Shimo (top) and Niji (bottom)
Bonsai is my older cat and is pretty well socialised, relaxed etc. The younger two are a very shy. When my sister and family came to visit, her girls accused me of lying that the cats actually existed because they spent their entire time hiding under the bed. The girls made up a story in honour of Shimo and Niji called "Auntie Patty's Anti-Social Cats". (For the full, clever, effect of this title it must be spoken with an American accent (my sister lives in the OC, CA).
I have often wondered how cats perceive the world. I know that they don't recognise faces the way humans do. I think, perhaps, they recognise my general body outline, the sound of my voice and my smell. The younger cats, in particular, will run away even from me when I'm wearing and carrying something that breaks up my usual outline and sounds different (eg swishy pants, noisy shoes etc).
When my brother was over the other day, Shimo came in to the lounge room to see who had invaded his territory and his behaviour sparked our interest. He knew something was different about the room, but was not quite what it was. He didn't stare directly at my brother, who was sitting on the couch, as a human would do, but seemed to be staring at the area around him. My brother asked if Shimo was blind - which he definitely isn't.
I'm sure that there's research on this. I now have a project.
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