The Cat as Miss Manners Etiquette Expert

For a feline with a perennial wild streak a mile wide, The Cat can be surprisingly civilized and strangely respectful of boundaries, property and peer values. The Cat's value system shows up at odd times.

I may have mentioned before that we are actually owned by two cats. The Cat is Chatterbox, easily the bossier of the two, and it is her exploits which are usually recorded here. She gets the majority of the attention, both here and in the real world, since she demands it. She's more active, younger, more energetic and, on occasion, more obnoxious - which made today's observation just that much more surprising.

Growler (variously known as The Other Cat, The Elder Cat, The Mooch) is quite a bit older than Chatterbox. Comparing Growler to Chatterbox is like comparing a Great Dane to a teacup poodle. Well, maybe not -that- dramatic but you get my point. Growler is full of Zen wisdom and silence, saying nothing unless absolutely necessary. She gets her point across through the use of pointed stares, a nearly Buddha-like calm, mixed with a Yoda expression. The Cat, on the other hand, is a brilliant conversationalist and the life of the party.

So. Today I set out the requisite tuna on the requisite plates in the requisite positions, as is part of the daily Rite of the Sacred Tuna Offering. Usually I put down the dishes and back away respectfully, reciting the appropriate prayers and making the retreating bow, then quickly get out of the way to avoid being bowled over by charging cat, ordered to go about my business so the Rite can be completed in peace.

Today I watched from a distance.

The Cat rushed in, approved the Rite's offerings, and tucked into her tablespoon of tuna with lightning speed. Growler roused herself and stretched, spent a few moments in Zen meditation on the meaning of the Rite, then circled down from her perch to the floor and stopped a few feet away from her dish.

Normally one might expect a faster ravenous cat to finish one dish of food then move a few inches and start in on the second full plate. Instead, Chatterbox stopped, looked over at Growler, sat down, and waited for her elder to arrive. The Cat watched silently while Growler sampled the contents of the second plate. Chatterbox did not stand up and begin eating again until after Growler had begun to eat.

Manners? Respect for The Elder?