It’s no secret that I do weird things with my cats. In fact, I wrote about some of my odd activities right here on Catster. And because there wasn’t enough room for all the strange behavior in one post, I wrote another one a few months later. What I loved most about those posts were the readers’ comments. It turns out I’m not alone in many of my weird cat-related habits. Both the readers and I heaved huge sighs of relief when we realized we were among kindred spirits and could finally come out of the crazy closet and share our loony leanings.
Today I want to share another odd habit of mine. Actually, my whole family participates in this one. When one of the cats is relaxed or sleeping in our laps, we gently move parts of the cat’s head (usually the ears) to create amazing impressions. And then we have to say the name of the impression out loud, in an excited manner. The name announcement isn’t part of a rule anyone established, we just all naturally do it. Because why wouldn’t we?
Here are five impressions as modeled by Cosmo.
1. Bunny
Bunny is a kind of a newer impression, but has become one of the most popular ones. All you do is pop up the sides of the ears so the little triangles become long, skinny rabbit-style ears. Easy! Careful, though — if you try this on a cranky cat, he may just rabbit kick your face off. I speak from experience.
“Bunny!”
2. Rat
This is the original impression. My husband and I have been giving our cats rat faces for almost 25 years. And when the ears are smoothed back into a perfect rodent position, we admire our creation. You can create Rat many times while you’re petting your cat’s head. The cat gets a petting and you get your jollies! Win-win!
“Rat Face!”
3. Flying Squirrel
Flying Squirrel is kind of the next level of Rat Face. The ears are smoothed back a little further so the cat’s face looks as if he’s flying against the wind. Sometimes you get peeky teeth with this impression, which is not very flying squirrel-like, but still adorable. I’ll take peeky kitty teeth whenever I can get them.
“Flying Squirrel!”
4. Lamby
This is a look that originated from my father-in-law and his cat. He used to make the Lamby face with his giant Ragdoll-mix named Kato. To achieve Lamby, you must semi-flatten the ears to the side so they look like, well, lamb ears.
“Lamby!”
5. School Picture!
I first wrote about school in one of my “weird things I do with my cat” posts, but cannot effectively cover feline impressions without mentioning it again. To achieve this look, gently pull the corner of the cat’s mouth back until he’s “smiling.” You are guaranteed a peeky teeth sighting with this impression.
“School Picture!”
Does your cat do any impressions? Tell us in the comments!
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Read more by Angie Bailey:
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- The Pros and Cons of My Cats as Health Care Providers
- I Saw Through My Cats’ Eyes with a Collar Camera
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- 5 Things I’d Do if I Were a Cat for a Day
About the Author: Angie Bailey is an eternal optimist with an adoration of all things silly. Loves pre-adolescent boy humor, puns, making up parody songs, thinking about cats doing people things and The Smiths. Writes Catladyland, a cat humor blog, Texts from Mittens (birthed right here on Catster) and authored whiskerslist: the kitty classifieds, a silly book about cats wheeling and dealing online. Partner in a production company and writes and acts in comedy web series that features sketches and mockumentaries. Mother to two humans and three cats, all of which want her to make them food.
