paws than my back paws
• a group of cats is a clowder
• a group of ‘felines’ is a glaring
• a group of ‘so cute’ kittens is a kindle

Don’t Try To ‘Sweet-Talk’ Me

I have no taste receptors for ‘sweet.’ I am the only mammal that can’t taste sweet. So eat your own ice cream (although I notice that you could skip a few of those late-night trips to the freezer).

President Abraham Lincoln

Yeah, that’s right. He LOVED cats. He brought home stray cats all the time. ‘Tabby’ and ‘Dixie’ were his pets. He even fed ‘Tabby’ from the dining table of the White House during a formal dinner.

Did You Know?

• White cats are for financial fortune in Russia
• White cats are bad luck if they leave your home in Britain
• The largest domestic cat breed is the Main Coon (up to 30 pounds)

Honorary Mayor Cat

One of ‘us’ was even mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska for nearly 20 years. ‘Stubbs’ (who had no tail) was put on the ballot by the townsfolk and elected ‘honorary mayor’ in 1997.

He had his own office in a store in town. Citizens and tourists visited and inquired of his political opinions. But ‘Stubbs’ was a savvy public servant and remained silent on the matter.

Old ‘Stubbs’ died in 2017 and was buried with all honors, being the only ‘party’ animal ever elected mayor in Talkeetna.

Nap Time

That’s all you need to know, for now. The cat mystique is a code of honor among us that have allowed humans to think they have ‘domesticated’ us.

But you can’t see into our dreams when we are wild and stalking prey with stealth and cunning in the mountains, jungles, and woodlands of the world.

Move my cat bed a little closer to the fireplace, will you? And ‘tuna’ would be nice for dinner tonight.