Tinkerbell moved over and sat in my chair, while I was making a cup of tea.
When I came in she ‘spoke’ to me with a soft questioning ‘mrrrow’, and lifted her paw a little in a typical cat’s questioning gesture.
So I went over to her and sat on the pouffe in front of the chair and she turned to look at me repeating her question: ‘mrrrow’ – (is it all right for me to sit here?)
I told her it was and she started to purr and stretched a paw towards me, spreading her toes, a loving gesture from a cat.
Then when I moved round to sit in another chair she drew her paws in and folded them under her, showing that she was pleased and could now settle in her chair.
Does Tinkerbell have ‘theory of mind’ – can she? After all ‘All Cats have Asperger’s’, and am I deluding myself that I can read body language and facial expressions in a cat?
Bits and bats and thingumybobs 