Conference misery::feline_v1

    Hi, Holly -
    
    Reminds me of Touey plopping himself onto the pile of clean, folded
    laundry yesterday when he knows he has his own catnip-filled kitty
    mat.  It's as though they (cats) say, "How much do you dare me to
    do this?" ;-)
    
    Maureen

    One of my siamese, Mao, sleeps with me every night.  No matter what
    part of the house we're in, when I say "come on, Mao, let's go to
    bed."  He runs ahead of me and jumps on the bed yelling loudly at
    me to hurry up.  I know he understands!!

    Nikki understands alarm clocks.  Every morning my alarm beeps loudly
    at 6:30.  Both cats always sleep in my room at night.  One morning,
    when the alarm went off, I said, Cmon kitties, time for breakfast!
    and they ran downstairs with me.
    
    Now every morning when the alarm goes off, Nikki jumps up and runs
    to the bed to get me.  If I don't get up with the alarm, he yells
    at me until I do.
    

    The only word Portia understands is "Pouncers".  Whenever I  can't
    find her, all I do is yell "Pouncers", and shake the Pounce can.
    
    As for Oscar, he only understands "Oscar need pats".  He needs his
    loves, pats and affections as much as he needs food and water. 
    So, whenever we can't find him, all we do is yell "Oscar need pats"
    and he comes running for his dose of affections.

    Well, I can't help but respond to this one--
    
    When I can't find Billie, and the old canopener routine doesn't
    work (hit the opener and the sound usually makes her come running
    for chow), *this* gets her.
    
    I get out her kitty brush, brush the rug a few times (loudly), and
    yell, "Billie! Brushie-brushies!!"  [I want you to know I am blushing
    while writing this!]  She'll come barrelling out of wherever she
    is to get her brushing.
    
    ..do we train them, or  is it the other way around??
    
    :-)
    
    Jane

    
    
    	Every morning, shortly before my alarm goes off, if the kitties
    	have been shut out of the room during the night for bad behavior,
    	Bandit will sit outside my door and start meowing.  The second
    	I yell, "Bandit, shut up", he does!!!  
    
    	T.K. comes to the sound of a fingernail tapping a beer cap.
    	Now I just have to get him to come when I say "T.K., want a
    	beer?".
    
    	Karen

    
    
    	It's interesting seeing the behavioral patterns of cats when
        you're trying to get there attention. 
        I'm not sure how it came about but all I have to do is say 
        smaug name in a calling voice and he comes. 
        As far as cats not understanding english I don't agree.
        Just the other day I was laying on my couch and smaug came 
        prouncing around the top, just over me.
        I tapped my chest and said "c,mon lie down" and no sooner had
        I said it but he did it. There are numerous little thing which
        prove to me that cats do in fact understand the ones they interact
        with every day. Maybe by symbols, pattern or tones but they
        understand.
    
    
    			Joe Lore

    Of course cats understand! My cats may not totally understand all of my
    words, but they certainly know that the sound of the word "Bonkers"
    means good treats to eat, and the sound of the words "All kitties may
    come up!" means that I am going upstairs and would like their company,
    and that the sound of the words "Kittie din-din!" means that they get
    their daily treat of canned cat food. 
    
    They also know:
    
      Want to come over here and sit with me?
      What are you doing on the table? You know that you're not allowed
          up there!
      Maybe he (she) needs to go to the Vet . . . 
      Would you please leave that alone!   
      Kittie want a back-scratch?
           
    And lots lots more.
    
    Anyone who does not think that a cat can understand has probably
    just been the victim of a cat ignoring what was said . . . and we
    all know how well they do that!
    
    Marleen (Sly, Adrienne, Springer, Paws, Midway)

    My two's favorite words are "EAT" and "FOOD". If either of those
    words are in any of our sentences, they jump on our laps, and "MEOW"
    in our face! That's the best attention getter I've found!
    
    Also, I don't know why, but you say "Boof" to the one cat, and off
    she runs! They also understand "out", and "no" SOME of the time!
    

    Milo & Cardigan understand English well enough to purposely take
    what you say to mean wrong!!
    
    Example: 
    
       A grey-baby is on the dining room table.
       I firmly say "Get down."  [I know they know what I mean because
    	  4 out of 5 times I get the "oh yeah" look and they hop right
    	  down]
       Grey-baby flattens into pressed-cat mode and I get this wide-eyed
       look - "Is this down enough, Mommy?"
    
    
      Ann

    Today, I went home for lunch.  We recently had a[n overly protracted]
    stay of in-laws, much to the displeasure of Karamaneh.  I speculated
    over lunch that possibly we'd be seeing a sister-in-law soon.  My
    wife asked Karamaneh what she thought of the woman returning.
    
    Karamaneh, who had been silent when spoken to before, stared intensely
    at my wife and said, "Naaaoww!"
    
    She said nothing else, but we both got the message.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Caesar definitely knows the word "hungry".  It doesn't have to be
    directed at him.  For example, if I ask my husband if he's hungry,
    Caesar naturally thinks I am speaking to him and will run to his
    bowl at the speed of light.
    
    He also understands the phrase "Caesar, come here", but he will
    only react if he feels like it.  May be smart, but he knows what
    he wants!
    
    Cheryl
    

    I once had an interesting experience with a friend's dog...
    
    My friend was Greek. Spoke Greek exclusively at home. One day her
    dog was sitting in the living room. I kept calling to the dog
    "c'mere girl, come here, come on..." and only got cockeyed stares
    in return.
    
    My friend then yelled "_______{Greek for c'mere, come on}____" and
    the dog ran right over...
    
    Edd

    My parents cat is the same way. I made a point of making sure that
    my cats learned English as well as Greek. Since they also speak
    Feline, I guess that they are tri-lingual.
    
    Deb

    I was watching a special on TV in Detriot Wednesday night.  It showed
    a deaf man whose German Shepard understood sign language.  That's
    not so amazing, but the doggie also communicated back in sign language!
    When he wanted to go out, he'd grab his leash, bring it to his master
    and motion to the door with his paw.  When he was hungry, he'd put
    his paw in his mouth.  Smart doggie!  All the barking in the world
    wouldn't help him!
    
    Mary

    Tubbs is used to getting his own way, and I'd give it to him.  But
    since I've married and my hubby is my `main squeeze', Tubbs is less
    that thrilled to come second place to a cat-allergic-guy.  Newie, which
    I've called him since he was a babe, isn't allowed in the bedroom,
    because he is again used to always sleeping with me and the cat hair
    can't be on the bed for my husbands sake.  Well, the second John is
    gone from the house he tears into the bedroom and hops up on the water
    bed and kneeds.  When I see him there I say "Newie, Mom said no, this
    isn't your bed!"  And he immediately becomes dead-weight, flops down on
    the bed, and looks at me saying "Mooommmm, please let me lay here
    awhile, Dad will never know."  And it is bad on my part because I'm
    inconsistent and if I'm in the mood for his company I let him stay.
    
    We are very close buddies, and he always has to be around.  As long as
    he can see or hear me he'll lay anywhere.  In the morning when I'm
    getting ready for work, he'll search the house, howling, calling "Mom,
    Mom, where are you?  You left me all alone!"  I'll usually hide around
    a corner, and peek out to see him and he will meow and talk to me
    saying "I see you Ma, and you won't scare me when you jump out at me!" 
    And he'll come in the bathroom and hop up on the counter and sleep
    there while I'm in and out.
    
    Spoiled??? Yes, and my husband and Tubbs have an ongoing battle of who
    can gain my affections when they are both in the room.  (Newie usually
    gets an extra hug)
    
    

    Re: .16
    
    How about some sort of throw for the bed?  You could put it on the
    bed when you get up in the morning and remove it (and the cat hair
    would go with it) at night.
    

    Well, some of them understand English...
    
    I must admit that much of my talk must be for myself.  I find myself
    talking to Tristan who's deaf as a post!  He does understand some
    sign language though, all made up by us.  And I think he knows that
    he's getting attention.  
    
    Tenzing definately understands English.  She used to get very upset
    with me when I got out of bed in the morning, because it would disturb
    her rest (she usually sleeps on top of, or right next to me).  So
    I started saying "Excuse me, Tenzing" whenever I got up.  After
    a couple of times she would get up as soon as I said it and quietly
    wait for me to get up before settling down again.  No upset at all!
    
    Karen, Tristan and Tenzing.

    I agree that cats can understand a lot of what is said to them.
    
    My mother has a siamese cat who does not like to go out very much,
    except to do his business.  If he needs to "go" he starts to get  
    restless and wander around the room.  If we see him doing this 
    we say "Do you want to go out Tuppy".  If he does want to go out
    he gives a really long meow and runs to the door, and if he doesn't 
    he just gives a little chirpy noise.  He definitely knows what you
    are saying.
    
    If my cat, Lizzie, is following me around the house in his usual
    manner and we are upstairs I always say to him "Down you go now"
    before I am about to go downstairs (otherwise he trips me up in
    an effort to get down before me!).  He knows exactly what I mean
    and goes down the stairs and waits for me at the bottom.
    
    The most amazing is my sister's cat.  He is an odd-eyed white and
    is completely deaf.  Right from when he was a kitten and he was
    naughty she could not stop him by shouting "no", so she points 
    her finger at him just in front of his nose in a very definite
    manner.  He knows exactly what this means and, if he is ever 
    being naughty, you only have to point your finger at him and he
    stops immediately.  He also looks very ashamed of himself.  It
    is really cute and he is the best behaved cat that I know.
    
    Three beautiful cats who, without exception, think they are 
    humans!   
              
    April     
              
    UK Reading          

    I must also concur that kitties understand what is said to them.
    
    Case in point:
    
    My little gray cat, Esco, *L-O-V-E-S* Christmas tree ornaments.
    Hence, I have taken to putting kitty proof ones on the bottom of
    the tree.  Well this past holiday season, my SO Chris and I were
    sitting watching TV when Chris spied Esco about to send another
    ornament into orbit.  She was sitting on the arm of a chair, paw
    in mid-air and Chris said, "Esco don't you hit that."  Well, she
    took off like a streak into the plant room.  And just as Chris was
    saying "Well I guess *I* told her", she came tearing back into the
    room, up on the chair arm, looked directly at Chris and tapped the
    very same ornament twice and took off back into the plant room.
    The look on her face was like NA-na Na-na na-naaaa, I fooled you.
    
    We just looked at each other and died laughing.  Esco didn't bother
    another ornament after that.
    
    I previously wrote about my first cat, Harry (RIP), that would
    roll-over, play dead, come when called, knew the difference between
    "Do you want to go out?" and "Do you want to go for a ride?"   You
    could ask him "Where's your mousie?" and he would search all over
    the house chirping until he found it, then he would bring it to
    you.
    
    Whoever says "cats are dumb" hasn't really known or been owned by
    a precious furface.  Though they can pretend that everything you
    say to them is in some alien tongue when they chose to ignore you.
    
    Roslyn, Esco and Brandy

    Sity (Sigh-tigh), my 16 year old Siamese spay has a preference for
    Brandenburg....   When we can't locate her, if the can-opener and
    Iams bag doesn't bring her, my husband whistle Brandenburg and she
    shows up immediately.   Whistling other songs will sometimes work,
    but Brandenburg never fails!