Knock, knock, knocking

Alf, male 5 year old neutured purr-monster, has always knocked on the letter-box on the front-door when he wants to come inside - great, it means he doesn't have to wait on the doorstep and the neighbours don't think I'm a bad mother! He has now started a new game - going out of a ground floor window, round the house and knocking to come in and then back out the window, round the house etc etc. This is funny the first 6 times, but the humour starts to wear thin after a while.

My neighbour's cat has also cottoned onto this little trick and comes knocking to see if anyone wants to come out to play with her....

Does anyone else have cats that like to have a good laugh at you?

Oh, that's so cute! I know it must be aggravating, though! I've had cats through the years with a sense of humor, but none of them had a recurring trick like that! Alf must be very smart as well as very funny!

You have one bright kitty!! And to think that he taught the neighbor's cat the same trick. Won't it be fun when he teaches all the neighbors' cats? This is so funny. Oh yes, easy for me to say, right? RIGHT!

My older cat, Squirt, used to be both an indoor/outdoor cat. He would meow at the sliding glass door to be let out. Once outside, he would come back to the door literally every 15-20 minutes and meow to be let back in. Not 2 minutes after he was in, he'd be asking to be let out again. It was as if he was checking in. It got old after going on all day, but it really never failed to amuse me.

He doesn't go outside anymore, but will still stand at the door to the garage in the kitchen and meow endlessly to be let into the garage. The funny thing is that once you open the door for him, he only stays in there for about 2 minutes. Then he's back in the house. But if you don't get up and open the door, he'll stand there asking forever.

My friend's cat, Trevor (size of a small horse) could never get used to the new cat-flap - he was quite happy about going out through it but not coming back in. He used to throw himself at the downstairs window and scratch and scratch at the glass to see if anyone would notice and open the door for him. The sound was almost as horrible as nails on a chalk-board. He never had to wait long. He also found it funny to go out the cat-flap, run around to the window, scratch, be let in, then go out the flap repeatedly.....

My friend spent weeks encouraging him to come in through the cat-flap. It was so entertaining watching her stretched out on the floor, talking to him and offering him treats, as he sat and wondered what this mad person was going to do next to amuse him.

I am convinced they have a sense of humour

They, also have senses of retribution. When my son, Mark, was about 9 y/o, he put a cat named Bootsie in the shower. I gave Mark a good smack on the butt and took a towel to Bootsie. He groomes himself and got everything the way he liked it. He, then very deliberately walked into the kids' room and left a large, smelly "gift" in Mark's bed. That was the only time in his life that Bootsie didn't use the litter box. I told Mark that he had that coming and made him change the sheets AND do that load of laundry. Mark is 24 and has never again mistreated an animal.

Merlin always picks a time when I am really busy or eating lunch, etc. to play this game. First he wants in, then he wants out, and so on and so forth, until I just say, "forget it!"

Cleo is an indoor cat, but she's fascinated by technology. She loves the answering machine and plays the messages before I get to them. At least she doesn't erase them. She also loves to turn the volume knob on the stereo, so I never know how loud it's going to be when I turn it on. I also have to keep re-programming the radio stations I have in memory on it--I don't know if she's doing something that erases the memory, or there's something wrong with the receiver.

Oh, and all phone calls are for her. She throws a fit if I'm on the phone and she's not allowed to speak to whoever is on the other end.

Cell-phones / mobile phones - for some strange reason cats love the ring tones of Nokia phones, but of no other type. My friends all experimented with different types of mobile phones (Samsungs, Ericssons, Nokias, Phillips etc etc) and the only ring tones that excited the individual cats were the Nokias.

If you have a Nokia, try running through the ring-tones and watch your cat come running - female cats seem to love them more than male cats do.

Oh yeah. Cleo loves my Nokia phone even more than she likes talking on the house phone.