Whoops

[Sherita]

How quickly cats forget their lessons, LOL. Both of my house cats are well aware of the rules against sitting on the tanks, messing with the tanks, harassing the residents of the tanks, playing with the wiring near the tanks, or just making a nuisance of themselves around the tanks. My male apparently decided today that such rules no longer applied, much to his dismay.

I currently have two qt tanks going and they will soon be coming out of hypo. Since the big tank isn't ready yet, I dragged one of the 110g tanks in to set up as a temporary home for the predators until their new tank is ready. This tank is sitting on the floor. So, now you know the scene.

I went to get dog food, and returned to a soaking wet orange cat (aka Velcro, EEEEEEE, arghhhh, pirate cat). Mr. "The rules don't apply to me" had hopped into the 110 while I was gone, not noticing the 3 or so inches of water in the bottom of it (just saltwater soaking in it, so I could clean the bottom). It would appear that when said cat came in contact with said water, there was an explosive eruption of orangecat out of the tank, with subsequent water redistribution all over the room. Orangecat is not happy at this time.

He became even less happy when the realization hit that the saltwater bath was going to be followed up with a freshwater bath. This is to prevent cat pukage later on, with even more redistribution of saltwater, most likely to be placed in the middle of my freshly laundered bedclothes. Orangecat is now under the bed, humiliated, semi-wet, and MAD.

Old female cat (aka Minnie, motormouth, WHAT???, grouchy) is sitting smugly on freshly laundered bedclothes, contemplating the fact that HE went first, so she avoided the same fate.

Once again, the male of the species is in trouble. I have no doubt that Minnie dared him. He fell for it (and IN it) yet again.

[Flyride95]

You know I was just sitting here thinking, why the heck does it have to be a male thing? But then I thought about my cat and the fact that HE did the same thing... Yea boys are dumb lol

[allan]

I think there's a country song that speaks to this particular phenomena.

Something about why guys show off, 'cause the chicks dig it... It's been awhile since I tuned into country.

From an anthropological point of view, there's probably something to do with demonstrating ones prowess to the other gender. The unsuccessful demonstration often results in the 'boys are dumb' mantra that we hear from so many of the ladies over time.

But then again, my sociology professor maintained that instinct had been bred out of the human animal thousands of years ago.

Or were we just talking about boy cats?

[alton]

Back one my daughters Maine Coon was a baby he would jump up on my 200 gallon canopy and just hang out till one day I left a cover off and when he jumped he went straight in. Last time he ever jumped up there. Since then he is not allowed to get on any furniture.

[Sherita]

Having survived raising my son, I can promise you that the drive to show off is alive and well in at least one male human. There were times I wasn't sure if he would survive to adulthood. He's not so bad now, but as a teenager there were days he worried me to death. And some days where I just had to ask "What were you thinking???".

The drive to prove suitability as a mate doesn't seem to have been dampened in humans. Just get a group of young adult males together and observe from a distance. The subtle body language, one-upmanship, and the demonstrations of strength, aggression and dominance are all there.

@Allan - I can promise you that at least some of our instinct survives. Remind me some time to tell you of the encounter I had with a cougar a few years back. The very primal parts of our brain still well remember when we were not at the top of the food chain.

Of course, in the case of my male cat, I really do think he is a few crayons shy of a box. He's never been the smartest thing to walk on four legs, and routinely gets himself into messes.

[allan]

Only if you will allow me to tell you the story of an encounter I had with a couger when I was a teenager, and later a vulture (All of the drive, none of the equipment).

[Sherita]

Perhaps over a cup of coffee sometime.

And now I gotta go crawl under a house. Sewer line work. yay