You’re Not Listening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP_Aw9EMB-U
Back in the Old Country — well, okay, Oregon — occasionally we would need to skip town now and then, and leave our cats with our parents. Our mom once marveled at how talkative they were, which struck us as an odd thing to say, because of course they were talkative. We talked to our cats all the time. And they talked back.
It’s really not hard to understand cats. “I’m hungry” and “I want outside” and “I’m fucking pissed” pretty much runs the conversation. (With dogs, it’s all “Do you love me?”) Talk to them like a grownup — “That tabletop is my turf!” — they’ll get the message.
And listen to them. When cats talk, they’re trying to get your attention, using their voice because that’s how you do it. (Between themselves, a cold stare, some hisses and growls, and a twitchy tail are sufficient.) Cross-species communication is inevitably imperfect, but we’re all mammals here. A little empathy goes a long way.
(Birds confuse the shit out of us, by the way. No common ground.)
All this should be painfully obvious to anyone who’s spent serious quality time around cats. But cats also bear the burden of being cute, leading some people to treat them as delightful animatronic objects that lack souls.
For those people, there’s the new Catterbox Collar, which purports to provide real-time meow-to-English translation, in an accent of your choice. (Time it would take a cat to trash that infernal object in the shrubs: Two hours.) But if you’re not listening to begin with, what difference would words make?
Temptations Made a Collar That Finally Gives Your Cat a Human Voice, So It Can Talk to You [Adweek]
Yoda says – can you pee by yourself? is the litterbox clean? where is the cat food you ordered?
Vader says – where are the toys? is there dry food?
HAHAHAHA! OMG! Is that A Real Thing?
Right now my cats are pissed that:
1. My brother was in town for waaaay too long;
2. We left them for three nights;
3. I’m about to hit the Ape Caves (gone again! OMG!); and
4. He bogarted the joint.
ETA: The short videos are worth a chuckle. And if the logo looks a bit familiar…
ETAA: Wait. No. Please. They really aren’t doing this to cats. The skateboard was humiliating enough.
FLYINGCHAINSAW • Harris-Kelly ’24 PERFECTION! Bumper Sticker: HARRIS GIVES GOOD GURNEY!
NOJO • Harris-Kelly ’24 I know, getting ahead of the game here — and Gabby has the only vote — but let’s go down…
FLYINGCHAINSAW • Campaign 2024 Update 2024 General Election = White Power Vs. White Genocide The MAGAs will soon be opening fire on…
NOJO • Campaign 2024 Update Whatever table it was, just remember you didn’t have a seat at it.
NOJO • A Nation of Immigrants @nojo: Okay, here’s a thought: They broke it, they bought it.
FLYINGCHAINSAW • A Nation of Immigrants https://gettr.com/post/p38v9kc47ae
NOJO • A Nation of Immigrants @nojo: No original thoughts about the Democratic circus right now, for example, other than christ,…
NOJO • A Nation of Immigrants @Burr Deming: I may be back more often if he’s back. Right now anything I might say is just…
¡ANDREW! • A Nation of Immigrants Start the deportations by sending terrorists and fascist traitors E-loon Mush, Peter Thief, and all…
BURR DEMING • A Nation of Immigrants An accurate representation of how today's Republicans see a Nation of Immigrants. Welcome back,…