Cats will do exactly as they please

I HAVE always shared my life with cats, and as time goes on, I learn more and more about them. Cats do as they please. If a cat chooses to spend time in your house, you should feel honoured, because it is a clear sign that the cat enjoys your company. Cats do not suffer situations that do not suit them, and they move on smoothly and quietly if they so choose.
Studies have shown that only two out of three cats are chosen by their owners as kittens – the other one out of three just “lands” in on a house. The cat appears from somewhere unknown, simply arriving in a household and deciding “Yes, this will do me nicely, thank you.”
Some years ago, one of my own cats, KC, decided to move to live with a neighbour. KC had arrived as a kitten into a house where there were already two adult cats: a big black Burmese cross-bred, known as Gladstone, and a large docile tabby cat called Baby. These two older animals welcomed KC and the three cats hung around together: KC and Baby were particularly close. We had a special fleece-lined cat bed that was designed to hang from a radiator, to give a cat a warm place to sleep. This was only designed for one animal, but KC and Baby somehow discovered that if they curled up together at the same time, they could both fit into it. They would then be snugger then ever, enjoying the softness of the fleece beneath them, and the warm cosiness of each other’s bodies around them. The two cats’ bodies formed a perfect circle, like the ying-yang sign of Chinese medicine.