Billy Bob Makes a Friend

Billy Bob lived up to his reputation as one of mellowest dude-cats in town yesterday. Seth, the new neighbor across the street, and his little daughter Leila (aged 22 months) came over to our yard for a chat, on one of our first sunny days in ages.

When Leila saw Billy, she was very enthusiastic. She sat down next to him and began giving him a back-rub, in the places he likes most. Billy reciprocated with a friendly purr, and for a while the two of them--little human and big housecat, head-to-head, almost the same size--were involved in a mutual admiration society.

Seth said they used to have a cat that looked a lot like Billy, and Leila was acting as if Billy were an old friend.

Little girls and friendly cats seem to have a mutual affinity. I read recently that scientists believe the cat was self-domesticating, adapting its habits to live among humans without any specific attempts by humans to force it to do so. How did this happen? Maybe little girls (and little boys) were the first to become friends with Billy Bob's ancestors.