The San Jose Mercury News reports that a marmalade cat named Christopher seems to have a sixth sense. Christopher lives at the Nine Lives Foundation’s Feline Well-Care Clinic (that’s a mouthful!) and has the uncanny ability to sense when other cats are sick and hurting.
From the article:
[Christopher] will sit outside the cages of sick felines until someone lets him in, and last month, the clinic says, he saved the life of a kitten in need of a blood transfusion.
“It’s weird, it’s really true that he seems to understand things,” said Monica Thompson, Nine Lives’ chief veterinarian and founder. “He knows when he can help. He alerts us when things aren’t right about a cat.”
[…]
“He’ll often paw at a cage door to be let in so he can clean and comfort a cat in there,” said Robert Lowery, a San Ramon resident and volunteer at Nine Lives.
But Christopher doesn’t just alert staff to ailing cats. He can also apparently tame wild strays. Last month, he asked to be let into a cage with two feral kittens who were unhandleable. The article says he “taught the kittens all about being a cat”, and within a couple of weeks they were tame and adoptable.
You can read more about Christopher (and other cats from the Nine Lives Foundation) at the Nine Lives Foundation blog.
[San Jose Mercury News: Nine lives, sixth sense: Cat at veterinary clinic seeks out ailing cats]
I think our cats know when we (my husband and I) are arguing. And I don’t just mean that they react to raised voices or slamming doors. I truly feel that they can pick up on the dynamics between us on a daily basis. The four of us occupy a very small house together, so I am sure this has something to do with it.