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Gathering Of Cats

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Anonymous

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This happened to myself and two friends just last night around this time.
We were driving around and out the back of a library, its quite a romte area.
I looked out the window and saw cat.
Then i saw more cats, alot more.
Under a streetlight in the back of the carpark was a huge gathering of cats, all just sitting near eachother.
They weren't doing anything or near anythign that attracted them together, they just seemed to be enjoying eachothers company.
It was like they were having a meeting, there was even a single white cat in the centre of the group who seemed like the leader.
We watched them for about 5 mins and they slowly and incospiciously slipped off into the darkness.

Could this mean that cats have societies, or can communicate telepathically? they must have some sort of reason to be together?
What do you all think?
 
They're plotting to take over the world.
They meet regularly to discuss their various owners and swap hilarious stories of how they've manipulated poor dumb humans into opening cans of food, opening doors, stroking their fur etc. :D

Seriously, though, they probably have a social pecking order much like lions and other big cats.
 
Anyone read Felidae by Akif Pirinçci? They're just holding a council meeting to discuss the latest goings on to affect their territories.[/code]
 
Sounds like that old cartoon 'Top Cat', fondly remembered from when I was about 5 years old. Cartoons were much better back then...
 
The Seeker said:
This happened to myself and two friends just last night around this time.
We were driving around and out the back of a library, its quite a romte area.
I looked out the window and saw cat.
Then i saw more cats, alot more.
Under a streetlight in the back of the carpark was a huge gathering of cats, all just sitting near eachother.
They weren't doing anything or near anythign that attracted them together, they just seemed to be enjoying eachothers company.
It was like they were having a meeting, there was even a single white cat in the centre of the group who seemed like the leader.
We watched them for about 5 mins and they slowly and incospiciously slipped off into the darkness.

Could this mean that cats have societies, or can communicate telepathically? they must have some sort of reason to be together?
What do you all think?
Click to expand...

Thank God that this did not happen on Lent during the Middle Ages. Otherwise there would be a barbecue that even the most liberal Chinese restaurant would be put to shame.

I have a book on cats and the author talks about this happening when she took a cat on vacation with her. Apparently he joined one of those secret societies.

Or it could be Queen Beruthial's cats seeing as the white one was the leader. ;)
 
Cats do have societies, just like lions. If these were all housecats, they probably wouldn't hang out together. But if they were strays, possibly related, they might well have a little society going.

My roommate and I have 4 cats, and they have a small society. They also have this neat trick at night when they want to eat. I'll see them gather just outside the room I'm in, and sit in a circle looking at each other, then one (a delegate?) will come in and meow at me. If I manage to ignore that cat, he/she will go back to the group and a different cat will give it a try. It's pretty funny! I should try to keep track of whether the delegates always go in a certain order - a pecking order, perhaps - because when they get together like that, they just sit pretty much still, looking at each other. Of course, with cats, I think they can communicate a lot by how they look at eachother.
 
there was a society of strays in our neighborhood until they were rounded up and taken to the Humane Shelter. The leader was a large long haired golden male, very friendly and brave, he'd come up to you and 'demand' to be petted. One night we left our door open with only the glass screen door closed. Our three cats, as usual, went to the door and looked out. After about 15 minutes, every single neighborhood cat had gathered in front of the door and was looking back in at our three. Almost as if they were conducting a diplomatic meeting, it wasn't creepy at all, more cute than anything else.
 
I got my cat from a family that was leaving the country for a year, but I had known and liked him for a number of years prior to that. A cute black-and-white cat that would miaow some news to me every time he saw me. Our friendship grew stronger during a two-week period while we were housesitting for that family. My friend and I were staying in that old house (haunted, by the way - we couldn't sleep in two bedrooms, so we had to move to the other part of the house) looking after that place near the forest and taking care of their old dog and this cat. The cat had been generally neglected, he would get locked inside for hours so he couldn't go pee, and never had enough food or clean water, so he would go and drink dirty water out of a ditch next to the house. His life wasn't easy, in brief. He would go and catch birds and rats and dig up moles, we was routinely running for his life from coyotes who inhabit that forest - overall, he led a semi-feral life. We had always felt sorry for him, for the way he was treated by his owners, so we tried to accomodate him best during our stay.

Anyway, one evening around Christmas time we were upstairs, the cat was inside. The upstairs landing had wrap-around bookcases between doors into different bedrooms. The bookshelves were filled with books and photo albums. I was sitting on the floor reading some book right next to a row of shelves, my friend was around the corner in one of the bedrooms. Suddenly this cat walked up to a bookcase and stood still staring at some books as if making up his mind. I just sat there watching him. Then he stood on his hind paws and reached with his front paws for one of the big heavy photo albums. I called quietly for my friend to come and see what the cat was up to. She stood in the doorway watching in disbelief. Meanwhile, the cat used all his strength to pull one of these big bulky photo albums down from the shelf and it fell with a thud onto the carpeting. My friend and I just held our breath waiting for whatever was going to happen. The cat then began leafing through the album using his right paw, looking on both right and left pages. He was clearly looking for something. The pages were full of that family's pictures - holidaying in the Hawaii, Mexico, Brazil and Australia, as I remember. But the cat kept on turning those heavy pages, although it wasn't easy using his claws. He wasn't satisfied with the pictures he saw. Finally he came to what he had been looking for - a large picture of the entire family. Mom, dad and two kids. They were a happy smiling group. Then the cat did the most amazing thing - he began tearing the picture with his claws using both paws. He was trying to shred it to pieces as we were watching. In the process, clumsily as he was doing it, other photos also got scattered on the carpet. He was busy at it for good five minutes, loudly purring and obviously trying to show to us how these people had been mistreating him. I tell you, the hair stood up on our necks, and even now as I write it still gives me shivers. The whole episode seemed absolutely unreal and scary - a cat acting as a human. From that night on, I have looked at this cat through totally different eyes.
 
About 25 years ago, I worked as an assistant at London University library. One day I went to some outlying department in a temporary structure round the back of this huge building. All around this temporary building were cats, at least 20 of them - it really seemed like they were holding a meeting or waiting for something. And they most certainly were... these cats had trained the two women who worked in the department to feed them, and it was their feeding time. I guess this must be the most common reason for large assemblies of stray cats - it's amazing how many cats a few kindly people can end up feeding. The London University library cats came to a sad end, because just as the two women decided to call the vet in for a mass sterilization to stop their numbers increasing even more, someone took matters into their own hands and poisoned a lot of them. When the vets arrived, many of the cats could only be put to sleep. But there were still quite a few when I met them.
 
It could have been an affection thing, not that they didn't mistreat him, but they were the only family he knew, apart from you. But kittens use that motion when they're feeding to stimulate their mother's milk. Often if you wear a nice woolly jumper an affectionate cat will pummel you for a while, with or without claws, usually purring or sucking bits of jumper.

Blimmin odd to do that to a photo though!
 
i have learned to appreciate cats so much more in the last 9 months of my life. did you know that you can teach a cat to play fetch? (its not that easy, but it can be done)

my fiance's old cat used to call her name when she was a kid. no seriously. her name is Michelle, and her mother used to call to her from upstairs in that way that parents only can "Mi-cheeeeelllllle!" and she'd come running. Well the cat figured it out that "the sound made the girl come to where you are", and could reproduce it to a point that Michelle would often come upstairs to be greeted with "what? i didn't need you" from her mom.

The cat was just lucky that my fiance has a name that's somewhat reproducable by feline vocal chords.
 
Two of our three cats were taught to fetch a ball back to us, it's very cute to see them running at you with a paper ball in their mouth! :)

I really enjoyed the story about the photo album. What makes people think cats (or animals in general) are too stupid to do that? They are very smart. I hope you spoil the hell out of that one, Penguin!!
 
Flying Penguin said:
I got my cat from a family that was leaving the country for a year, but I had known and liked him for a number of years prior to that. A cute black-and-white cat that would miaow some news to me every time he saw me. Our friendship grew stronger during a two-week period while we were housesitting for that family. My friend and I were staying in that old house (haunted, by the way - we couldn't sleep in two bedrooms, so we had to move to the other part of the house) looking after that place near the forest and taking care of their old dog and this cat. The cat had been generally neglected, he would get locked inside for hours so he couldn't go pee, and never had enough food or clean water, so he would go and drink dirty water out of a ditch next to the house. His life wasn't easy, in brief. He would go and catch birds and rats and dig up moles, we was routinely running for his life from coyotes who inhabit that forest - overall, he led a semi-feral life. We had always felt sorry for him, for the way he was treated by his owners, so we tried to accomodate him best during our stay.

Anyway, one evening around Christmas time we were upstairs, the cat was inside. The upstairs landing had wrap-around bookcases between doors into different bedrooms. The bookshelves were filled with books and photo albums. I was sitting on the floor reading some book right next to a row of shelves, my friend was around the corner in one of the bedrooms. Suddenly this cat walked up to a bookcase and stood still staring at some books as if making up his mind. I just sat there watching him. Then he stood on his hind paws and reached with his front paws for one of the big heavy photo albums. I called quietly for my friend to come and see what the cat was up to. She stood in the doorway watching in disbelief. Meanwhile, the cat used all his strength to pull one of these big bulky photo albums down from the shelf and it fell with a thud onto the carpeting. My friend and I just held our breath waiting for whatever was going to happen. The cat then began leafing through the album using his right paw, looking on both right and left pages. He was clearly looking for something. The pages were full of that family's pictures - holidaying in the Hawaii, Mexico, Brazil and Australia, as I remember. But the cat kept on turning those heavy pages, although it wasn't easy using his claws. He wasn't satisfied with the pictures he saw. Finally he came to what he had been looking for - a large picture of the entire family. Mom, dad and two kids. They were a happy smiling group. Then the cat did the most amazing thing - he began tearing the picture with his claws using both paws. He was trying to shred it to pieces as we were watching. In the process, clumsily as he was doing it, other photos also got scattered on the carpet. He was busy at it for good five minutes, loudly purring and obviously trying to show to us how these people had been mistreating him. I tell you, the hair stood up on our necks, and even now as I write it still gives me shivers. The whole episode seemed absolutely unreal and scary - a cat acting as a human. From that night on, I have looked at this cat through totally different eyes.
Click to expand...

I'm greatly enjoying this thread, but I have to say this post is one of the most fascinating things I'v ever read. You said the house was haunted; this makes me wonder if somehow a ghost possessed the cat. As much as I love cats and know they are highly intelligent, sensitive beings, I didn't think a cat was capable of making the connection between people it detested and images on a photo...I didn't 't think a cat would even "see" a photo the way we do. I'm very happy to hear this cat now has a loving home with you....has he shown any other type of abstract thought?
 
Cats are just amazing creatures. I've had mine since she was 6 wks. old. She's going to be 9 this year, and just as recently as this past Sunday, I was in a really depressed mood, and was just sitting around watching TV. As she has done repeatedly over the years, she seems to be able to recognize when I'm in this state of mind, and jumped up on my lap and started rubbing her head under my chin over & over. She only does this when I'm feeling depressed, normally being content to be stroked while she stretches out on my lap. If I push her off while in this mood, she'll simply jump back up & continue with it. It amazes me every time it happens, & always makes me feel better too!! :D
 
There was a TV show on the Animal Planet a while back, called "The Secret Life of Cats". Hidden cameras and trackers followed ordinary housecats (they were all pets) around for a few weeks to find out where they went and what they did when no people were around - usually at night.

Apparently they've got complex societies and territories, and they travel quite long distances at times. It's quite amazing to realize that your trusted pet Fluffy is a roving hunter and dueling master of his own territory (including mates) at night, while during the day he's just... a cute little kitty cat who likes to lounge in the sun.

There is something magical about cats - despite their ubiquitousness, they have retained an aura of ancient mystery. It frightens some people (we've all met those people - the ones who "hate" cats because they're "creepy" or whatever) but it fascinates me and makes me love them just that much more.

Some people think because they won't do "tricks" like dogs do that they are of lesser intelligence than dogs - however I think this demonstrates a more advanced intelligence and a sense of self. We all know that cats are proud creatures. More likely they just don't feel as if they would like to do any tricks for us. They're not eager to please us as dogs are. They're fully aware that they owe us nothing. Any tricks they deign to do then, would likely be for their own amusement and not ours.

Any cat lovers out there curious about the mysterious behaviour of cats would do well to read Desmond Morris's Catwatching. It doesn't de-mystify cats completely, but it does explain some of their more common behaviour, and is a fascinating read.
 
They are amazing, aren't they? And they have their own personalities... I have a big fishtank, and our two girls couldn't be less interested. Our Meishka is actually jealous of them, and one of my favorite tricks of hers is when I hold her in front of the tank, she turns her head completely opposite! Then I turn her to see, she turns again, keeping her head turned on it. "I refuse to look! No, NO!" :miaow: But when I brought (the nameless) little boy over, he would watch the fish for hours. He is also very attentive to the TV, and if you tell him, "Look at the birdies" or whatever, he'll run over to it and look. And he'll watch for a long time, it's not like a typical glance. He'll find a perch and watch until they go off. He IS a man, though, so the TV thing is natural.... :roll:

EDIT: Thanks, Yurei, I'll check that out. And the MIL is a cat hater (heh, heh) .... it keeps her down to one visit a year. Which reminds me, time for some treats, here, Kittens!!! Good little beasts!
:lol:
 
This thread reminds me of a story, it's funny how some stories stick in my mind, but their author and source can completely escape me. I'm not sure if it's from a Sandman comic, it somehow seems like it, but I know it is NOT from the previously mentioned "Dream of a Thousand Cats".

A man is walking down an old trail towards his cottage. He hears some rustling noises, and when he peers through the bushes he sees a huge procession of cats, all in a long line. On the backs of the cats at the front of the line is a small coffin with a crown on it. They stop at a small hole dug into the earth and lower the coffin in. At this, the man stumbles away alarmed and unsettled, and hurries home to his cottage. Once inside, he relays the amazing sight to his wife. At the end of the tale, their cat, previously lounging in front of the fire, suddenly looks up and says, "then I am now King of the Cats!", and bolts out the door never to be seen by the couple again.
 
I've been watching this thread for a couple of days debating whether I should post this. The reason for my reluctance will be obvious in a moment.

It was a Saturday in December about twenty years ago. My wife and I had both slept late and were still lounging about the bed. I was reading, she was writing Christmas cards. Our newest cat (we had three at that time) jumped up on the bed and walked over to the window (our bed was against the wall). With one paw, he pushed aside the curtain and stuck his head behind it. Then in a cat-like voice he said, "Oh look, it's snowing!" I don't think I've been so startled in my life. I looked at my wife who looked back at me with eyes the size of saucers. Friend, that was his name, then pulled his head back from behind the curtain, gave us an odd look and scampered out of the room.

He was a stray who adopted us only a few weeks before. We named him friend because he was the friendliest beastie we had ever known. His love for attention and effection was actually dog-like. He never spoke again, though we had him for another fourteen years.

If my wife hadn't witnessed it too, I would have questioned my grip on reality. As it is we rarely speak of it, even to each other. Neither our parents nor our kids (who weren't born yet) know about it. It's just too strange to tell them.

By the way, when I lookeed outside, it was snowing.

Dib

(Edited for grammar and spelling.)
 
No, I'm certain my cat isn't possessed or anything like that - we would have noticed something over the past 5 or 6 years that he's been with us. Nothing unusual, except occasional instances of telepathy between ourselves. ;) And touching on the affection he might have been showing - there was none, believe me. The father would kick the old dog (wonderful golden retriever) and the cat saw all that. He must have felt clearly nobody in that family cared about him since he would be left hungry and so on. Also, purring does not always mean affection - diabetic cats can go purring for hours in the crisis state, when they are wandering about disoriented. Funny that he would choose the right moment when I was upstairs sitting next to those albums, I don't think I had sat there before that ...

As to the two haunted bedrooms upstairs, we couldn't sleep in either of them - there was knocking inside the exterior walls (no tree branches next to them) and a feeling of being watched.
 
Dib, I have read other stories like yours, I wonder if it was on this forum somewhere? I don't doubt it a bit, there's things we just don't know about.... like the fact that right as i was reading this thread, my husband exclaimed (yes, you guessed it)......

"Look, it's SNOWING!"

I think I know exactly how you felt!
 
Dib, I believe you. Mine has clearly uttered short words like "No-o-o!" and "Yea-ah" (in response to my questions) and "Mum" (while looking for my mother) many times. I'm sure if their vocal organs were at least like monkeys', we would be having meaningful conversations with our cats and dogs.

Moreover, I believe that cats, dogs and horses (at the very least) have souls, and who knows if our human souls and animal souls aren't the same "type" of souls?? I mean, the only difference is that some inhabit human bodies and others are inside a dog, a dolphin, or a cow. Realizing this makes you respect the life of other species, not just human, doesn't it?
 
Several years ago I had a work schedule that had me traveling down a certain road just after dawn each morning - and there on some railroad tracks I would always see a gathering of cats. Nine was the most I ever counted. They would all sit or lay a foot or so a part and groom themselves or just look around. I'd always smile at they and say mornin' cats. They mostly ignored me, but they always made me smile.

A few years previous to that my cousin and I lived up on a hill. And driving down in the mornings we would sometimes see a group of rabbits together on a swathe of green next to the woods. We called those mornings "Bunny mornings" and considered it a good omen for the day.
 
I once had a cat who was incredibly intelligent and “emotionally involved with” the family. One day in the living room I saw him attempt to jump up onto a chair, but as he had grown rather fat, he failed and landed clumsily on the floor. I laughed reflexively. His response was amazing. He started to face me, but then changed his mind and turned back toward the chair, as if pretending that he didn’t know I was there. Then he started leaping up and down nonchalantly in front of the chair, landing on the ground again each time, exactly as if to say, “What? I meant to do that. I wasn’t trying to get up on the chair, I was just leaping up and down here. Getting my exercise, you know.” On seeing this, I made some incredulous, amused exclamation, and he stopped jumping and turned and gave me the most withering, angry scowl. What amazes me about this is that (1) the cat understood what laughter means, (2) the cat suffered embarrassment, and in fact actually cared about the opinion of a human being, and most of all, (3) the cat tried to cover up his blunder with a faked action exactly as a person might. It was then that I realized just how aware and socially plugged-in a cat can be.

But talking in English? Sorry Dib, I believe you believe what you say but I’m just not going to be able to believe it. Unless of course it happened to me….
 
If you send me a tape recorder, I'll tape our Shelby saying 'Grandma' when she sees my mother out on her porch........

I've also had experience with the laughed-at cat. Sundog, did anything of yours end up shredded, or peed in?!
 
We were taking pics for the blog one day, Cara Belle, the alpha-cat, was lounging on her scratch-tower lazily. As soon as the camera came out, she stood upright and watched, when aimed at her, she looked off whistfully at the cieling <snap> she layed down on her back and faced the camera <snap> she rolled over to the other side and looked at us again. Every time we took another pic, she'd change position and facial expression, its like she KNEW what the camera did, and how to pose for it.

We've raised all our cats since they were kittens (one of them still is) so they're all firmly imprinted with us and bonded into the family unit.

Dib, what did your kitten's voice sound like? The only time i've heard my cats talk (it was Simba, the kitten) was when i had a 102 degree farenheit hallucination-inducing fever. He had a very cute "little kid" voice if i remember.
 
CoffeeJedi, his voice sounded exactly like his 'meow' voice.

We tried to rationalize it later on, but couldn't. There was no one else in the house at the time. No radios or TV's were on. The words were distinct and clear, not open to interpretation like some EVP's. I know cats don't have the proper vocal apparatus, so perhaps it was telepathic? Since his head was behind the curtain, we didn't actually see his mouth move. It really seemed like I heard it with my ears though.

I must say, you folks are terribly open-minded. I expected to laughed off the thread. :lol:

I'll have to see if I can find those other instances. it's great to know one isn't alone when looney things happen.

Dib
 
Dib said:
"I must say, you folks are terribly open-minded. I expected to laughed off the thread. :lol:
I'll have to see if I can find those other instances. it's great to know one isn't alone when looney things happen." Dib
Click to expand...

Many of us have heard/witnessed/had the experience that couldn't possibly happen, so no, you are not alone! :D
 
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