If Cats Could Talk
I was telling a story today about my old cat Kira, who had learned to make a couple of specialized vocalizations, one for "water" (she was a big fan of fresh water in the dish any time I could get around to it), and one for "hello" when I first came into the apartment.
Admitting that not many cats are as vocally talented as Kira was, we were wondering if perhaps cats could be trained to tap a button on a device which then vocalizes for them — sort of like the kids' toys where different buttons make animal noises or various other sound effects. There could be a button for "I want food" and other buttons for "I want water" or "I want attention" and so on.
This seemed like a great idea, until I thought of my own cat, Ivan, and his existing repertoire of noisemaking tactics for getting what he wants (batting the blinds, scraping the food bowl around, tapping at a cord on the floor, and so on). Arming him with a tool like that could be, at best, extraordinarily annoying, and at worst, insanity inducing.
Consider, at around 5am:
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food I want food I want food
"Ivan!"
I want food
"Ivan! No! Not right now."
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food
"Okay, okay. Just a minute. Your bowl is still half full! I'm going back to bed."
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food I want food I want food I want food I want food I want food I want food
"YOU HAVE FOOD!"
I want attention?
Admitting that not many cats are as vocally talented as Kira was, we were wondering if perhaps cats could be trained to tap a button on a device which then vocalizes for them — sort of like the kids' toys where different buttons make animal noises or various other sound effects. There could be a button for "I want food" and other buttons for "I want water" or "I want attention" and so on.
This seemed like a great idea, until I thought of my own cat, Ivan, and his existing repertoire of noisemaking tactics for getting what he wants (batting the blinds, scraping the food bowl around, tapping at a cord on the floor, and so on). Arming him with a tool like that could be, at best, extraordinarily annoying, and at worst, insanity inducing.
Consider, at around 5am:
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food I want food I want food
"Ivan!"
I want food
"Ivan! No! Not right now."
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food
"Okay, okay. Just a minute. Your bowl is still half full! I'm going back to bed."
I want food
I want food
I want food
I want food I want food I want food I want food I want food I want food I want food
"YOU HAVE FOOD!"
I want attention?