Now that Oscar the Cat has been making national news for his uncanny ability to sense death, some calling Oscar “Grim Kitty,” though staff at that hospice in Rhode Island are quick to point out he comforts those near the end, I have been keeping a closer eye on the resident pussycat here at my place. My friend Mike Turner and I have long suspected this cat of being a furry extraterrestrial, and people who know cats don’t totally discount the idea of their being aliens, and the many cultures throughout the ages according supernatural status to cats is well known.

Dogs and cats especially often seem to sense the moods of their human companions to quite an extraordinary degree, and the stories are legion concerning this. The ability of animals in many instances to sense and respond to many things of which humans are not capable continue to prove fascinating, and at times an exciting area of scientific research. In view of much of this research it is difficult to determine just how much of human intelligence might be ascribed to animals, and in many cases we are rightly uneasy thinking the animals we raise and slaughter for food might be sentient beings having more than just the lowest level of perception, but capable of some human-like conscious, cognitive thoughts, or like dolphins and some others even self-awareness.

Many of you know the jokes about trying to stare down a cat, like the strip showing Jon attempting to do this with Garfield. For cat cognizanti you may have tried this yourself, but whether you have or not dogs and cats show marked intelligence in their eyes; and oftentimes uncomfortably so. Cartoonists have long been able to ascribe human characteristics to animals. Where would Disney have been otherwise, and what would Charles Schultz have been without Snoopy?

For those of us who care about our pets we like to believe they understand us, that they understand our moods and respond more like friends than simply animals. The problem is that vast chasm between warm and fuzzy, and nature red in tooth and claw. You simply do not make “friends” of sharks, bears, lions, and tigers, and anyone that thinks otherwise and wants one of these as a “pet” has to be short of brain cells notwithstanding all the warm and fuzzy anecdotes.

Certainly animals of all types can be trained to do things out of character for them. In an age past C. H. Spurgeon compared women preachers with a dog that had been trained to walk upright on its hind legs. He said it was not surprising the dog did it badly; but why would it do so at all? Wait a moment ladies; note I said this comment by Spurgeon was “in an age past.” Well, to hear some preachers today maybe not so far past.

Observers of animals in their natural environments soon realize that as with human beings not all are equal, and not all are predictable. In the meantime, perhaps those of us fond of our pussycats just might want to show them a little more respect. Who knows but what Mike Turner and I might be on to something?