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I have also noticed, on numerous occasions, that people, in my environment, were convinced that animals are fundamentally selfish (in the human sense of the word) and that they only try to communicate with us in order to get immediate satisfaction of their current wishes.
To me, this opinion is totally erroneous as I do not believe that Jicky is different from other cats. To state an example: Jicky adores the flowers and tends to stay close to me whenever I put them in a vase.
In the garden, we have a big clump of gladioli that starts flowering in July. One morning, as I was crouching in front of the raspberry canes (my favourite fruit) for early picking, Jicky came along leisurely (he never hurries) and rubbed against my leg, a sign that usually means "Look at me, I have something to tell you". I gave him the answer that he was waiting for: "What do you want, Jicky?" (in the meantime looking straight at each other, chin forward).
Turning his head, he indicated towards a direction. I translate: "This way". So, I got up while he started walking away, looking back from time to time, which means: "Follow me". I obliged while he took me to the clump of gladioli. He then stopped there, sat on his bottom and started staring at one of the stems. "Look, this is what I wanted to show you." Sure enough, I noticed that the first gladiolus flower of the summer was opening out. I thanked him and he enjoyed my cuddles. I cupped the flower in my hand for a while, to let him know that he had been understood, after which he got up and left without turning his head once. I have expanded on this example, which in itself has nothing exceptional, partly because it happened recently, partly because it is typical of the kind of conversations that can occur between cats and humans.
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