Learn English Vocabulary: CATS! 🐱 🐈

48,269 views ・ 2019-01-21

English Jade


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to my cat lesson. I really love cats, so I'm excited to do this
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for you today. I'm going to read you a cat poem, I'm going to talk about cat personalities,
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and I'm going to tell you some stories about my old cat I used to have. Unfortunately,
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he's dead now, but his name is Mr.... is/was Mr Milo. So, I'll let you know something about
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Mr Milo as we do the lesson.
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Let's begin with a poem. This poem is about cat behavior and also about how a cat changes
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as it gets older. I'll read it to you now.
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Listen, kitten, Get this clear,
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This is my chair. I sit here.
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Okay, kitty We can share;
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When I'm not home, It's your chair.
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Listen cat How about
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If I use it When you're out?
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So, what happens in this poem is that as the cat gets older, the cat's behavior changes.
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At first, it's a lovely, sweet kitten, and the cat's owner is in charge. The cat's owner
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is still the boss, and the cat's owner can say: "This is my chair", when the cat is a
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kitten; when it's still a baby.
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Then, later, the power has changed between the cat's owner and the cat. Now, they share
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the chair; they sit together. The owner sits with the cat, and when the owner goes out,
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then the cat can sit in the chair by itself. This is when the cat has become a kitty.
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And then, later, when the cat has become an adult, the power has completely changed and
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now the cat's owner can't sit in his own chair; he has to ask his cat: "Is it okay if I sit
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in that chair that you like so much?" when the cat has grown up.
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So, I really liked that poem about cats, because I think that's one of the main things about
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their personalities. Unlike a dog that respects you as its master and will always look up
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to you, that's not guaranteed with a cat. And many cats, as they get older, become very
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powerful and more powerful even than their owners.
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So let's look at some cat words now. We've got: "pussy" or "pussycat". The word "pussy"
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can be a rude word. If we want to say... We can still use it when we're talking about
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cats, but we have to say it in a sweet way: "pussy". And we can say: "Here, pussy, pussy,
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pussy" to a cat. It does sound a little bit funny, but you could still say it as kind
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of a joke or to be sweet.
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Another cat word is "moggy". A moggy is a cat that... It's not a fancy cat, it's maybe
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not a very attractive cat; it's a mix of all the different street cats around, and not
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a beautiful champion cat, but one that you can still love very much.
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Next we have a "tom" or a "tomcat". This is a male cat. And we have also "pedigree cat".
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"Pedigree" is a cat that has been bred to look a certain way; to look beautiful.
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My cat, Mr Milo, was a pedigree cat. He was a Persian cat. He was very, very beautiful,
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but he wasn't very intelligent as a cat. And perhaps it's true that maybe moggies are more
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intelligent than... at least more intelligent than Persian cats because they haven't been
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so inbred to look beautiful.
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Okay, now let's look at cat behavior. What does a cat do in its general, daily life?
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First of all, a cat loves to nap. You will often find a cat napping. For example, the
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cat may nap on a chair, it may nap on your bed. Cats might also do some hunting during
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the day. So, watch out if there's any wild birds in your garden, or any mice that might
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be in your garden or in your house because your cat will try to hunt that. Mr Milo was
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not very good at hunting. No, no, no. It was quite funny. He lived for 17 years, he never
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caught a bird. He only managed to catch a mouse that was already dying, so it couldn't
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really... It couldn't really run fast. And Mr Milo was so proud that he... He put his
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paw on this already half-dead mouse, but that... Mr Milo wasn't... He wasn't much of an aggressive
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cat. He was just, you know, he was good at looking beautiful, and that was all he did
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really.
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Cats also like to groom. "Grooming" is when they lick their... Lick their fur to stay
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clean. Cats also like to purr. [Purrs] That's how Mr Milo would purr. It was often quite
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annoying, because he always wanted to do it right there next to your neck, so you would
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get the feeling of the claws coming out, and also wet-cat breath on your neck and in your
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ear. [Purrs] And you would try to push him away, but he always came back to do more.
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So, it was... It was nice but also annoying about him.
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Cats meow. Mr Milo would meow something like this: "[Meows]". He was a whiner. He didn't...
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He didn't meow very loud, but he wouldn't stop meowing if he wanted food; you'd have
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to give it to him.
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Next we've got "scratching". I already mentioned when Mr Milo purred, he would scratch you
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on your neck. But cats also scratch on their scratching posts or on furniture. They have
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to do that to keep their claws short.
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Cats will also swish their tails. I'm not sure what that means. I think they can swish
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their tails in different moods. In some cats, sometimes I think it means they're a bit angry
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if they swish their tail, and it could also mean that they want to hunt something. Let
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me know in the comments if you know why a cat swishes its tail.
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Next, let's look at cat adjectives. How can we describe the personality of cats in general?
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First, we've got "independent". Cats are different to dogs, of course, because they go outside
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on their own. They go and have adventures outside. Some cats go out for a long time,
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some cats go very far, they like to travel, and they're independent because they don't
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go out in a group with other cats. If you ever see dogs or street dogs, they are happy
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to be in a pack together and they like to... Not all the time, but they often like to walk
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the streets together with other dogs; whereas cats, they'll generally walk around alone,
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although they might like to nap or sit near other cats sometimes. But I don't think they
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plan it, like they're all going to go out together at the same time.
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Next, cats are intelligent. People argue about this one because they say dogs are intelligent
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because you can teach them tricks, you can teach them to give you their paw and you can
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teach them to bark, so people say cats aren't intelligent like dogs because they don't do
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tricks. But the thing is: Cats wouldn't be interested in doing tricks for you. They...
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They don't want to be controlled by you in that way, I suppose. So, I think cats are
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intelligent, but in the way that it's how they look at you sometimes. They look at you
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like they understand your deep psychology or your flaws, so they have a certain kind
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of intelligence that's different to dogs. Maybe dogs can do stuff if you teach them,
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but cats already know stuff.
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Now, also, cats are mysterious. If you think about it, when cats go outside, you don't
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always know where they go. Now, Mr Milo, when he was about two years old, one day he just
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left and he didn't come back. He went travelling. And we put up some posters around the local
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area to try to get Mr Milo back, obviously, because he's our cat and we loved him very,
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very much, so we wanted to get him back.
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And it was actually a few weeks later, but somebody called... Called up and said: "I
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think that I've spotted your cat, and your cat's in my neighbour's garden." And this
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woman... The neighbour was a mad cat lady, and she would attract all the cats in the
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neighbourhood to her garden. And then the cats would choose to go and live at her house
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instead. So, Mr Milo left us to go to the mad cat lady.
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We went to the house to get Mr Milo back, and although he looked the same-he had the
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long fur, same eye colour-when we got him back it was like his whole personality had
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changed in the time that he was living in this other house. And it... It took a few
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weeks for him to get back to the old Mr Milo. But that's an example of how mysterious they
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can be. You know, we will never know if he wanted to leave us, or he just walked too
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far and got lost. He'll keep it a secret forever, and I think many cats do that. They don't
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want you to know everything about them.
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Cats are also curious. We have a phrase: "Curiosity killed the cat." I had another cat when I
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was younger, but unfortunately, that cat died when it was very young; less than a year old.
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And curiosity literally killed that cat. That cat was eating a stick. I don't know why it
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decided to eat a stick. It must have thought: "What's this? I want to put it in my mouth",
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and then it choked on the... On the stick. It was very sad because nobody found it when
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it was struggling. But if... If the cat wasn't so curious and interested to find out things-"Oh,
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what's this stick?"-maybe he would have lived for much longer.
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Next, cats are choosy. "Choosy" means they... If there's something... Choosy in the sense
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that you like this, but you don't like that. There's some people you like, some people
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you don't like, and cats are very much like that. If a cat... If you think... If you try
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to call a cat, often it doesn't come to you, and cats will avoid some people that come
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to your house; but other people they'll really like, and they'll come up and want to jump
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on their lap. So, in that sense... In that sense, a cat is choosy.
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Next, cats are playful. Mr Milo wasn't really that playful. If... The most excited he would
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get is to maybe do this a few times; but some cats like to jump, play with string, go crazy,
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roll on the floor, and they do exciting things when they're kittens. Cats are also affectionate.
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Some cats; some cats are not. They like to sit in your lap, they like to purr for you,
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they like to come and walk by your legs. So, in that way, they're affectionate.
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Cats are disloyal. I'm not sure if they are disloyal because I don't think they are doing
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it on purpose to leave you. For example, when Mr Milo went away and left us, maybe he was
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just having an adventure. It wasn't because he said: "I don't like this food that you're
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giving me anymore. I'm going away to the mad cat lady."
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And if we think about dogs, here, it can help us understand because a dog, if... Some people,
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unfortunately, beat their dogs or hit them and they shout at them really badly, but the
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dog will always come and be friends again with its master. You can treat a dog very
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badly, and they will always come back and love you; whereas cats, they will make a decision
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about where they live - if it's good for them, they will say; but if it's not good for them,
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they might leave and they'll go to somebody else who feeds it or somebody else who takes
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it in the house. So, in that... In that way, they are disloyal because they won't stay
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forever, if you treat them badly.
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But I think "disloyal" is a strong... Is a too strong word. It makes it seem like the
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cat is just waiting to leave you at any time, and I don't think that's quite true about
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it. They just... They're able to move on; whereas, for dogs, it's harder for them to
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do that. If you think about cats, if somebody dies or they can't keep their cat anymore
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because they're moving house or moving to a different country, the cat can go to another
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house and adapt very, very quickly. Dogs can do that, but it takes them longer to be comfortable
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in a new home.
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Next, we have "lazy". What do you think? Do you think cats are lazy? Obviously they sleep
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a lot, and I suppose they're not very busy; they don't have a lot to do. So, unless they
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do lots of hunting, it can seem like cats are lazy. And on those days where you feel
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a little bit tired and you go and have a sleep, usually in the afternoon, that's when we take
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a cat nap. When we feel lazy like the cat, we go and have a cat nap.
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And the last adjective to describe a cat is "timid". "Timid" means the opposite of brave.
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When you're timid, if you hear a noise, a bang - you run away. Some cats are very timid;
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some cats, if they meet a new person, they'll stay on the other side of the room or they'll
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always run away from them. Mr Milo wasn't very timid; he was just more calm. He was
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a calm kind of cat. I think he was maybe not that intelligent, that he wasn't scared by
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so many things because he didn't understand what they were.
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So, there we are. Thank you for watching my cat lesson. I have a quiz for you to do now
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on everything we've learned today. Thank you for watching.
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Meow. I forgot something - a story I wanted to tell... I forgot a story that I wanted
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to tell you. Mr Milo, I loved him so much, he was my cat. When I got that cat, I was
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11 years old, and in my family nobody had had a cat before, so we didn't... All right,
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it's not the hardest thing in the world to take care of a cat, but we didn't really know.
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And my Mom, she bought me a book about caring for your Persian cat. And Persian cats, they
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have long hair. Don't know where she got this book from, but it said that to take good care
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of your Persian cat, you have to give it a bath one time a week.
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And because I loved him so much, that's what I decided needed to happen to Mr Milo every
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week. Now, this might explain why he wasn't a very intelligent cat; it may have been some
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kind of trauma that I was responsible for. So, what would happen: Mr Milo's bath time,
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he would get in the water and he would go... He would reduce size and become this skinny,
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little bone; all his fluff is gone, and he's, like, shaking in the bath like that. Tries
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to jump out, every time he tries to jump out - nope. And I'm 11 or... 11 or just 12. And
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I love him so much, he must have this bath and have shampoo and everything, but it doesn't
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end there.
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The next step is then to go onto my window ceil in my bedroom and be blow-dried with
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a hairdryer really loud and very, very close to his skin, potentially burning him. Okay,
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I know this was wrong now, but when I was 11 I thought that was love for my cat. So,
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he would be on the window sill, and he would try to run to one side so he could jump off,
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and the hairdryer would follow him, so then he would try to run to the other side to jump
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off, and I'd follow him with a hairdryer. And so this would happen every single week
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until somebody told me: "You're not supposed to do that to cats. I don't think he likes
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it", and then I stopped torturing him and making him look beautiful. So, there's my
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story. Thanks for watching.
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