Christmas 2020

A small decorated tree

If you read my post about Christmas last year, you may have suspected that things would be a bit different this year. Indeed they were, though it is not always possible to tell which differences were due to the pandemic and which were simply due to inter-annual variability.

For one thing, there was no tree. No, I take that back. There was no tree with needles. There were several small trees, but none of them had the usual delicious needles. So I didn't bother tasting any of them.

Gifts and lights but no needles!

There were more screens and fewer humans in the picture. This situation can be summed up with a new carol:

Silent night! Holy night!

All on Zoom, all on Skype...

As a result of the absence of young humans, we cats had some important roles to play. One was to open the first gifts on Christmas morning. We got into the spirit of the role, and tackled this while the adult humans were still in bed. Not only did we get a lovely ball with a rattle inside, but it came in a lovely bag that rustles when you paw at it. After this the humans got up promptly.

Taking it on the chin at Christmas

Other roles were less enjoyable, but we decided we could take it on the chin for the common good this year.

Meanwhile, as we approach New Year's, we are eager for any tidings of comfort and joy.

Tidings of comfort

Thanksgiving

 Yesterday my humans celebrated a holiday they call Thanksgiving. In observing their behavior, I can identify three main components of this holiday. One component is a large meal. I am in favor of large meals. A second component is spending time with family. I am not a big fan of house guests (they disrupt the daily routine, and sometimes they even bring a toddler or a dog), but I am on good terms with Zoom, so Zoom family time for Thanksgiving worked out well for me.

A third component is mentioning things that they are grateful for. This is a bit counterintuitive for us cats, since gratitude is not really a cat thing. As I understand it, being grateful involves imagining being without various things that one might have taken for granted and then realizing how good it is that one's life does contain those things. Perhaps by coincidence, I got a chance to practise this "gratitude" at Thanksgiving. I don't want to blame anyone, but our normal canned food ran out recently, and for over a week we had to make do with some very inferior food. This was unpleasant, but it did make me appreciate the normal food! If my renewed feelings of enthusiasm for the normal food brand is gratitude, then I have experienced it.

Grateful for the regular food!

By further coincidence, my human is getting to experience the same sort of gratitude just now, but for chocolate. The chocolate ran out in this house earlier this week and the new order has yet to arrive. 

Voting

Things have mainly settled into a new normal at my house, with my humans' switch to working at home now well in the past. So I've had fewer opportunities to observe new human behaviors lately, since one day is by now pretty much like the next. 

Just lately, though, my humans have demonstrated a new behavior: voting. I observed the process closely. It was obvious that they considered it a very important activity, carefully researching the questions and filling in and signing their ballots. 

They got a bit touchy about my efforts to sample one of the ballots. It was just ballot sampling, not ballot tampering! The tooth marks were really small.... And frankly, the ballot tasted just like any other piece of paper.  

Just ballot sampling!

Human Scientists

Human scientists have just figured out something that my humans have known all along: if they copy our "no threat" signal and narrow their eyes and slowly blink at us, it sets us at ease. We've only been sending them this signal for how many millennia? But now that the scientists have finally gotten the memo, it's somehow official. Sheesh.

They should've just asked my humans. My humans might be slow about some things, but they do know the basics of peaceful coexistence.

Peaceful coexistence

Cat Scientists

Testing gravity

 I have long maintained that cats can be scientists and make useful scientific contributions. After all, we love to test gravity, explore the properties of light, and observe the local fauna. However, it's not that often that we get opportunities to do real cutting-edge work.

To help remedy this situation, I have gathered the following short list of scientific opportunities that cats have pursued. You may find this list inspirational as you think about your own scientific feline career--or at least about ways to keep boredom at bay.

• A cat named Chester coauthored a paper in physics. Perhaps some of your humans are looking for coauthors? We cats are very good with paper.

Good with paper

• Others have donated SARS-CoV-2 samples to assist in understanding COVID-19. Cats may play a special role in this enterprise.
  
  
• Yet other cats are participating in various kinds of behavioral research. For example, one cat participated in a study of behavioral imitation. Humans can learn to communicate with cats by demonstrating what they want us to do.
  
  
• Some cats have participated in pawedness experiments. It turns out that if you prefer to do a task with your left or right paw, as opposed to not having a preference for either paw, that may be a good sign. 
  
  

Exhibiting pawedness

• Others have participated in experiments aimed at understand why we cats like enclosed spaces.
  
  

  

  Liking enclosed spaces

  
  
  
  
  
  If you have scientific insights or opportunities to share, let me know!
  
  

Ready for coauthorship

Pandemic Limerick

Cats don't actually need masks...

The mother of this little kitten

Won't scold him for losing a mitten;

She'll take him to task

For losing his mask

And passing on COVID if smitten.

New Scratching Pad

 Things have been quiet lately, so I haven't had much in the way of updates to post. However, one thing I can report is that only a few days after I proposed an International Cheek-Rub a Human Day, a new scratching pad laced with catnip showed up at my house. It was very welcome, and I believe it constitutes strong evidence that humans have a sense of reciprocity. Reciprocity is the sentiment behind the old expression "I'll groom your fur, you groom mine." Humans are terrible at grooming and don't have much in the way of fur, so I think they say "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine" instead.

Evidence of reciprocity

International Cheek-Rub a Human Day

Sometimes it's almost questionable whether living with humans is really worth it. They're clumsy, they're smelly, and they take up way too much space on the furniture these days.

Furthermore, they're quarrelsome and unable to work together to solve major problems--like the present pandemic. 

On the other hand, they have a lot going for them. To take just a few examples, with a few timely links, they are often kind, including to human strangers and (crucially) cats. They give good ear scratches and tummy rubs. They are immensely creative across a number of genres, including visual art, music, and storytelling. They invest time and money into curing and treating medical conditions, including those of cats. 

And right now, a great many humans are struggling. They are battling illness, financial trouble, and a cocktail of loneliness, anxiety and despair that has made nearly one in four of them depressed in this country.

So many lonely people!

Now is the time to remind humans of their good side and to show them that we appreciate them--or at least tolerate them in a friendly kind of way. I propose that we all work together to make tomorrow the first-ever International Cheek-Rub a Human Day. 

Show your human a little love!

Pandemic Laundry

Laundry is fun!

My human and I disagree about something. She thinks laundry day is a chore. I think it's a lot of fun! 

Something I've noticed over the years is that there is more laundry in the winter than in the summer. In the winter the clothes have longer sleeves and include more socks. Now I see that a summer of COVID brings even less laundry than usual. There were no pairs of long pants in the laundry yesterday, for example, and the piles weren't really big enough to be worth making a bed of. My human calls that a "small silver lining." I am not sure what that means. The laundry piles were small, but I didn't notice any silver coloration. I think it must be a metaphor, but human metaphors are strange. Does anyone out there have any insight on this one?

The piles were very small.

Vets and Vaccines

Feeling pretty sick

Yesterday was awful. My housemate and I had to go to the vet. Vets are bad enough, but to get there you have to go in a car. So even before I got there I was feeling pretty sick and my paws were sweating. Then the vet stuck me with a big needle. 

I was surprised to learn that this needle was a vaccine. My humans have been talking about vaccines a lot lately, and every time they do you can hear a hopeful note in their voices. It is clear that they think a vaccine is a Very Good Thing. They can't wait to get one. So have my humans finally gone crazy?

As it turns out, no. Vaccines are highly unpleasant, but they prevent much, much more unpleasant things. Like rabies, which is a very unpleasant way to die. Family lore tells of the household dog being attacked by a rabid raccoon a few years before I was born. The dog's vaccination saved him, but the raccoon died.

Not having to worry

Upon reflection, the needle was not such a big thing compared to knowing that I don't have to worry about rabies. Similarly, my humans are looking forward to not having to worry about covid-19. 

Bring on the vaccine!

COVID-Still

I have continued to monitor the symptoms of the newly identified Covid-And Stress Syndrome in humans. For a little while, my humans and the humans they interact with via their screens seemed to be recovering. They were exhibiting less stress-induced behavior; they were smiling and laughing more often. (These two strange communicative behaviors in humans are usually a sign of well-being.) They seemed to be adjusting to a "new normal," and my housemates and I started settling into a pleasant new life in which we had more human company without the extra stress that the humans brought home with them when they first started staying at home back in the early spring. 

Lately, though, their recovery has gotten a bit derailed. I am calling this phase of the Covid-And Stress Syndrome "Covid-Still." They are becoming troubled by the fact that they are still at home and the virus is still rampaging through the country and there is still no end in sight. Human behavior tends to change with the seasons, and many of them had expected things to change for the better in time for the fall season. Now those hopes are dwindling, and the humans are having to make yet another adjustment of expectations. Added to this there is the fact that the outpouring of mutual support and creativity with which many humans countered the onset of the pandemic is running out.

So you may find your humans getting irritable and twitchy again. If they feel dull and dry, don't be surprised. 

Direct their attention.

You may both benefit.

So what's a cat to do? You may be able to direct their attention to restorative activities that can brighten their mood. One such activity is gardening. Some of them may not realize that now is in fact a great season to start some seeds. If you can get them to plant some grass for you while they're at it, you will both benefit.

Otherwise, it may be time to call on your own reserves of patience. 

Patience required.

Going Undercover

No doubt about it, humans are weird. For one thing, they behave differently if they think you're watching them. I'm not sure what deep-seated insecurities or instinctive guilt this is an expression of, but it seems to be hardwired in them. We cats don't mind if we're being watched or not: with us, what you see is what you get. 

Undercover at the Council of Chairs

The human reaction to being watched means that it can be hard to observe the full range of their natural behaviors. To remedy this, I have taken to going undercover. In one undercover investigation recently, I attended a Council of Chairs meeting. I'm not sure why the chairs were so important to the humans attending the meeting virtually, but I did learn that preventing an uptick in covid cases when the fall semester starts is important to them. That part sounded very reasonable. 

As is so often the case, the interim conclusion of my study is that humans are a baffling mix of neuroses and rationality.

Alarming Additions to the Life List

I have two new sightings to report. Both of them alarmed my human, but they looked intriguing to me, especially when viewed from the opposite side of a good window.

Barred owl (Strix varia)

My human tried to say that her concern about the first one (owl) was only on behalf of my housemates and me. That may have been just an excuse, but maybe it was true--she took special care to make sure none of us stayed out on the deck after the humans went inside. We tried not to be too insulted: what cat is afraid of a bird?

Eastern rat snake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis)

As for the second one (snake), this time it really was my human who was alarmed. The startled shriek she gave when she saw it was the giveaway. Granted, these types of legless creatures are not normally found in bushes in my experience--and apparently not in hers either. I am not completely sure of the identification of this one (the leaves were in the way), but I think it's a young one, which explains the crosshatched coloration. 

Are We There Yet?

A long time

It's been a long time now since our humans changed their behavior to reduce coronavirus transmission. Their persistent staying at home has allowed me to observe a large range of new behaviors, the latest of which was a conference. The conference was interesting, but unfortunately it involved a lot of computer time for my human at unusual hours, so my access to this blog has been limited lately.

Meanwhile, I hear reports that things are returning to normal for some of us. Some of our humans have gone back to work, allowing us to settle back into our old routines. Others are still sitting in our favorite chairs, staring at screens, "working." And some have developed very confusing, frequently changing schedules. In other words, human routines are all over the place just now. If you know what to expect from one day to the next, consider yourself lucky. For now.

Stress-reducing behavior

Those of you who have settled into a routine with your humans may be wondering if the pandemic is over. No. It is not over. It is still important to tolerate any excessive staying at home they may be indulging in. This keeps them safe. It is also still important to exhibit stress-reducing behavior. Although the pandemic is old news to your humans by now, overall stress--be it from financial concerns or rising case rates--is liable to spike at any time.

And, of course, it is important not to get the virus yourself! Even though covid-19 only weakly infects us cats, no one can maintain proper feline dignity with a cough. 

Close Encounters

It's amazing the things you can see out the window if you just keep watching long enough. 

Constant Vigilance!

American Goldfinches (Spinus trisis)

Some of them are deeply tantalizing, while others are downright terrifying; but either way, many of them are fascinating. And there's a certain thrill that comes from seeing scary creatures from behind the safety of a good window.  

I'm thinking of starting a life list of sightings. Here are some of my recent sightings that I would put on it, ordered from least to most terrifying.

If you have interesting sightings to share, please leave me a comment!

American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Chevy Volt (Chevrolet volt)

Poetry for the Pandemic: The Haven

[With apologies to Edgar Allan Poe.]

Now my human, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
In the comfy brown recliner just inside my chamber door;
Though his eyes are tired from reading all the news he has been streaming,
And the screen-light o'er him beaming casts his shadow on the floor,
Yet my spot on that recliner, which was always mine before,

             Shall be vacant -- nevermore!

It was always mine before...

From the Mailbag: Applying Counterirritants

Dear Thera,

We've noticed similar behavior [connected with understimulation] with our humans. To help we have added some excitement to their days by peeing over the edge of the litter box. About once a day seems to be the right cadence.

- Annie and Jack


Dear Annie and Jack,

You are onto something important there: the principle of the counterirritant. The idea of a counterirritant is that you apply some mild and superficial irritant, which distracts from and helps relieve the deeper and more painful malaise that the human may be feeling. As you have observed, it can be very effective.

However, there is another principle of human behavior to watch out for: the principle of the last straw. The idea of the last straw is that a human will seem to be coping perfectly well with an increasingly large burden of stress and then suddenly lose control over a single small additional stress. The relationship of that small additional stress to the large pre-existing stress load is likely to be minimal. Thus cats--who bear no responsibility for the health and job stresses the humans are facing just now--are not as safe from creating the last straw as you might think.

So which one are you likely to provoke, the counterirritant response or the last straw response? Careful consideration and the accumulated wisdom of years' of acquaintance with your individual humans may be needed to make the right call. Cats who are newer to residing with their humans may want to take extra naps instead of taking a risk here.

- Thera

Consider carefully before you act...

or just go take another nap.

Zoom Wedding

The fact that humans are doing all kinds of things at home and online that they used to leave home to do means that we can now observe a wider range of their behaviors. 

The latest addition to my list of observed human behaviors is a wedding that I was able to attend lately via Zoom. Weddings appear to be the main way that humans create new families, so it was especially interesting to observe. I carefully prepared some confetti for the occasion, but sadly it turned out not to be needed for a Zoom wedding.

The confetti wasn't needed.

Understimulated Humans

Has your human become cranky and listless lately? Is your human failing to respond as usual to the simple pleasures of life? If so, your human may be suffering from understimulation. Understimulation due to physical and social isolation is reaching epidemic proportions in humans during this pandemic.

Your face might not be enough

Like us cats, humans are intelligent creatures who need to keep their minds active. They need to see new sights and engage with new objects. If your human has been staying home lately, he or she may be running low on novelty. Think of how much pleasure you get out of a new scratching pad, a new batch of catnip, or a special new toy. Sadly, though, humans do not get any enjoyment out of scratching pads or catnip, and their toys tend to be large and expensive. They are too large to find the interest we do in little things, like watching a bug navigate the length of the kitchen floor. So they are largely out of luck when confined at home.

Humans are also remarkably social. We cats are more social than some of us like to admit, but humans are truly and incorrigibly social, even the more introverted among them. They need to hear human voices and see human faces. Our voices and faces provide some help, but there are limits to what we can do for them in this respect.

Keep doling out affectionate cheek rubs!

So how can a cat help? To some extent we can help by playing with them. If you can make them laugh, you've won the battle of the moment, though perhaps not of the day. Also continue to show them affection, but understand that their need for others of their own species may limit your effectiveness. 


Another important but more passive thing we can do is to be more tolerant than usual of their screen time, provided it is the right kind of screen time. In general, contemporary humans are badly addicted to screens. In the current pandemic, screen use is at record levels. I still hold with a point I made recently, that obsessive news watching is a negative use of screens. However, recent observations now lead me to suggest that watching videos and playing games online may actually be good for humans in the current situation. The videos provide faces, voices, music, scenery and colors, while the games provide appropriately sized spurts of adrenaline and achievable goals. These things may be a poor substitute for social interaction in normal times, but when social interaction is unavailable, they may be very therapeutic.

Granted, it's a little hard to see quite why humans enjoy videos. How can they enjoy anything that has no smell? However, you may find that if you try watching videos along with your humans you may also find them entertaining to some extent. For myself, I enjoy movies that feature a character named Darth Vader.

You may find you enjoy some videos

New Syndrome Discovered

The Armchair Anthropologist

From my vantage point as armchair anthropologist during this pandemic, I have discovered a new stress syndrome among humans. I'm calling it Covid And, or Covid-And Stress Syndrome to give it its full name. 

Here's how it develops: Humans now have a high background level of stress due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, most of them manage to cope under most circumstances, providing they or their loved ones are not among those that contract the virus. But then something else happens. It could be almost any other stressful thing, even something small like a third straight day of rain. That's the And part. The pandemic fears and isolation stress plus that other stress combine to overwhelm the human. 

Is your human exhibiting signs of extra stress?

The human is likely to be as surprised by their reaction to the combined stress as you are. Humans are not very good at keeping more than one thing in their heads at a time, so they may think they are reacting to just the additional stress (the And). And then they might start blaming themselves for overreacting, which simply serves to increase their stress levels by another considerable amount. This is a common symptom of Covid And.

If your humans seem particularly brittle or fragile just now, they probably have Covid-And Stress Syndrome. If so, a little extra patience will be needed to see both you and them through it. So hang in there! Remember to encourage your humans to stay at home and practice good paw washing technique, so that we can all get back to normality more quickly.

Continue to demonstrate good paw washing technique

Keep Your Humans at Home

Pin them to the couch!

As reports come in about corona virus infecting cats both big and small, it is becoming increasingly important that we do all we can to keep our humans at home. A free-roaming human is at greater risk of disease, which may be a problem not only for them and their family members but also for us, the cats they live with. 

That said, it's still not time to panic, as there's no evidence that the corona virus is serious in us cats. But still, who wants to be coughing and lethargic? And who wants to risk a trip to the vet??

So please, friends, do all you can to keep your humans happy and healthy at home. Pin them down if you have to!

Sleeping in Class

Sleeping to the soothing sound of a lecture

Now that humans are doing more of their activities at home, I've discovered a wonderfully soporific thing that they do. It's called lecture or class. It works like this: a human talks at length in a soothing tone of voice, and you drift right off to sleep. If you make a special effort to stay awake and listen, you might learn things about ecology or psychology or history, but you're not obliged to do so. Sleeping counts as your participation. 

As a result of these lectures, my naps have been especially satisfying lately. It's just one of the many reasons why having our humans at home is good for us cats.

 If you stay awake, you might contract an education.

Hair Styles For the Pandemic

A wash and comb is all that's needed!

One of the latest things humans are worrying about during their stay-at-home isolation is their hair. That's what they call the funny little patch of stiff fur on their heads. They are worried that they cannot cut it, style it, or color it as they would wish. 


It's a bit hard to understand this. For one thing, surely a good washing and combing is all anyone's fur needs, isn't it? 

Styling human hair

For another thing, it's not as though human fur is all that impressive, so it's hard to see why they attach such meaning to it, rather than to a body part for which they really do stand out--like their hands. Even human females, who often have more of this "hair," can't match the glory of any feline coat, never mind the delicate stripes of a tabby or the rich color palette of a calico. (Full disclosure: I am both tabby and calico). It takes a whole family of humans, I have observed, to match the color range of a single calico cat. (I am told that some human families are all the same color. I have never observed this phenomenon--can anyone confirm this for me?)

Reaching out to be of help

Despite the strangeness of this hair fixation, it presents one further way we cats can help our humans in this time of crisis. After all, we have a lot of experience in the art of personal grooming. We can comb and style with the best of them!

Stress reduction

As an armchair anthropologist, I have found it quite illuminating to observe the wider range of activities that humans are now displaying at home. I find I am gaining a fuller perspective on the species.

An armchair anthropologist

Just now I am particularly interested in the range of behaviors that humans engage in in order to reduce stress. They seem to have a huge need for stress reduction while not in fact being all that good at it. 

In recent posts I've mentioned art, nature, and napping. That last one is one we can all relate to. But a new one for me is religion. This is an activity that humans are suddenly doing at home with their screens. It seems to be helpful to some of them, but reports say that this effect is highly variable. 

Observing religion

It continues to be something of a mystery to me why stress reduction is both so complicated and so variable among humans. I'll keep you posted as I learn more.