This is an entirely brave and quite possibly stupid thing that I am going to do on a site famous for Cat Lovers the world round. I am about to warn you about your cats. Yes, they are adorable and cute. Yes, they are much more independent than dogs (though maybe not as intelligent), but did you realize that it has been clinically proven that house cats are manipulative?

I know, imagine that, a manipulative feline.....How do our whiskered friends do it? According to Karen McComb of the University of Sussex, the cats hide "an urgent cry" or "otherwise unpleasant meowing sound" underneath a usually pleasant purr. Aha, now you know the secret language of cats.

She also believes that "cats learn to dramatically exaggerate it when it proves effective in generating a response from humans." The effect of this particular "meow" is that humans are unable to ignore it and the cats get what they want, which is probably food or the chance to go outside.

Hmmmm, what Karen McComb calls manipulation, I call communication......how is this different from a baby crying when it is hungry or someone whining that maybe they are ready for dinner? Is that really manipulation or more the only method the cat has of communicating?