My cats talk to me, and I love talking to them.  I have developed a list of things i say to them.  When B meows, I say, “I know, B, I know”.  It’s a hard life and she needs to know that i get it.  When Hank has a particularly bad sneezing fit, I say, “How’s your breathing, buddy?”.  I say, “How’s my B?”, or “How’s my boy?” when I get home from work.  When the cats are finished with dinner, I say, “Did you get enough to eat, Buddy?”  When Hank is trying to get me to play, I say, “Where’s the toy?”  Usually when we are eating dinner, there’s plenty of “Hey!” and “That’s mine!”.   When I’m petting B’s belly, I tell her, “You’re so fat, B”.  I’ve stopped telling her to move over when she’s hogging the bed.  It makes no difference.  Mostly, it all means the same thing: “I love you” and “I hope you are happy” and “Don’t take my food!”.

*I refuse to follow the “correct” use of quotation marks, because I think the rules are silly.