One Cool Cat: Update

This business of Kato, my cat, listening to jazz is getting a little spooky. The other night he sat staring at the stereo speakers and made the same distinctive meow (more like a squeek than a meow) that he makes when he wants me to open the sliding glass door so he can go outside, or when he wants me to open him a can of tuna. So I turned on the CD player, which had a Grateful Dead CD in it (Truckin’ Up to Buffalo). He kept on squeeking at me till I switched to “his” CD, Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane. Then he stopped squeeking and sat down in front of the speakers and listened. I’m sure he would have been snapping his fingers and drinking espresso if only he had thumbs.

I’ve had two friends tell me their cats will sit and intently watch nature programs on TV. One friend even said his cat will crouch and go into “hunter mode” when an animal appears on TV. I’ve also had friends tell me to play other types of jazz and see what Kato responds to. I played a Dave Ellis CD (contemporary jazz) – no response at all. I played a Charlie Parker CD (jazz from the 40’s and early 50’s), and Kato did come over, stare at the speakers, and sit down and listen for a while – but then he got distracted and wandered off.

I’m not sure which is more unsettling: that Kato has added to his repertoire of commands he gives me (Time to get out of bed! Open the door for me! Give me some tuna! Play me some jazz!), or that Kato apparently does not like the Grateful Dead.