Who is Following Who? A Cat's Perception of Time

I know that Bemo knows when it’s Friday. There are probably all kinds of little idiosyncrasies happening all week, and especially on Thursday/Friday, that alert him to the approaching weekend. Today is Friday and he is exceptionally active, frequently walking over to my work area and staring at me, then jumping playfully every time I look at him or move as though I’m about to get up. He didn’t do this all week. He slept under my bed all week. But not today: Today is Friday.

How does he know? He must have some awareness of the passing of time and how many sunrises need to occur in order for the day to arrive when I don’t get up and immediately go to my desk for work (Saturday). I think it has a lot to do with my own routines. For example: I usually don’t order breakfast for myself throughout the week. Usually I make breakfast or skip it or whatever, but by Thursday or Friday I might feel like treating myself to a delivered breakfast from Dunkin’ or Wawa. This could alert him to the coming weekend.

Also, my weekly workout schedule follows a pattern (albeit a slightly obsessive pattern re: my own personal neuroses). Typically I run on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, assuming the weather is nice enough. Tuesdays and Thursdays are usually yoga days. Fridays and Sundays are wild cards; depending on the weather and my energy levels I might walk, do a little yoga, or do nothing. Here’s the kicker: I always clean Bemo’s litter box after I run, but on Thursdays I always clean it even if I don’t run. Why? Because I know that I won’t feel like doing it on Friday and by Saturday it will be gross. Perhaps Bemo has become aware of the fact that his litter box gets cleaned two days in a row when the weekend is approaching.

Bemo’s pre-weekend behavior might also be attributed to my own behavior, which I firmly believe he’s more attuned to than I am. He probably notices my overall attitude and approach to doing things on a Friday morning vs. a Monday morning in ways that I’m not even aware.

Or maybe I’m way over-thinking all of this and really Bemo has absolutely no idea what’s going on but just randomly behaves differently on some days, and I just so happen to notice it more on Fridays. Or maybe he’s hiding a little cat calendar under my bed, which is where he is now sleeping on this Friday morning, possibly because I stopped playing with him to write this.