Cats on Earth, in the year 2021, and the unique experiences we have with animals
   We have cats here on Earth. Big ones, small ones, ones that have no hair, ones that have all the hair, mean ones, loving ones, and a lot of really funny ones.Â
   House cats are of the smaller variety we have adapted through breeding manipulations to live with us over years and years. They are more than abundant in some parts of the world and are mostly liked by humans. They are fascinated with smaller prey and they are natural hunters. Excellent hearing and vision. They have sharp claws on all four of their paws and they instinctively use them to hunt and to defend. And just for fun, too. Like knives in between each of fingers.Â
The two cats I have, in particular, are in-doors only animals and have a steady schedule of eating and sleeping. Even with cats’ perceived laziness, they are usually in hunting mode, their nature just compels them to kill, not even always out of hunger or necessity (This is the reason we have indoor cats, cats that are free to roam, as millions around the world are, cause negative effects to the local wildlife and become huge pests). Their eyes are trained to constantly be on the lookout for prey or food, so you will often witness a cat suddenly bolting upright and running across the room, because he saw a flash of light or perhaps a small insect.
   Only in recent years has technology gotten good enough to produce screens and displays that almost mirror that of real life. With this, some cats have been able to finally recognize things we are seeing and spending hours watching on the television. (See; TV and how we never did anything after!)Â
These things culminated for me on this night in 2021, July 13th, where in; I was smoking weed (See: Weed, how to survive in a world gone mad) with my fiancé and browsing the internet for entertaining videos. We come across a live broadcast of a camera placed at a feeding location for small wildlife. We are watching the little creatures have a snack and notice that Kurt, our cat, is also entranced, eyes fixed on the screen. There was a racoon, eating at a tray of food set out and our cat was wide eyed, watching his every move. His eyes would dash around every time the raccoon moved, from one side of the screen to the other. Our cat was watching tv with us! Not just there, while we watched TV, he was actively engaged in the watching! In this moment, both of us, two humans, and one cat, one Felis domesticus, are watching a media screen together and enjoying it. For different reasons, sure, but the incredibly strange intersect of evolutions of two very different species over millions of years, came to a crossing at the all-mighty TV.
I felt that these little encounters may not be well documented out there among all the space and time, as our relationships with cats has been pretty consistent for the last 70 years or so, and almost none too unique. Despite this, these animals have all sorts of little quirks and personalities, probably as dense of humans’ that can come out in some unexpected ways. Like finding yourself stoned, and watching TV with a cat.Â
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