Making Time for Cats

OUR cat just spent more than half an hour staring at the cuckoo clock and this was provoked by a barely discernible, on-the-hour clang that resulted from the inability of its resident bird-bot to pop out of his stylised saloon door in the usual fashion. We have two cuckoo clocks, but unlike its more traditional counterpart this particular specimen is battery-operated and not mechanical, so it is clearly time (no pun intended) to replace them.

Nonetheless, it only took this miniscule change in the aural environment for our feline friend to suspect that something was seriously amiss and that things are not quite as they should be. Presumably, the fact that he was staring at the clock for so long indicates that he was waiting for a repeat performance, but unbeknownst to him the dysfunctional clang was not due to return for another full hour. This did not deter him, however, and I began to ponder whether the arrival of a second abnormal clang would enable his brain to readjust itself in accordance with the new system.

Do cats really have a sense of time, I wonder? Can he sense the cataclysmic Eleventh Hour in the way that he can sense an approaching storm or respond to the pangs of hunger in the absence of a human provider? And how long will it be before humans themselves begin to notice the not-so-small changes in their own environment? The clock is ticking. Just about.