My cat, Bast, goes “Meow,” then “Mow,” then “Mrow,” then “Purr,” to cement the title of the wishy washiest cat in the world. Just kidding. It’s a little more involved than that.
I have just started studying Desmond Morris’ “Catwatching”, in which he tries to give a little insight into the character of a cat from its actions. Of import to me and my claims was his bit on why a cat twitches it’s tail back and forth.
It all seems to stem from balancing. As a cat balances on a slim rail or what have you, its tail twitches back and forth in an effort to help balance the cat. Leaning to one side makes the tail twitch to a first side and leaning another way the tail twitches to the other side. The twitching occurs as the cat makes a decision on which way to lean. Each twitch represents a different side.
So in non balancing times one twitch of the tail represents one side of a decision and the other twitch represents the other side of a decision. So, as this explanation goes, a cat twitching its tail back and forth is trying to make a decision.
For those of you who don’t know about my cat, Bast, she twitches her tail back and forth all day long. I’ve even blogged about it for she seems to keep the beat of certain songs with her twitching tail.
Anyways if waving a cat’s tail back and forth represents indecisiveness, my cat would win in any test of wishy washiness. The only possibility for any other cat to be in the running for wishy washiest cat in the world, would be if another cat also waved their tail back and forth all day long. Then it would come down to the beat. So any contenders out there had better wave their tail back and forth at a rate that is faster than the beat to The Scientist by Coldplay. That beat is the first one I noticed my Bast waving her tail to the beat so I figure that is closest to her natural rhythmic speed.
In all other outcomes I have the wishy washiest cat in the world. Thank you Desmond Morris for making me realize this.
But I wonder what she is deciding. Sometimes I imagine what her little brain is being wish washy about. “To. Fro. Goodbye. Hello. Fast. Slow. Stop. Go. High. Low.” Is she writing a Beatles song?
Sometimes my imagination of her wishy washiness gets darker. “I love my owner, today,” Might be fighting with, “Just wait until he falls asleep. I’ll rip his throat out then. The nerve of him giving me 2 treats today when yesterday I got 4.” I may never know what my cat is thinking. But who cares? She’s so wishy washy that I don’t want to know.
