Recently, I read a newspaper article that referred to humans who go to extremes to treat their animals like children. Although Pat + I gave our Good Cats human names, we’re still well aware they are not human.

   After all, if these cats were children we would expect them to help out with the chores — cleaning up after themselves would be particularly nice. And, as children grow up, they would be expected to learn to be unselfish, to think of how they can do thoughtful things for their hard-working parents. On special occasions children could take us out to dinner, or even occasionally bring us a little something to eat (and dead mice don’t count).

   Closer to my heart, I could tell a child of ours to get out of Daddy’s chair so he can sit there. Not so with cats, at least not my Kelly Cat. Sure, I put a blanket there so he can sleep comfortably when I’m not around, but he doesn’t seem to understand that last "when I’m not around" part.

   But sometimes Pat + I do see things from cats that resemble the end result of rational human-level thought and calculation. One day this week, she was in the kitchen getting ready to give the cats their wet food. Kelly, the Big Guy, and protective little Nicky were crowding at her feet, with Nicky as usual the closest to his favorite human, his ears back and eyes narrowed and occasionally throwing a stiff left jab with a paw to keep Kelly at a distance.

   On this day, as Pat spooned stinky goodness into cat dishes, Kelly suddenly turned away from her and walked over, purring, to me at the kitchen table. Naturally, I began rubbing his head and stroking his fur and telling him what a Good Cat he is. At this, Nicky seemed to decide he was jealous of Kelly getting all the Love & Affection, and he bounced over to me and pushed in front of Kelly for some L. & A. from me, too.

   Kelly didn’t fight or push back; he only turned around and walked back to Pat, who by this time was ready to set down the cat dishes on the floor. Nicky had his L. & A., but Kelly now had inside position on getting fed first, which I suspect is what this Good Cat was after all along.