So, herself was out taking me for a walk of a fine day and there she was inspecting one of the basswood trees (lime-trees to you across-the-ponders) when she came upon a comparatively tidy pile of dog crap nestled among the litter of fallen bracts. Now, I’m not going to get into civic-mindedness and take on dog owner scofflaws who let their mutts run unattended or don’t clean up after them on walkies, or that my apartment building caretaker is a lazy wretch who probably cries at the sight of a yard rake and apparently took on the position just for the rent cut and to the devil with the rest of us. But this IS about civic-mindedness all the same. Anyway, back to poo.
Having come upon the turdaceous matter, she sniffed at it with disapproval. Nothing unusual there; she’s done that before, registered her predictable displeasure, and moved on to better things. This time, however, it was like the straw that broke the camel’s back: she set about covering it with the basswood bracts and other available litter. Never, and, I repeat, NEVER before has she done such a thing. Normally if it’s not her poo, it’s not her problem. And dog poo? Fuggeddabouddit.
The funny thing is that I got the sense from her that she had finally had it and was muttering about those damned dogs and why can’t they have the common decency to cover up their own leavings for themselves and they just HAD to complete their digestive processes on HER patch, didn’t they, and if someone was going to keep up the neighborhood it might as well be her, because crap wasn’t going to cover itself, was it. More likely that than hoping for a dog to do it, anyway. I think I heard her sigh when she finally moved on.
Too true, too true. She was just now watching me fold the laundry. In spite of her indulgent look, or because of that, I came away feeling I’d somehow done a substandard job of it.
You have to understand this from the cat’s point of view.
When a cat covers up its own poop, it is because it is low down in the pecking order. Kittens are taught by their Mammas to cover their poop.
If they are the top cat, then they will proudly leave their poop uncovered so the whole area reeks of the stuff.
One of my neighbours described a scene where he was “keeping a careful eye” on a cat crossing his lawn. He could see the cat, and the cat could see him. The cat could read his body language, too, because it did a poop (uncovered) right in the middle of his lawn. He was furious. But the cat was telling him “You aren’t the boss around here: I am!”.
A cat doing this with dog poop is something new, though. I can think of a few reasons why the cat would cover this up. One is, that it mistook it for the poop of another cat (maybe the dog had been eating a protein-rich diet, or a lot of fish). So the cat would cover it up because it is not the top cat, and if additional proof of that were needed, the other cat is not there.
Another reason might be that the cat understood perfectly that it was not cat poop, and considered that the dog might be trying to move in on its territory.
Yet another reason might be that the cat knew it wasn’t cat poop, but didn’t want any other cat to imagine that challenges were being issued. If the cat that covered it up was NOT the top cat, then it might be preventing challenges issued in its name!
I have lived with cats all my life, understand them quite well, I dare say, and have witnessed their births, upbringings, lives in solo and in groups, and deaths - even had a litter born between my outspread legs while I was sleeping - and not a one did not cover its waste unless it was quite sick, even the dominant ones, and I’ve owned a few of those as well. Trust me on this. I have also had the privilege of living with some profoundly extraordinary cats. Personally, I would consider a squat-‘n’-leave-'em-in-all-their-glory sort to be unbalanced, or taken from its mother too early.
But maybe the values of the Midwestern American bourgeoisie are shared by their feline family members, too.
Hmm…you have a point, but I’m inclined to extend that paradigm to dogs, not cats as I understand both. BTW, FWIW (and YMMV) I’ve lived with dogs up until my mid-twenties, too. But I’m pretty much just a cat person now.
Always with the socks. Always with the socks. And as if my putative status were something a cat would bend its will to on my behalf: if I know cats, it’s sink or swim on your own good offices. Not that they’re not sympathetic, you understand. It’s just the Law of the Jungle, is all. And anyway, so long as I serve her fondest desires, she couldn’t care less about my dance card, 'cause she knows I know she’s always good for a major cuddle no matter what.
Ah: I can hear her yowling after me. I suppose I must scratch her ears.
I’ve given up trying to figure out what’s going on in my cat’s minds.
One of mine definitely thinks she’s a dog! Perhaps you’ve just got a very tidy cat???
What colour is she? All the ginger cats I’ve had (especially female ones) have had…interesting personalities! (They’ve been downright odd!).
LOL Having three cats myself and living with them all my life, I can relate. To be honest, I don’t really think they cover poo to show submission.I think they cover it up just because they do’t like it! I was in the bathroom once, and Moxie (who BTW is a tuxedo cat) smelled some dirty underwear on the floor, and he tried to bury it! ROFLMBO
IMHO, NO ONE will truly be able to understand cats!
Don’t mean to hi-jack this thread, but has anyone else here have cats that really like music? Sheesh (I know, very odd name. She’s a Himalayan/Maine Coon mix), LOVES it when I play my fiddle or whistle. I also have a dog and some birds (I used to have rodents too), and none of them pay any attention to my music. Go figure.
Really? I have two cats and a border collie, and they head for the hills as soon as the whistle appears. Of course, it could just be my horrible playing more than the music itself.
My old ginger female cat (who is no longer with us ), used to do anything she could to get as near to my face as possible, when I was singing, playing the whistle/guitar. She used to join in too, and paw at my face. (I hope she didn’t think I was in pain, coz I sing well! )
If you couldn’t find her, you just had to whistle her (like a dog), and she’d come running. My husband thought she might think the sounds were kittens squealing for their mum. (We don’t know if she ever had kittens, as she was 4yrs old when we got her).
She also used to bury EVERYTHING…food, socks, spills on the floor, my other cat’s poop…but never dog poop!
Think she cat the cat equivalent of OCD.
No cats in this household, but I had to chime in with my poop story of the weekend.
I was cleaning out the room that used to be the aviary. Believe it or not I found birdpoop on the ceiling.
I was very puzzled by this until I realized that we have Zebra finches and they’re originally from Australia. Apparently their orientation of defecation remains the same as it was in the land Down Under?
All my long line of cats have been tidy, every one. But it’s not like I post house rules or anything, like they’d care. It’s just been the norm in my world, and so I’ve presumed it’s the norm in general.
She’s a brown shorthair tabby with that classic “M” mark on the forehead - my favorite as it’s sort of the Ur-cat look - with black ticking and striping, an ivory chin and mouth, and some apricot on her belly (and an arrestingly pretty face with a pair of mottled subtle green-gold eyes; seriously, probably the prettiest cat face I’ve ever seen. People remark on it), but really, it’s an interesting olive brown to her cast. Some days she looks almost green depending on the light and surroundings. So, one of her attributes is The Green Cat. Pure camouflage. I’ve seen her sit atop a stump in the twilight and disappear.
Usually I prefer male cats, but one welcomes the cats destiny assigns to one, and although this one is all girl and as affable and close a pal as you could ask at home, she has a no-nonsense wild streak and fierce solidness about her. Sort of a warrior princess, and although she’s small as housecats go, she’s boss of her territory. I’ve seen the big males show her deference. She’s not a very good neighbor.
I was in the bathroom once, and Moxie (who BTW is a tuxedo cat) smelled some dirty underwear on the floor, and he tried to bury it! ROFLMBO 
), used to do anything she could to get as near to my face as possible, when I was singing, playing the whistle/guitar. She used to join in too, and paw at my face. (I hope she didn’t think I was in pain, coz I sing well! 
)