Hi, I’m Christopher. To find out more about me and my silly Russian Blue cat, Olga, please read my about me.
Cats have creative ways of getting our attention, and some of their techniques are more subtle than others. Dogs are more famous for their begging skills than cats, but Olga has developed a system for enticing me to feed her earlier than her usual dinner time. Before I started working from home, she didn’t need to do this, but over the years she has adapted her methods.
Many domestic cats, even the most affectionate ones, are somewhat manipulative. Instinct drives their behavior, but their intelligence helps them find new ways to annoy their owners. In the wild, cats don’t have to beg or rely on humans for food or entertainment.
Although felines may hatch schemes to steal rodent carcasses from their siblings, most cats hunt alone, except for feral pack cats. While wild cats have no need to manipulate, domestic cats have learned to exploit human emotions.
Cats haven’t been domesticated as long as dogs, but the recently discovered grave of an 8-month-old cat Buried next to his owner in Cyprus This suggests that cats have been bothering humans for nearly 10,000 years. Like her ancestors, Olga knows how to influence people and would make Dale Carnegie proud.
If he wants to sit on the window sill, he first digs his claws into the wooden frame. He then rears up on his hind legs and slams on the blinds. If I don’t open the blinds and let him sit, he escalates his aggression by slamming his paws into the blinds or slamming them back and forth against the wall. If I yell at him or tell him to stop, he backs away for a second and then starts messing around again.
She knows my breaking point, so even if I chase her away from the window, she won’t give in until I raise the blinds. Her begging is modest at first, but as she gets hungrier, she becomes more impatient and bolder. Her usual dinnertime is around 5 p.m., but her modest begging starts around 2:30 p.m. She wakes up from her 10th nap of the day, sits near the entrance to my office, and stares at me.
After an hour of ignoring her, she comes over and sits on the windowsill to the left of my computer screen. As I type, I see her glaring in my peripheral vision, but I ignore her and avoid eye contact. When I stare back, she growls and stands up, until she gets tired of waiting and finds another way to get my attention. She runs into the bathroom, jumps in the tub, and starts yelling.
I never thought cats would be smart enough to understand the principles of acoustics, but Olga knows that if she screams in the bath, her voice gets amplified. Then she jumps over the sink and knocks my toothpaste and contact lens case onto the floor. I admire her for trying a gentle approach before resorting to violence. I don’t like being manipulated, but I don’t mind Olga being sneaky.
This article is part of a series on Christopher and Olga.
