When you call to a dog, he'll usually acknowledge you right away; there's not much of a lapse between the time you send the message and the time you receive a response.
But as I realized yesterday when I addressed my cat, Neil, his style is quite different. Neil was cozily ensconced near a sunny window, alternately waking and sleeping on a quiet winter afternoon. I said "hello" to him as I walked by, and was surprised when he acted like he hadn't even heard me. But I knew he had. I stopped to watch what he would do, and then, after perhaps 45 seconds had passed, he slowly turned his head, looked up at me, smiled, and returned the greeting.
That's interesting, because if I had been communicating telepathically with Neil from a remote location (or even the next room), I might have jumped to the conclusion that he hadn't heard me, or worse, that I wasn't hearing him. What I saw today in Neil made me realize that cats can be quite considered and deliberate in the way they respond to a request or an inquiry, whether it's spoken aloud or in silence.
I'll remember that the next time I'm talking telepathically to a cat who's far away, and try to create the time and space for him to respond--in his own time.
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