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Thursday, March 11, 2004
9:44 AM

Cat Jealousy
Cats seem like fairly simple creatures. They eat. They sleep. Depending on how old they are, sometimes they play. Then they eat and/or sleep again. That's really about it. (How I wish I was a cat!) Again, pretty simple. When you interact with a cat the cat conveys in catlike fashion (through meows, nudges, etc.) one of two cat questions: (1) Why aren't you petting me? or (2) Why aren't you giving me goodies, wet food, etc.? (Notice that in a cat's mind, the presumption is that one or the other should be happening at all times.) Silly me thought that that was just about all they seem to care about. How wrong I was!

Cousin Laura asked in a recent comment whether Little Boy and Little Girl get jealous of the exposure Petey gets. My initial reaction was "Of course not!" Partially because I really do take pictures of all the cats, but just don't post them all. And, last time I checked, the cats haven't figured out how to get on the internet so they really don't know what pictures are getting posted (then again, the Lexus Frenchie may have infiltrated the house, so you never know).

Recent events from the last couple of nights have shown me the error of my ways and made me realize that cats do indeed get jealous. And in bizarre ways that I would never have anticipated. Who knew? In our defense, I must say that Petey by no means gets all the attention while the others are ignored. All three cats get plenty of petting and food. I think the attention really is about equal. But apparently Little Boy doesn't agree.

Petey has this habit during the night of snuggling up right next to me. He climbs under the covers (but keeps his head out like a person). He puts his little head on the pillow right next to me. He even drapes his little paw over my neck. And he will sleep for hours like that. And whenever I move, he purrs. It's really very sweet. Neither of the other cats has ever done this.

Meanwhile, in the past, Little Boy had his own habit of sleeping on my pillow, sort of on my head (yes, it can be uncomfortable). But he really hasn't done this in a looong time. Until two nights ago . . .

On Tuesday night I slept horribly. After sleeping horribly on Sunday and Monday nights. I was awake almost every hour. Just couldn't stay asleep. And each time I did manage to actually fall asleep, when I woke up (as I inevitably did), LB had climbed up onto my pillow and was on my head. Less than ideal. (Hmmm. Wonder why I wasn't able to sleep?? Actually, in fairness to LB, it really doesn't bother me except that it makes it hard to move. But I digress . . .) So I kept shooing him off the pillow. He didn't get the clue. Time after time, there he was. I was stumped. He hasn't done this in months and he was extremely persistent (and as you cat lovers know, cats are pretty laid back and just let most things slide. But not this time.)

So last night I was hoping to find the missing sleep. I knew it was out there somewhere. But again, LB kept advancing on the pillow. This time I presented a solid defense. Every time he tried to climb up, I picked him up and put him at the foot of the bed. And he tried a lot. (Can anyone guess how well I slept last night?) Finally, he waved his little white flag of surrender and gave up on the pillow. At last, some sleep.

I woke up around 5 o'clock and had a black cat snuggled up next to me. Nothing unusual. Then I realized it wasn't Petey! It was LB. Apparently LB only retreated to Petey's usual spot. Very unusual. Suddenly I realized the reason for the revived head-sleeping - LB is jealous of Petey and had to re-establish his own strange close-sleeping habit. I never thought that the other cats even noticed that Petey slept by me (because he doesn't do it every night), but it seems that they did and that they (or at least LB) don't like it. So, after never having any interest in sleeping next to me, LB had usurped Petey's spot.

Or at least he had until Petey showed up. Then I had two cats jockeying for position next to me. Petey tried to wiggle himself in between LB and me. LB had none of that and swatted him. Then Petey tried to sweet talk LB by licking his head. LB saw right through that. More swatting. Finally, Petey cut to the chase and just pounced on LB. Mutual swatting ensued as well as the usual howls and growls. And my bed just isn't big enough for that. No more sleep for me. I finally just gave up and decided that I would, again, have to rely on coffee to get me through the day.

I need more sleep and fewer cats. If anyone knows where all my lost sleep is, please let me know. I really need it. I'd gladly trade it for a cat or two.

P.S. When I left for work this morning, all three cats were blissfully sleeping on the bed together. I think I know who has all my extra sleep.

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