Jun 25th, 2022 Saturday Cloudy
What is life like for a cat? How do they think about their interaction with the human world, and their “owner”?
That is a fascinating question that I am not sure we have found the perfect answer to. Not until we can really talk to our feline friend, or at least understand what is going on in their cute heads.
A book I recently finished on my trip to San Diego, “traveling cat chronicle”, takes an interesting perspective on this question. The star in the book, Nana, used to be a stray cat. An accident tied his life with that of his owner, Satoru. The duo spent five nice years together, before Satoru found out about the cancer that would take him to a different world in a year. In this last year, in a silver van, Satoru took Nana on a journey to visit several old friends, in the hope of finding him a new home. Past memories were unearthed, patched relationship healed, and the connection to the future built, on this final journey where Nana and Satoru shared many beautiful moments and marvelous views together. In the end, Nana insisted on seeing off Satoru cross the rainbow bridge, while waiting to join him eventually, some day.
My husband watched the movie adapted from the book with me last night. Being a hard-core rationalist, he commented that while it was cute to tell the story from Nana’s perspective, ultimately we do not know what cats think. Even animal behaviorists acknowledge the challenge of studying cat psychology, because these willful creatures are unlikely to be cooperative participants in any kind of experiment, and their fickle behaviors make interpretation of any observation particularly challenging.
In other words, what we think cats are communicating to us may often just be our projection, or what we hope to hear from our furry buddies: “I am pleased”, “this pate is tasty”, “please pet me”, “can I please snuggle”, and “I love you”. I guess if our interpretation makes us happy and the kitty has no objection, then who cares? 😛
Except that, every now and then, I wish Lyn could talk to me. I wish to ask her how she feels about various things, such as traveling with us (like Nana with Satoru). Cats are curious creatures by nature, but they also seek the comfort of familiar places, familiar people, and familiar scents. A purely indoor cat may not dare wander outdoors on his/her own despite all the excitement in the outside world that they can imagine, but would Lyn be even happier (assuming she is happy now) if she can travel to see new scenes, smell new scents, and encounter new experiences, without losing her safe base (i.e. still being in our arms or on our laps, or in this basket 😉 )?
Would that make her life richer and more memorable? Would that make her feel extra special?
Compared to a typical human being, a cat’s life journey is much shorter. But the meaning of one’s life journey is not only determined by its duration. Sometimes, a short life full of adventures and colors could be more worth living than a long, dull life where each day is just repeating another. A house cat that lives indoors has limited realms to explore, and we want to keep it that way for our company and for their own safety. Nevertheless, what if our sweet Lyn is given a choice? Would she still want to be with us?
To be honest, we do not want that choice to happen. Like Nana, we want to be with Lyn where we can see her, feel her, and cuddle with her, until the very end of her journey, however long or short that might be.
Then perhaps, just perhaps, when we have the pleasure of meeting Lyn again, in an ocean filled with spring blossoms, Lyn will tell us, that she had a wonderful life with us.