If you’ve followed this blog for long you know I’m fascinated by the vision of cats in windows. I love watching Sophie lay on the windowsill on sunny mornings soaking up the warmth. Olivia will sometimes entertain herself chasing a fly that’s buzzing around at the window. ( Isn’t this a lovely picture of four cats at a window? Sent to me by a Klepto Cat Mystery fan.)
Why are indoor cats drawn to the windows? Probably for many of the same reasons we are—they’re curious beings and they want to see what’s going on beyond the parameters of their living space. Windows expand our world. Olivia sits on my desk and watches the birds at the feeder. She gets really excited when one of the squirrels shows up. She also quietly watches neighborhood dogs and humans as they walk past our house or they’re puttering or playing in their yard next door.
Lily was fascinated by the vision of small children playing next door. She’d hear them and
immediately settle at a window where she’d watch them for as long as they were playing on that side of the house.
Olivia experienced her first rain recently—yeah, we’re in drought-ridden SoCal. At first it scared her—she shied away from the windows. Later, she saw raindrops running down a window and that tantalized her into a game of catch the raindrop. She wasn’t 
very successful, since the drops were on the outside of the window.
Indoor cats are drawn to open windows not only because of what they can see, but also because of the scents and sounds and the feel of the air.
Outdoor cats might be attracted to a window by the
indoor cats or the desire to come inside for food, attention, or warmth and safety. I think we’ve all opened our doors to a stray at some point in our adoration for cats.
A cat at a window is artistic. I photograph cats at windows—inside and out. And we’ve all seen some beautiful photographs, paintings, and drawings of cats at windows. These are mood pieces. They might show a winter scene outside with the warmth of a fireplace inside or an ocean scene beyond the window with palm trees swaying.
The next time your cat spends time at a window, stop and watch him. Imagine what’s going through his mind and just enjoy the artistic vision of a cat at a window.
