My oldest son brought Mossy home one day. She was in a bad way and obviously a stray so we took her to the vet and after some antibiotics for an infected cut, she came home to her forever home. She never goes too far from the garden and deep in my soul, despite being a dog person from aged eight, I have grown to love her so much.
Cats really are good teachers. They are difficult to train, so they train you and they are masters at it. They know the value of rewards and they pile them on: looking adorable while sleeping, rubbing in a coquettish way on your legs and staring up at you with sparkly eyes, curling up in your lap and sending warmth into your body and soul. How can you not give them what they want.
And they do know what they want. Unlike dogs, cats are completely self-absorbed and don’t care a hoot about pleasing you. They are just cats being cats. The most important thing Mossy has taught me is to accept myself for who I am and not worry about what I think I “should” be.
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I would characterize it as self-sufficient rather than self-absorbed. They are willing to train you to their needs -- doorman, can opener, litter sifter -- but, as you so aptly describe, understand the tradeoff by showing appreciation. Versus a dog having to be leashed, walked, poop picked up, etc.
My two are very communicative as well. For example, Cooper just gave his "let me out" meow, but instead of heading outdoors, he led me into the spare room where the litter boxes are, jumped up on the shelf where the box of fresh litter was and began rubbing his ears on it to let me know I was overdue to clean their litter boxes. As soon as I began cleaning them, he slowly went to the door to go outside. Message sent; message received; now let me out to roam.
