Friday Cat Blogging

by Bryan

7 comments

1 Badtux { 02.13.15 at 12:42 am }

My cats will stare at a spot on the wall for hours at a time. There is nothing there. Nothing I can see, anyhow. Yet they seem intent upon it, as if there is some invisible prey there holding their attention.

Cats are crazy.

That is all.

2 Steve Bates { 02.13.15 at 1:39 am }

I don’t know, either, but lately I’ve been staring. At that same spot. For a very long time. I haven’t caught anything, either. Except a cold, from Stella, which is history by now.

Esther came into the den this evening and started making her “prey sighted!” meow. She ran to where Stella had set her headphones down; I thought maybe Stella had left them on, and Esther was curious about the sound. Nope. We have had a critter in the wall of the den recently; it’s possible it was there and evoking Esther’s odd behavior… she could hear it; I could not.

CC is a strikingly beautiful cat.

3 Bryan { 02.13.15 at 11:02 am }

It may well be a sound above the human range of hearing, but it is unnerving to watch them occasionally go into stalking mode when you can see anything worth stalking.

CC will rub against you in attempt to get an attack target within her range. You have to warn people about her tactics, as they see a nice cat without perceiving the raging maniac that may surface at any time.

4 Steve Bates { 02.13.15 at 9:05 pm }

Bryan, my hearing, especially my left ear, is so messed up by repeated infections over many years (more that even than sitting in front of the tympani and trumpets in orchestra) that it’s a wonder I can hear anything through it; I know about the critter in the den wall largely through my right ear. That said, if orchestral kettledrums and trumpets had continued to be built as mellow as those used in the 18th century, I’d probably still have all of my hearing today.

(Look at the scoring in Bach’s 2nd Brandenburg: the trumpet, oboe, and recorder are scored more or less as equal soloists. It’s damned difficult to make it work with today’s instruments… trumpet far too loud; recorder badly undervoiced and not edgy enough for adequate definiton against oboe and trumpet. Good baroque recorders are not pathologically soft; good baroque trumpets well-played are softer than most people imagine.)

At any rate, it’s a good argument that every older or retired musician should keep one or more domestic cats as external hearing aids!

5 Bryan { 02.13.15 at 9:33 pm }

I have an extended upper range, but this pollen season and I have trouble hearing my phone ring on the maximum setting. My ears stay plugged up despite the allergy medicine. Fortunately I always wore earphones around aircraft, so the engine noise didn’t destroy my hearing as often happens with people on flying status.

Outside there is just too much noise for my being able to listen for the small sounds that cats can home in on with their very directional ears.

6 Badtux { 02.14.15 at 1:24 am }

My ears ring because of working too close to turbines when I was young, so if your ears aren’t doing the same, your earphones did the job, Bryan. I suspect that my cats are fixated on some tiny gnat or spider too small for my elderly eyes to see, but it’s spooky all the same.

7 Bryan { 02.14.15 at 10:07 pm }

Hearing was essential for my job in the military, so we had protection and used it. The only problem I have is hammering on metal or having ceramic surfaces hit – those sounds linger. My allergies really deaden sounds until the meds unblock my ears, so I get extra protection during the pollen season.

I assume that they are seeing a movement that I just can’t detect, or just messing with my head.