Catnap

       There are many different positions of sleeping. The picture below shows the multiple positions. Cats, like humans use some of these positions. I would say that cats sleep exactly like humans, why is that? Is it because they watch us as we sleep, or they just know how to sleep. I really don't know the answer to this question but maybe someone does. 

        The sleeping position used by my cat, Mila, would probably be "Foetus" sometimes as I observe Mila she just goes onto the couch and just lays there and takes a catnap.(Pun intended) I say catnap because it's not like she goes to sleep, she is just taking a nap any noise would wake her. As you can see Mila is sleeping in the "Foetus" form. Where she is curled up in the position a fetus would lay in.

       
         Another position Mila uses, and this is the mostly used one would be the "Starfish." Much like the picture shown above of the "Starfish" position, Mila has her little arms bent in the air, as she lies on her back. I've witnessed her sleep like thousands of times, and I think it might be her favorite. She just lays on her back with her head resting on the ground and falls asleep faster than an apple falling off of a tree.

Below are photos I have taken of Mila sleeping in the Starfish position.  

       I have seen my cat sleep many times while observing her, but she doesn't move. She lays in the exact spot she sleeps in for 15+ minutes. But when I sleep I move to different positions through a period of six hours of sleep. How does she do it? I do some research and find a sight Cats.about.com. In this sight it tells me that when cats are dozing off the cats brain produces long irregular waves called slow wave sleep and lasts up to 15 minutes to 30 minutes total. As a cat sleeps they are able to stiffen their muscles to hold them still. This way they are able to spring into motion at a moments notice.
       I continue doing research to see why humans always move during sleep and I stumble across a website Brainfacts.org.  On this site it tells me that this occurs only during a brief arousal from sleep. An EEG (electroencephalograph) signals go from "Large slow activity of the sleep state, to the low voltage fast activity of the awoken individual." Most people are awake when they shift movements, but since there is sleep inertia it causes most people to forget what happens in the last few minutes of consciousness before going back to sleep.

National Cat Day

      29 Oct. 2014. Is the day that National Cat Day was on this year. So on Wednesday my friend comes over and she says, "Hey, its National Cat Day, you should take a Picture with your cat."
My response was,  "No it's not, I've never heard of "National Cat Day" (I used air quotes)." So as we go on talking about it.
I said, "How did you even hear about National Cat Day?"
She says, "I found it on Twitter." I go on the internet and search up "National Cat Day" and it tells me that it really was National Cat Day. So as I go on researching National Cat Day, I decided to put some of the information on my blog.
      "What a greater gift than the love of a cat?" (Charles Dickens) I find a website on National Cat Day and that is where I found this quote Nationalcatday.com. There are several different links on this page, the one I chose was "20 ways to celebrate." I only did one of the twenty ways to celebrate, number ten. "Assist an ill or elderly neighbor by cleaning their cat's litter box and playing withe their cat." I kind of did that, I just cleaned my parents's litter box and played with Mila.
       National Cat Day was founded by animal welfare advocate Colleen Paige. This celebration takes place every 29th of October, in the United States. This day was first celebrated in 2005 to help the public recognize the number of cats that need to be rescued every year. Also to encourage cat lovers to celebrate the cats in their life with unconditional love. (Wikipedia)

   
     

The Naming Game

        

    This is Mila. She is a crazy, wild, funny, and  weird cat. Mila is about one years of age. Mila has had at least three names. The first name she had was "Kitty" because well  we didn't know what to call her yet. After a few weeks of calling her "Kitty," my dad started to call her "Girl." Which became her second name. Me and my step mom thought "Girl" was to basic and unoriginal so we decided to name her something else. Her final name that was set and couldn't be changed again, the decision was final, she was named "Mila." Naming animals is not an easy job. Especially a name that actually matches the animal.                                           

    

  With all of this being said, I'd like to share a poem with all of my followers. "The Naming of Cats" this poem is very relevant to what my family and I had to go through with naming Mila. We had to go through three different stages of naming her, till we found the name that fits her. I feel as if we have not found the perfect name "That no human research can discover--

But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess." (Eliot) 

      

       "The Naming of Cats" - T.S. Eliot

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,

It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

Work Cited

Eliot,  T.S. "The Naming of Cats." Famouspoetsandpoems.com N.p. n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014