Question of the day: Saturday October 5

Hello everyone..

Well, the 'best laid plans' I had for today came to a grinding halt as I found myself bedridden with a bug. 

Then I remembered QOD. 

With a virus-addled brain I could come up with nothing until I realised how my cats were behaving...

So I thought I'd ask:

Do your cats behave differently when you are ill?

                                     

                                                 

Sorry you're not feeling well.

Ritz is clueless when I'm not feeling well physically.  She looks at me like, Get over yourself.  Are you dead?  crippled?  Then proceed as normal AND FEED ME NOW.

When I'm really really emotionally upset (rare), then she is a little afraid and just looks at me like, What is your problem.  No, really, I don't understand this human emotion.  AND GIVE ME A BELLY RUB NOW.

Oh, maybe she does understand....

Mogli really hasn't been here long enough to say, because all we've had is run-of-the-mill colds since we got him. Jamie would get cuddly when I was ill. Twice I was recovering from major surgery, and he'd try to gently keep the sites warm. He still demanded his walks, but wasn't insistent about staying outside for very long, so he must have known I wasn't up to par.

Mani, feel better soon! 

A couple weeks I came home from work feeling very bad. Chills, sore throat, sore muscles, etc. Came home, gave the furkids a bit of lunch and went to bed. Pretty soon I felt Mollipop jump into bed and curl up right next to me. She knows when I'm down and could use some TLC and she's always willing to lay with me. It took her awhile to realize that there were times when Mom wasn't feeling well, but now, she's right there when she knows.

Hydrox, the Old Coot, was the empathic cat I've ever known. Whenever I was down or depressed, he was right there. Right there. When Rick was in the hospital and he was so sick, I'd work second shift, then spend part of the night sitting in the chair next to his bed in his room. Then I'd come home around 3-4 in the morning. Hydrox was right there, waiting. Part of it was that he wanted a snack, of course, but after he ate, he came right to me and spent the rest of the night on my stomach on the couch. And I cried many, many tears into that boy's fur. And he was always there. Always. He always knew when I really needed him to be with me.

Oh dear Ritz, you did make me laugh! I'm sure she understands. 

Mouse is pretty good, he follows me about and if I'm under the weather he just curls up with me either on the sofa or the bed.  If I'm upset he gets stressed though and I hate that.  He's really patient if I'm not 100% and will wait quite a while before he starts hinting about food or poop scooping, and does get up to play on his own rather than pestering.  He's my buddy.   

Hope you feel better soon Mani.  

Peanut is my buddy when I'm sick. If I make a bed on the couch he will snuggle all day and he is not a big snuggler these days. The only problem is he insists on laying on my arm. I wouldn't mind so much if he wasn't 17 lbs. lol

I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety shortly after we got Angel. She is my best therapy for that. When I was at my worst and would just sit on the floor and do nothing, she would lick me, rub against me & meow at me until I would finally get so annoyed that I'd do something just to get her to leave me alone. She is persistent. If I'd try to hide my head under my pillow her little face would peek in to lick and meow at me. She is so sweet but if she senses I'm having a relapse then she is so overly affectionate until I get up and do something. Then her work is done.

My Rainbow kitty - Boots - definitely felt my moods. Not too sure about Angel, Tony and Tippy.

I've posted this story before --- but here's the story of Boots when my mother died. After the funeral I was sitting on the couch just thinking about my mother, not showing any outward emotions -- but suddenly Boots came over, jumped on my lap, stood up, put his paws on my shoulders and leaned over as if he was trying to hug me. Boots was never a lap cat and this was the only time in his 17 years that he ever did anything like that. I know that he was feeling my emotions and trying to comfort me. This is something I will never forget.

Bella is more loving to me when I'm sick and laying in bed.

Hope you feel better soon!!!

My kitties always know when something is wrong, especially Abby.  When I'm not feeling well, she rarely leaves my side. Normally, she likes to be near me, or at least have me in her line of vision, but sometimes she sleeps in her bed in the spare room.  When I'm sick, she's like lint! Stuck to me!  LOL

kookycats, I think people know when we need comfort too.

My father was in the nursing home after his 2nd stroke--affected him physically but not mentally.  He could not walk, pee, poop, was fed through a feeding tube.  He also could not speak; he communicated through a board with the alphabet on it.

One day when I was feeling especially low and sad, he said very clearly out of the blue:  "I love you."

@dejolane. Bella sounds like my youngest grandchild. He's only interested in me if I am or was ill.
My cats are not interested if I don't feel well or am crying. Only once my gentle RIP realized I had very very bad sun stroke. It started with me vomiting water non-stop raging fever and freezing cold. My ex said if I don't drink he'll take me to hospital for saline drips. I drank. Sip by sip. .gentle got into bed with me which was a daily occurrence but lay close close to me. I could hardly move but if I did she did too. The only other time was when she was getting ready for rainbow bridge. That's another story.