Over the 12 years we've owned her, Savannah has generally proven herself pretty smart for a cat -- responding to her name consistently, as well as a handful of other words we've taught her, fetching her toy mouse, and figuring out how to open/get under/violate various closed spaces. I'm not saying she can do math or anything, but I always thought she was pretty savvy.That is, until last night.
When we arrived at the Nashville Sheraton, we let Savannah out of her carrier first thing, as per the usual course of events. She ran around the hotel room, as per the usual course of events, sniffing everything and yowling intermittently. Then, she encountered the floor-to-ceiling mirrored closet doors. It's not like Savannah's never seen a mirror before, or even a floor-to-ceiling one, so I was surprised to see her balk. I mean, I've always given her credit for being above the other cats who think that their reflection is another feline (or that their tail is a plaything.) Alas, she proved me wrong in Nashville -- as I watched her crouch close to the ground upon first spotting herself, then become puffy, then stare in sheer terror at the reflection. She spent the better part of the half-hour trying to figure out how to defeat this odd twin, meowing at it, stalking it, hiding from it and finally, deciding to play hide-and-seek with it. (It never found her.)
It was all quite amusing, but a little bit disappointing.
Many of you (okay, maybe two or three of you) have asked how Savannah's holding up during the cross-country drive. She's doing great. (With the exception of the aforementioned mirror freak-out, and her violent reaction to this morning's breakfast delivery guy.) She's uncharacteristically quiet in the car, as opposed to when we did this drive six years ago, and she meowed for a solid 2-3 hours each morning. She sleeps most of the time, waking up when we make stops to look through the carrier bars and get a good view of the U.S. She definitely has opinions about the hotels we've picked (loves the Best Western, hates Motel 6). She likes to explore each room thoroughly, quickly ferreting out the window with the sunshine. She also cuddles with us every night and has no problem relaxing on the variety of strange beds.
A large part of the reason we decided to drive was that we didn't want to put her on a plane -- and I like to think she appreciates that.
It's really kind of fun to travel with her, like a family vacation. ..........
3 Comments:
I can't believe that after 12 years you still believe that you own Savannah, not the other way around.
In Savannah's defense: maybe she knew it was her own reflection in the mirror, and that's what threw her into a panic. Maybe she saw something she didn't like -- like, bad hair, or a 6-oz weight gain, or puffy eyes. And thus, a puffy tail.
I like that theory, Heather.
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