Lying down with your cat on the grass

Lying down on the grass with your cat is fun for you but mostly for your cat
Lying down on the grass with your cat is fun for you but mostly for your cat. Individual pics in public domain. Montage by PoC.

Today is sunny. I lay down on the grass in my backyard for a while, chilling out doing nothing. My cat was in the backyard nosing around and I knew that if I lay down he’d enjoy it. And he did.

He was ecstatic. He was all over me. I thought I’d mention it on the website. I couldn’t photograph myself with my cat as it would have disturbed the special moment so afterward I searched for a decent image to illustrate the article.

None. Google images could not bring up a picture of a person lying down in the grass with a domestic cat. I am sure that there is one out there (or more) and if not there will be in 30 minutes because I have created one using Photoshop Elements. I had to. It’s not bad but not great. It looks fairly realistic.

But what I have taken from this exercise is that (1) cat owners rarely lie down on the grass, flat on their back, with their cat companion and (2) domestic cats are very likely to love it. They’ll be pleasantly surprised because it hasn’t happened before 😉 .

Have you tried it? My theory as to why cats love it (and I predict your cat will too) is that we tower over them all the time which prevents them interacting on a cat-to-cat basis which is what they are inclined to do and what they crave.

The grass element is important too as it is a part of the natural world. Cats love it. It is the smells and the feel of it. When you lie down on the grass with your cat you are mixing together some good ingredients namely: grass + sun + you + smells + equal height interactions. You are introducing nature and an equality of height and therefore a feeling that their human companion is a similar size.

When cats greet us at the door they sometimes go up on their haunches to gain height to rub against us to merge scents. This behavior tells us that domestic cats struggle with the huge difference in height. Of course, many cat owners lie in bed with their cat which is great but they should try it on the grass too, preferably in warm sunshine just to add to the mix. Cats love the feeling of warmth.

For a cat these elements are a heady mixture and the key is to get down, right down, to their level and relate to your cat as a cat. If you have not got a backyard with grass, inside the home on the carpet is a good second best. Because of the coronavirus lockdown I do Pilates before breakfast. My cat loves it. He joins in. It is because of the same reason.

Self-isolation Pilates with my cat

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