sleepy
amandahuginkiss pointed me towards these articles on MessyBeast. The more I read on that site, the more I like it. The first article, Survival of the Friendliest, pretty much defines my cats. In particular this sentence: "...cats develop complex and fluid matriarchal hierarchies and that they have preferred buddies" is exactly what I've seen; Harri always defers to females, more when he was young (when I adopted Sigrid he immediately gave her all the best sleeping spots), but still with Tessie. Harri, of course, is extraordinarily social with other cats, even strange cats.
The second article, about cats' loyalty vs. dogs', is also really fascinating, and also goes with what I've observed with my cats. The fact that I can get them to listen to me when I tell them to do or not do things seems to indicate that I've earned their respect; perhaps because I am a female, and cats tend to be matriarchal, I have a slight advantage, especially with the boys.
Definitely if I had it to do over again, I'd take classes in school leading to a career with cats. I think I definitely missed my calling.
