Piglet is Demanding

Piglet is smarter than I ever hope to be. In last week's post I shared about how she has figured out light switches and how to be comfortable and warm at the same time.

This week, Piglet continues to prove that she is the smartest member of this household.

We just got a new couch in the city house. It is a really nice brown microfiber sofa that we find quite comfortable. In ever living room we've ever had there has been a blanket available for Piglet. However, when not in use we don't like to have it out. So, when there is no cat in the blanket we put it in one of those ottoman cubes that we have. We own two of them and use them for foot stools and a coffee table while lounging on the sofa.

Piglet not only knows that the blanket is in one of the cubes - she knows WHICH cube. Often, when one of us is on the sofa Piglet will jump up on to the cube containing the blanket and paw at the edge where it opens to ask us to get it for her. When you ask her what she wants she will meow. Then once the blanket is removed she expects the humans to help her get under it.

The other day Matt and I were both in the office. I heard meowing from another part of the house so went to investigate. Piglet will often tell us when something is wrong. I found her sitting on a cube in the living room. I asked her what she wanted and she meowed again. I checked her all over to make sure she wasn't injured or sick but I was way too dense to get it at first. I kept asking her what was going on and she just stood on the cube and meowed.

Then I realized what cube she was standing on.

I moved the cat, removed the blanket, and offered it to her on the sofa. She curled right up and stayed there the rest of the afternoon.

Close up of a Pig in a Blanket

The long view

Comfort and Heat FTW!

Over a dozen years ago when we were researching Sphynx cats before Piglet came into our lives we learned two very important things. On the seemingly arbitrary scale used by "cat people," Sphynx cats rated 1 in Independence and 10 in Intelligence.

These are very smart but clingy cats.

Piglet absolutely fits every stereotype of the Sphynx cat breed.

For instance, when we lived in a large home in East Cobb, Georgia the master bathroom had a heat lamp near the shower. The bathroom was long and narrow with a large counter that spanned the room ending next to the toilet which was next to the tub/shower combo. Near the door were three light switches. One controlled the overhead light, one controlled the light over the mirror and the third controlled the heat lamp by the shower.

Piglet, as you have learned on this blog, is a cat who loves heat.

It didn't take long for her to figure out that one of those switches turned the heat lamp on. And then she figured out WHICH switch turned it on. We would have to close the bathroom door when we weren't in it (or home) or we would come back to find piglet sitting on the toilet seat cover under the heat lamp which she turned on by herself.

What?

I love that she also brought her toy, "Ducky," in the bathroom with her while she was enjoying the heat. That is the small orange and yellow thing by the rug. 

So, as you've seen in the small city house here in Asheville, Piglet as pretty much glued herself to the heat registers on the floor. The house was built in 1948 and the heat registers are metal grates that kind of look like waffle irons. I keep thinking she will end up waffled after laying on them all day. Perfect grill marks like a Burger King burger. In our bedroom, I placed her little orange bed next to the heat register but she ignored it for the first two months. It wasn't warm enough, I'm certain.

Until the other day when I walked in to see this:

The bed AND the heat!  

It seems as though Piglet's very large cat brain has struck again. This is perfect - she can have comfort and warmth. Since that miraculous discovery we have found Piglet in this configuration every day.

Seriously, stop taking pictures of me on this thing...

It sounds crazy, but considering Piglet is getting up there in years (her next birthday will bring her up to the last pre-teen year of 12,) I am still sometimes amazed at how smart this cat is. The cognitive abilities she displays are pretty astounding...and sometimes frightening. Like she really could take over the world if she tried hard enough. She won't, though, because the monkeys give her treats and blankets so why do that much work?